Alex DiFrancesco

Dogs are unconditional love. It’s absurd how pure their love is.

They are a labor of love, made all year round and frozen for summer bazaars, doused in butter, sheer perfection.

If you have never eaten a pierogi made by a Polish grandma to support her church, you have not eaten a pierogi.

Two things I'm truly excited about at the prospect of working in my hometown twice a year (if I get this low res MFA gig):

Digging into archives to learn more about my dad's radio history
Motherfucking perogi made by Polish grandmas from church bazaars.

The Grief Shop From the author of Transmutation comes a linked collection of speculative short fiction following a woman who navigates surreal jobs in a near-future dystopia, where people have become completely numb...

Hey, man -- preorder! Or come get your copy on June 4th at the Strand, or June 13th at WORD in Brooklyn!

Jeanne Thronton said it's a "gift" and Andrea Lawlor called it a "perfect little short story collection."

www.sevenstories.com/books/4823-t...

I miss my dog.

Full line-up here:

Poetry has entered the chat Conversations with/through/about poetry in the Greatest City in the World

Our little Philly Writers Circle series got a write-up at a local poetry newsletter! Read all the wonderful reasons you should come out to Ray's Happy Birthday Bar TOMORROW at 7ish to see some great readers and enjoy community!

letsphuckingo.substack.com/p/poetry-has...

Someone posted the most blatant AI summary "review" of one of my books on Goodreads. It reads like the worst high school student's plagiarized essay. Not an "I thought" or "I felt" in the whole long-ass missive. Unsurprisingly! AI can't think or feel.

Also, idk if you were much of an “exploring abandoned places” kid when you were there, but my new novel is all about the allegedly haunted places of that area!

Oh man, if you need a beta reader with regional knowledge, I’m your guy. :)

An NA spritz & ASHLAND by Dan Simon, editor at @sevenstories.bsky.social

Supporting Sex Workers Sex work has often been maligned, stigmatized, and plagued by damaging myths about the industry and the people involved in it. This even extends to the care professionals who aim to support sex worker...

While I’m at it, this is another book I commissioned, on how to support sex workers in therapeutic settings, by a therapist with lived experience as a sex worker.

us.jkp.com/products/sup...

THE Strand! Excited to see you there!!!

I was only an editor for about 3 years, but I know I helped some books come into the world that made a real impact.

Of many important books I commissioned as an editor, this one feels particularly important! The first book of its kind, in which queer Latine kids can see themselves through history. I planned on commissioning one for each demographic, but left my job before I could. I’m so proud of this one tho!

Also! Cafe Metro!

Yeah, Wilkes-Barre is a weird town. It was desolate in the 90s when I lived there. It’s gotten a bit better, I hear, but I haven’t been back there very much in a very long time!

You’re from Scranton??? Get out! Wilkes-Barre, here. Well, Larksville more accurately lol

Losing your dad when you’re a kid is a headfuck. You spend the rest of your life trying to figure out who he was as a real person, not just as your dad.

And it makes me very happy that he’s fondly remembered by people who never even met him. I hope his spirit knows he was loved & still is.

This is not a brag! I know being a big deal in a small town is not a big deal! But it truly astonished me to see how many people knew and loved the guy. Makes my bitter lil heart warm.

Must have been highly embarrassing to have a drugged out weirdo for a kid, lol. But he loved me more than the rest of my family did, so I guess it wasn’t that bad

We would be going somewhere and get derailed by everyone we met, which was obnoxious to me. Also he was *my* dad, wtf did all these people want to talk to him for lol

What’s been hilarious to me since I’ve been digging into my dad’s radio history was that he was a local celebrity. I know being a celebrity in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is not a big deal, but it explains why everyone talked to him like he was the mayor when I was a kid. It annoyed me so much.

It is wild to me that neither of my parents graduated from college and I teach in a Master’s program.

Ah, I’m mostly happy I met a kindred spirit in publishing, but ALSO that this book speaks to you!!!

Wait never mind, check your email lol

Thanks, babe! I need your email address btw!

The other two artists involved (not on Bluesky) are people I grew up with who are deeply inspired by haunted PA, and who I used to go ghost hunting with!