Guan Un
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thisisguan.bsky.social
Guan Un
@thisisguan.bsky.social
1.9K followers 790 following 590 posts
Aurelias-nominated writer of speculative short stories. Words in Levar Burton Reads, Year’s Best Fantasy and many more. Australian/Chinese via Malaysia. Sentence enthusiast. Dumplingmancer. Look at you all mythicalogical.
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thisisguan.bsky.social
Ain’t no mail like contributor book mail! So proud to be in this anthology from @aanpress.bsky.social
Cover of a book titled Mmeory. The cover image is abstract, like a face with eyes. The book is open to a story titled “He Walks the Same Streets” by Guan Un.
October 10, 2025 at 6:34 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Can I tell you about miso oats real quick? They've become my daily ritual because they're quick, easy and delicious. If you're worried about savoury oats, they come out very similar to congee, close enough to be comforting for me. MISO OATS.
A bowl of miso oats on a countertop, with boiled egg, topped with shallots and chilli oil.
July 16, 2025 at 1:18 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
My contributor copy came! These birds made it all the way to Australia carrying this cargo. You can read the issue at @thedeadlands.com or subscribe to their Patreon for print!
A photo of the print copy of Deadlands #38, with a cover of spooky looking Birds, as well as a Deadlands pin.
June 18, 2025 at 3:11 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
RIP Brian Wilson. Remembering the time he freaked out Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop by playing “Shortnin’ Bread” over and over
Text reads “The 63-year-old rocker and his pal Iggy Pop were left bemused when they visited the former Beach Boys star at home and he played for them what he claimed was the greatest song of all time – ‘Shortnin’ Bread’, originally penned by poet James Whitcomb Riley in 1900. Alice recalled: “It was about 1978 or something like that. Iggy and I were sitting there waiting- you know it was Brian Wilson one of the great writers of all time- and he sat down at the piano and start’s playing (sings) ‘mama’s little baby loves shortnin shortnin, mama’s little baby loves shortnin bread’.”
June 11, 2025 at 11:00 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
did a canva for my eligibility post for 2024. more details in thread.
Screenshot of text editor with text that reads: -‘Feel the Burn’ in Archive of the Odd #3 Aibophobia, June 2024 — there’s a giant spider in a gym but also everything is fine, found fiction, snuck a sneaky capitalism critique in there whoops — btw don’t sleep on Archive of the Odd they’re doing color print magazines in the year of our lord 2024 - ‘An Object of Vision’ in Fission #4, July 2024 — cyberpunk corporate espionage retelling of medusa, everyone has cybereyes but they totally can’t get viruses that turn you into stone its fine — big thanks to Eugen Bacon and Gene Rowe for giving it a home - ‘Painted Surfaces’ in Nightmare, August 2024 — i accidentally wrote a horror story based on a Chinese folk tale, where your beautiful wife goes somewhere at night and whatever she’s doing is probably very chill and not terrible — thanks to Wendy Wagner for giving it a home and everyone who’s said nice things about this one — idk thank you for reading this far <3
December 4, 2024 at 8:57 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Been thinking about this a lot, especially today. From Luis Alberto Urrea's interview here: www.pbs.org/newshour/art...
What is the best piece of writer's advice you've received? Rudolfo Anaya, the masterful Chicano author of "Bless Me, Ultima," has always been a mentor and father figure for many of us of Southwestern or Latinx heritage. He gave me a pearl of wisdom when I was 21 years old and it vibrates through everything I write: "If you can make your Mexican grandmother the grandmother of a reader in Iowa or Nebraska through your art, then you have accomplished the most powerful, moral and political act in the world." This is everything about everything I do.
November 7, 2024 at 12:59 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Reading Sofia Samatar's Opacities, and just about every page shakes me to my core.
A quote from Sofia Samatar's Opacities: "But if we break the glass, thought the dispossessed, they'll run roughshod over us. It was a problem of proximity. Is this too much to ask: to be close enough to the other that he can hear you, but not so close that he's biting your face off?"
October 5, 2024 at 11:56 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
post a meme made by you
A new yorker comic with a two mice standing on their hind legs. The mouse on the left has a mouse trap that has caught on his body and proffers cheese to the other mouse. The caption reads, "Please remember, this is just data."
August 30, 2024 at 8:13 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Fun fact of the day: "flash fiction" was almost called ... "blasters". (From The Art of Brevity by Grant Faulkner, which is very good so far.)
Photo of text on a kindle, which reads: "Of all the forms of fiction, flash fiction is the only one whose name is itself a metaphor. As James Thomas, the editor of several seminal anthologies of flash fiction, tells the story, he was talking with his wife, Denise, about what to call these short stories of under a thousand words. He'd been calling them 'blasters', but that moniker didn't ring with any poetic allure. Right at that moment, a bolt of lightning struck, and the night lit up with a flash. 'Call them flash', Denise said. And the name of a genre was born."
May 1, 2024 at 12:53 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Always satisfying to start the day off with a bake
Sourdough loaf on a wire rack
January 4, 2024 at 10:51 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
This lil guy just arrived and I'm crying, thinking about all the "Year's Best" anthologies I devoured as a teenager: it is surreal to me that I'm in one. Thanks to Paula Guran for choosing this trickster tale, and @khoreo.bsky.social for the initial publication.
Cover of 'The Year's Best Fantasy, Volume 2' edited by Paul Guran. The cover image is a golden dragon's head. Photo of the first page of 'Phoenix Tile' by Guan Un, from the anthology.
January 2, 2024 at 2:25 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Here, this is it, my secret writing partner, aka ChonkyBoi
October 12, 2023 at 9:35 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
DUEL submissions are open! Details and submission form here: hexagonmagazine.ca/myriad/
An image of two crossed swords. Text reads DUEL, Submissions Open: Sep 15-30. Original Flash, 1000 Words of less. Edited by Guan Un. Myriad Digital Zines.
September 15, 2023 at 8:21 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
One day I'll write an essay about how Monkey Island taught me how to adult but until then
A pixelated screenshot from videogame Monkey Island of two people fighting with swords. The caption reads: "How appropriate. You fight like a cow."
September 12, 2023 at 9:34 PM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Submissions for my zine with @hexagonmagazine.bsky.social open in less than a month! Thread with some things I'd love to see:
Graphic of crossed swords. Words read: "Duel, Submissions Open: Sep 15-30. Original Flash. 1000 Words or Less. Edited by Guan Un. Myriad."
August 25, 2023 at 12:42 AM
thisisguan.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics where are you mentally
A cartoon picture of a mouse caught in a mousetrap extending a piece of cheese to another mouse saying, "Please remember, this is just data"
August 6, 2023 at 7:10 AM