Archive • The Malarker • Buttondown

The Barre Incidents + Hellarkey

September 13, 2025

Lauren Bolger’s second novel, The Barre Incidents, is on Reactor’s can’t-miss list. After Printers Row last weekend, we have a dwindling supply of signed...

A couple writing opportunities

September 7, 2025

Apologies for two newsletter emails in two days, but I wanted to get this out there: we have two very cool projects that we want writers to know about....

Love for the Pencil

September 6, 2025

Today is the official release of My Ardent Love for the Pencil, a collection of poems, with photos, by Vi Khi Nao, a marvelous poet with books out from...

Vi Khi Nao's Book Release Reading with OF Cieri and Kat Giordano

August 27, 2025

Greetings Malarkey fans! This is just to say—Vi Khi Nao is going to be reading from her new poetry collection, My Ardent Love for the Pencil, for the book...

Zines Zines Zines

August 12, 2025

I’ve been going hard all summer, trying to get the press in a decent place before the school year consumes me. I’ll never be all the way caught up, but I...

Horror and Poetry

Summer’s not over but it feels like it’s over, because here in Missouri the weather was nice for three days in a row (a record) and school is just a couple...

The Sealey Challenge and Other Wonderful Items

The Sealey Challenge starts on Friday. I like the idea of this challenge because I like the idea of anything that encourages people to read, especially...

The Bean Vault, a short story by Jeff Goldberg

With coffee, quality depended on bean origin, the roasting of those beans, the manner of grinding, and one’s methodological approach to the final brew....

My Ardent Love for My Ardent Love for the Pencil

Sometimes I look forward to a short book, especially if I’ve been working on a longer project, or running behind, or, more frequently, both. Finally, a...

Mothman and Superman: Lauren Bolger on making horror out of reality

By Lauren Bolger Last week I went to see Superman. I thought it was a lot of fun, genuinely funny with some great action scenes, and it felt like it had its...

Mental Whiplash

This is an email celebrating a book called Boxcutters, which is a collection of short stories, a varied collection of short stories, by John Chrostek. I want...

41% off Anti-Prame Flash Sale

There is no way to be pure in this world. In fact there’s a saying, right? “There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.” I think they did an episode...

Malarkey Over Everything

It is probably really nice to be proud of a place, like Chicago. If I was from Chicago I would think it’s the greatest city in the world. When I heard the...

Book Dreams/Dream Books

Last night I dreamed I was at work, but in the gym, and I was supposed to be chasing after students, making sure they were where they were supposed to be and...

Five months on, nearly six, I’ve about sent out all the rewards from our Kickstarter. If you’re waiting on yours, it’s because the book you requested hasn’t...

Today on the website we have something new on offer: Mealarkey, an array of new writing on or about or connected to food. There are stories. There are poems....

Cover Reveal: My Ardent Love for the Pencil by Vi Khi Nao

We are pleased to reveal the cover for Vi Khi Nao’s poetry collection, My Ardent Love for the Pencil, which will be released in September. David...

Bye for Now, a short story by Caitlin Brady

Editor’s note: We just moved this newsletter from Substack to Buttondown. We’ll skip the explanation, as plenty of people have written about their issues...

Detective Novel

The story of this book and a look at the final cover

I started writing this yesterday, toward evening, and because it is about food I began to think about dinner, and the fact that I needed to make something...

On Going For It

Hello! John here. I’m writing this post for Malarkey’s newsletter because Boxcutters, my short story collection, is coming out today. It’s also my birthday....

a short story by Lucas Restivo

Sound Cloud Anime Washroom

A short story by Xavier Garcia

We’re Reading

Don’t send your book. I can’t read it. It’s boring really good. I will probably forgot to reply to your email with “Sorry, we’re not looking at books right...

I wanted to say something funny about failure. I had a sentence typed out, but it felt empty, superficial. Failure is serious, not like we can’t joke about...

Happy Poetry Month

which coincides nicely with this National Hair Shirt Day

To celebrate the last day of this year’s AWP bookfair, everything in the Malarkey store is 25% off. The code is AWP25. 25% off everything with code AWP25 I’m...

Spring Break Anti-Sale

I should be on my way to Los Angeles. If I was an idle rich, as the Lord intended, I would be there now, just waking up, enjoying a nice cup of coffee...

Bodily Pain and Poetry

Hair Shirt, by Adrian Sobol

Episode 7: Itoro Bassey

LJ talks with Itoro Bassey about her book, Faith, and what writers she returns to again and again, and how she balances journalism, and what they’re inspired...

Malarkey Forever!

February 15, 2025

I just sent out the file for Malarkey Forever, a digital sampler featuring the work of sixteen of our authors. It’s just under 33,000 words. Everyone who...

An Anniversary, and a Milestone

February 8, 2025

I knew as soon as I got to the decapitation (third paragraph) that Malarkey was going to publish LJ’s book. No regrets. It’s been out for a year now and...

January 18, 2025

Happy New Year or whatever. It might not be, or like always it will be a mix, right. It’s hard to celebrate when one is mindful of all the trouble in the...

January 1, 2025

Amusing anecdote that lays out the theme I made an old-timer laugh at the hardware store the other day. I say hardware store, but it was Lowes. We had a gift...

December 27, 2024

We are 51% toward our all-or-nothing fundraising goal, with three weeks left. The best thing about if we make it is I won’t have to promote it anymore....

December 12, 2024

Gonna Make It . . .

December 7, 2024

it's cold out there!

Malarkey Monday

November 29, 2024

Discounts, Free Books, Etc.

Cover Reveal, Hair Shirt by Adrian Sobol

November 25, 2024

And samples from the book + a Project Malarkey update

November 20, 2024

People compliment us on the quality of our books sometimes, and I have to shamefacedly admit that they’re all print on demand. In some circles, print on...

On Describing What My Book Is About

November 18, 2024

I have always struggled to talk about my own writing. When people ask me what my book is about, I mumble something about short stories in rural settings,...

Project Malarkey

November 13, 2024

A Particular Deer

November 11, 2024

just in time for hunting season

November 5, 2024

An Incomplete List of Sources, Intended for the Obfuscation of the Reader

October 31, 2024

LJ talks about death and other spooky stuff with Laura Paul and Lauren Bolger

Hellarkey Vol. 3

October 26, 2024

featuring "Worm Wake," a story by Neil Wilcox

October 7, 2024

Nevins and Miller Talk Shop

October 2, 2024

a cover reveal + preorders are now open for The Barre Incidents!

The Killed Covers of First Aid for Choking Victims

September 26, 2024

+ the one we picked

Manuscript Check

September 23, 2024

Notes on getting your doc ready for print and ebook publication