Brit/US writer of uncanny fiction. Best Small Fictions 2025. Over 40 stories in The Barcelona Review, LITRO, Southeast Review, The Forge, The Los Angeles Review and others. @nightjarpress Based in Eugene, Oregon (but grew up in UK). www.arthurmandal.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mwtsnlozmk2hA friend gave me this exquisite copy of ArabLitQuarterly, @arablit.bsky.social which has dedicated an entire issue to Syria. The sectarian violence of communities who have lived alongside oneanother for centuries (see the recent massacres of Druze) is unspeakably sad. This is Noor Dokrli’s “Soil”.01 Oct 2026 21:32 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwtsnlozmk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mwi5opboic2lReading Peter Ackroyd’s Blake. Sobering to think that one of English literature’s greatest poets spent his life in relative obscurity, scraping a living (pun intended) engraving other people’s work. Kafka perhaps had it worse: Blake at least believed in his posthumous fame.27 Sep 2026 06:18 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwi5opboic2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mw26scffpk2qReally liked this latest story of Andrew Bertaina's in the Laurel Review @laurelreview.bsky.social . Loved its surreal tone.21 Sep 2026 17:00 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw26scffpk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mvo4gj3glk2n1/2 Aberdeen, Orkneys and Shetlands - from a trip back in 2018.16 Sep 2026 21:46 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvo4gj3glk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mv6uardbns26Really loved this piece by Kylie Hough today. As someone who listens to classical music a lot at night, and who has had their own fair share of experiences in hospitals.10 Sep 2026 20:10 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv6uardbns26https://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3muscyvj7oc2qJust learnt I’ve won a prize in a major writing competition. I’m not allowed to say any more at the moment. As a note of encouragement to others:this story – which got into the last dozen of 4 or 5 thousand entries – was rejected by 21 journals/magazines(and only one of those a ‘tiered’ rejection).05 Sep 2026 20:29 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3muscyvj7oc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3muicxng3s22yI wish there was a magic app which told writers which of your rejections were superficial (all your planning and nuances went right over their heads) and which were authentic (they understood all your allusions/details and still remained unimpressed).01 Sep 2026 21:02 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3muicxng3s22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mu3pq2756c2kIf the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. -from William Blake, "A Memorable Fancy"27 Aug 2026 20:45 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3pq2756c2khttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mtp3kcng3k2kFinished a collection of stories this week by the Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin (translator Megan McDowell). Loved them—though each has a certain emptiness at its heart, and I can’t decide whether it’s deep and enigmatic or just a cynical MFA trick. I also can’t decide whether that matters.22 Aug 2026 20:12 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtp3kcng3k2khttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mtcga3mb2c2sReally loved this piece by Gary Fincke in @bendinggenres.bsky.social this month. A few people had talked about it so I checked it out. Very deadpan, down-talking tone produces a perfect mood. bendinggenres.com/suits/ https://bendinggenres.com/suits/17 Aug 2026 19:19 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtcga3mb2c2shttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3msxjvoiz422nPhotos from a past trip to Cairo – mostly downtown Cairo. 1/213 Aug 2026 11:25 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3msxjvoiz422nhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3msmn4lopyk22Just sharing a short, lucidly-written piece on “Don DeLillo’s Film Texts” by the fiction writer and artist Imogen Reid which came out a couple of years ago in @sublunary.bsky.social . I remember reading and liking this last year, but forgetting to share it. https://sublunaryeditions.com/magazine/don-delillos-film-texts-imogen-reid?utm_source=chatgpt.com09 Aug 2026 03:24 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3msmn4lopyk22https://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3ms7drynckc26I have no comment to make on Nolan’s Odyssey, or the translator’s response to it, or Joyce Carol Oates’ response to that response. The only certain thing I can say is: somebody out there is making an awful lot of money.03 Aug 2026 20:32 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms7drynckc26https://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mrt7phejns2zFinally got my hands on the paper copy of this. I’ll share the full story once the next issue of WITNESS comes out. One of two or three stories I wrote inspired by a trip to India.30 Jul 2026 00:47 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrt7phejns2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mrixpufmm22jRecently I walked through Morecambe, a northern seaside town with a melancholy, faded air: shuttered shops, empty retail spaces, bored kids. My father remembered cafés, Hart’s, the Winter Gardens, a pier. The bay is beautiful; the disinvestment is criminal. Brighton feels like another country.25 Jul 2026 22:57 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrixpufmm22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mqzss53b5k2tThe ending of one of my favorite Tagore stories, “The Postmaster”: a university-educated postmaster befriends a village girl, then leaves for Calcutta. Its final epiphany mixes Western and Hindu nihilisms without quite belonging to either. William Radice’s translation is superb.19 Jul 2026 22:19 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqzss53b5k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mqibaftuok2fI got into London a couple of days ago and visited Tate Britain. Saw a wonderful Whistler exhibition there and decided to share some of the best pictures.12 Jul 2026 22:50 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqibaftuok2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mpwsi2baic2vWonderful piece this week by Mikki Aronoff. Love the figure of the grandfather never met in this.06 Jul 2026 00:11 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpwsi2baic2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mpmftrvhe22zCongrats to everyone who made this year’s Wigleaf Top 50 and longlist—looking forward to reading them. Out of bored curiosity I went online yesterday, and found a piece I had written in The Phare longlisted for Wigleaf’s 2024 Top 50 Very Short Fictions. No one tells you anything in this business...01 Jul 2026 20:58 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpmftrvhe22zhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mpc7vpmccc2gA short story of mine, “The Enormous Man”, came out with Quarter(ly) Journal last year. Now that their new issue is out, I feel it’s okay to share it (link to pdf in first comment).27 Jun 2026 19:45 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpc7vpmccc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3movjigki222kIs anybody else watching Widow’s Bay? Am on episode 4. Smooth script, decent acting, some creepy moments for a horror comedy. The political subtexts are as they should always be in horror – never intruding, just palimpsestically hovering beneath the surface.22 Jun 2026 18:32 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3movjigki222khttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mojb6mb7zc2fPictures from Chile. 1/217 Jun 2026 21:31 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mojb6mb7zc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mo4t4iilic2bRIP David Hockney. Bradford lad. Your pools and highways and canyons have always stayed with me.12 Jun 2026 22:48 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mo4t4iilic2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mnxghbnbpk2tReading this at the moment. Really enjoying it, exquisitely written. Almost a third of the way through.10 Jun 2026 19:18 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnxghbnbpk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mnjhtkgju222I read old LRB/NYRB issues a year or two late. This 2023 Jerome Groopman piece is grim: cancer treatment as lucrative market, with investors drawn to drugs that “don’t work too well” or cure too quickly—so the patient/customer keeps paying. Photos attached; paywalled link in comments.05 Jun 2026 06:05 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnjhtkgju222https://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mmzcj7epvs2sAbout 6 months ago I submitted a story to The Masters Review Winter Story Award (a journal I’d never had much luck with), and yesterday I got an email saying it had made it onto the longlist. Not exactly a win, but nice that it got into the last 2 percent of about 2,000 entries.29 May 2026 19:47 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmzcj7epvs2shttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mmuadhytwc2oAnother beautiful piece by Natalie Marino.27 May 2026 19:25 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmuadhytwc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mmkd2666ok2xPhotos from last week’s visit to Eh-Dan-Brah (I hope I got that phonetically correct). 2/223 May 2026 20:47 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmkd2666ok2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/arthurmandal.bsky.social/post/3mmafmzrsd22hI bought the FT’s weekend supplement for the first time today. Glossy pages of watches, luxury pens, designer pullovers and boutique-hotel décor laments. It seems written by people who do not occupy our reality. It’s called HTSI — How To Spend It. I wish I was making all of this up.19 May 2026 22:07 +0000at://did:plc:6zhgwklsh5shnep5eqbeiync/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmafmzrsd22h