Mallory Smart
@mallorysmart.bsky.social
Neurotic Chicago-based writer, editor-in-chief of Maudlin House, podcaster, and doer of many odd things.
https://mallorysmart.com/
https://mallorysmart.com/
Nobody says what they mean here. That’s why we need the fire...🔥
Notes on rot, ritual, and Bonfire Gospel:
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
Notes on rot, ritual, and Bonfire Gospel:
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
November 28, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Nobody says what they mean here. That’s why we need the fire...🔥
Notes on rot, ritual, and Bonfire Gospel:
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
Notes on rot, ritual, and Bonfire Gospel:
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
Me: “I’m thankful I don’t have to say what I’m thankful for this year.”
Zona Motel: Actually… 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Zona Motel: Actually… 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
November 27, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Me: “I’m thankful I don’t have to say what I’m thankful for this year.”
Zona Motel: Actually… 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Zona Motel: Actually… 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Venturing into the Upside Down at The Midnight Realm…
November 27, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Venturing into the Upside Down at The Midnight Realm…
A book with a 72-hour lifespan feels like a dare.
Bonfire Gospel starts Dec 6.
Come play with fire.🔥
Bonfire Gospel starts Dec 6.
Come play with fire.🔥
November 27, 2025 at 12:34 AM
A book with a 72-hour lifespan feels like a dare.
Bonfire Gospel starts Dec 6.
Come play with fire.🔥
Bonfire Gospel starts Dec 6.
Come play with fire.🔥
Anyone else trying to stay online without losing their mind? Same.
Alex Moreno talks doomscrolling on Textual Healing this Saturday. Come hang…🎧
Alex Moreno talks doomscrolling on Textual Healing this Saturday. Come hang…🎧
November 26, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Anyone else trying to stay online without losing their mind? Same.
Alex Moreno talks doomscrolling on Textual Healing this Saturday. Come hang…🎧
Alex Moreno talks doomscrolling on Textual Healing this Saturday. Come hang…🎧
The fire starts December 6th. It goes out in 72 hours.
Bonfire Gospel x Bone Machine 🔥
Bonfire Gospel x Bone Machine 🔥
November 26, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The fire starts December 6th. It goes out in 72 hours.
Bonfire Gospel x Bone Machine 🔥
Bonfire Gospel x Bone Machine 🔥
Alt lit was the beginning. Autofiction was the reckoning. The pandemic was the reset. Horror is the ascent.
I don’t disappear. I evolve.
Outfit of the era…
I don’t disappear. I evolve.
Outfit of the era…
November 26, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Alt lit was the beginning. Autofiction was the reckoning. The pandemic was the reset. Horror is the ascent.
I don’t disappear. I evolve.
Outfit of the era…
I don’t disappear. I evolve.
Outfit of the era…
Started the morning with Mary Shelley and caffeine strong enough to wake the dead…
November 25, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Started the morning with Mary Shelley and caffeine strong enough to wake the dead…
Alex Moreno came on the show and immediately rewired my brain. Legit one of the most fun conversations this season.
Out Saturday 🎧
Out Saturday 🎧
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Alex Moreno came on the show and immediately rewired my brain. Legit one of the most fun conversations this season.
Out Saturday 🎧
Out Saturday 🎧
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…
November 24, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Tonite at The Midnight Realm…
It’s still spooky season at The Midnight Realm…
November 22, 2025 at 11:46 PM
It’s still spooky season at The Midnight Realm…
My husband took this 15yrs ago and says it was the night he fell in love with me. I kept feeding the bonfire whatever it wanted.
Fire has always been my identity, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that I made a chapbook about it.
Bonfire Gospel drops from Bone Machine Dec 6th 🔥
Fire has always been my identity, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that I made a chapbook about it.
Bonfire Gospel drops from Bone Machine Dec 6th 🔥
November 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM
My husband took this 15yrs ago and says it was the night he fell in love with me. I kept feeding the bonfire whatever it wanted.
Fire has always been my identity, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that I made a chapbook about it.
Bonfire Gospel drops from Bone Machine Dec 6th 🔥
Fire has always been my identity, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that I made a chapbook about it.
Bonfire Gospel drops from Bone Machine Dec 6th 🔥
Off the Record is live 🎧
Alex Moreno reads from Sticky Time and pairs it with a song that hits the same strange, electric pulse running under their work…
open.spotify.com/episode/1ZWe...
Alex Moreno reads from Sticky Time and pairs it with a song that hits the same strange, electric pulse running under their work…
open.spotify.com/episode/1ZWe...
November 22, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Off the Record is live 🎧
Alex Moreno reads from Sticky Time and pairs it with a song that hits the same strange, electric pulse running under their work…
open.spotify.com/episode/1ZWe...
Alex Moreno reads from Sticky Time and pairs it with a song that hits the same strange, electric pulse running under their work…
open.spotify.com/episode/1ZWe...
The way Starbuck is staring at me for singing Bloody Mary while I write… like I’ve personally shamed the family name.
November 22, 2025 at 2:37 AM
The way Starbuck is staring at me for singing Bloody Mary while I write… like I’ve personally shamed the family name.
Chill day at The Midnight Realm…
November 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Chill day at The Midnight Realm…
My weird short story, I’ll Be Right Back, just got accepted by trampset!
Corporate rot. Slasher vibes. Things go sideways fast.
Runs Dec 5. Psyched.
Corporate rot. Slasher vibes. Things go sideways fast.
Runs Dec 5. Psyched.
November 20, 2025 at 4:48 PM
My weird short story, I’ll Be Right Back, just got accepted by trampset!
Corporate rot. Slasher vibes. Things go sideways fast.
Runs Dec 5. Psyched.
Corporate rot. Slasher vibes. Things go sideways fast.
Runs Dec 5. Psyched.
The Hipster Poetry Vault has opened again.
In 2013 I submitted this exact notepad list to a press.
Zero edits. Zero arc. Pure vibes.
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
In 2013 I submitted this exact notepad list to a press.
Zero edits. Zero arc. Pure vibes.
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
November 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
The Hipster Poetry Vault has opened again.
In 2013 I submitted this exact notepad list to a press.
Zero edits. Zero arc. Pure vibes.
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
In 2013 I submitted this exact notepad list to a press.
Zero edits. Zero arc. Pure vibes.
open.substack.com/pub/malsmart...
Saturday’s Off the Record has Alex Moreno reading from Sticky Time and dropping the track that nails the vibe.
It’s a good one…🎧
It’s a good one…🎧
November 18, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Saturday’s Off the Record has Alex Moreno reading from Sticky Time and dropping the track that nails the vibe.
It’s a good one…🎧
It’s a good one…🎧
Therapy quote of the whatever…
November 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Therapy quote of the whatever…
There’s a piece in BONFIRE GOSPEL where two people argue about whose small-town serial killer had better lore.
If you’re curious, good.
Out for 72 hours starting Dec 6 🔥
If you’re curious, good.
Out for 72 hours starting Dec 6 🔥
November 17, 2025 at 2:29 AM
There’s a piece in BONFIRE GOSPEL where two people argue about whose small-town serial killer had better lore.
If you’re curious, good.
Out for 72 hours starting Dec 6 🔥
If you’re curious, good.
Out for 72 hours starting Dec 6 🔥
Tonight I interviewed Mike Corrao about his new book, Being Towards Death, at Comfort Station. Chicago showed up.
The vibes were immaculate and strange in the best way…
The vibes were immaculate and strange in the best way…
November 16, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Tonight I interviewed Mike Corrao about his new book, Being Towards Death, at Comfort Station. Chicago showed up.
The vibes were immaculate and strange in the best way…
The vibes were immaculate and strange in the best way…
November 16, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Update: survived the literary event. Rewarding myself with Gene & Jude’s like a normal Chicago gremlin.
November 16, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Update: survived the literary event. Rewarding myself with Gene & Jude’s like a normal Chicago gremlin.
A candlelit beach reading in late-October Chicago sounded poetic until everyone’s candles died and the mic gave up.
Still somehow the most on-brand night poets could have.
Wrote about it for ZONA 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Still somehow the most on-brand night poets could have.
Wrote about it for ZONA 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
November 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
A candlelit beach reading in late-October Chicago sounded poetic until everyone’s candles died and the mic gave up.
Still somehow the most on-brand night poets could have.
Wrote about it for ZONA 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Still somehow the most on-brand night poets could have.
Wrote about it for ZONA 🐐
open.substack.com/pub/zonamote...
Tomorrow night I’m at Comfort Station talking with Mike Corrao about Being Towards Death.
Expect weirdness, philosophy, and whatever else happens when we’re in a room together.
Chicago, pull up…🖤
Expect weirdness, philosophy, and whatever else happens when we’re in a room together.
Chicago, pull up…🖤
November 15, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Tomorrow night I’m at Comfort Station talking with Mike Corrao about Being Towards Death.
Expect weirdness, philosophy, and whatever else happens when we’re in a room together.
Chicago, pull up…🖤
Expect weirdness, philosophy, and whatever else happens when we’re in a room together.
Chicago, pull up…🖤