Sūdō Journal
A journal from the fringes of civilised society.
Volume 6 submissions open now!
sudojournal.com
Cover image: “Heart on a Wire“ (CC0 1.0 Universal) by Alan Levine.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 1: Blood, Sweat and Tears "The men and machines were moved out and the land the airfields sat on sold off. For many fields this was the inevitable outcome; Reid River was no different." From "A Retrospective..." by Andrew Sibley.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE "A policeman arrived just in time, yet he did not clap a single man into handcuffs. Instead he simply clapped. Elsie was dumbstruck; he had actually given the mob a round of applause." "Here on the Home Front" by Rodney Williams. sudojournal.com/burning-brid...
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 4: Touch Wood ""Honestly,” the internet sensation demanded of its audience, “haven’t you anything better to do? Read Voltaire. Read Wittgenstein. Read. Anything. You plonkers.”" From "Possum Hunt" by Jane Downing.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 3: Burning Bridges "And you, Narcissus? You will burn in those foul, dark flames. The forest pool in which you find your deeply loved reflection will evaporate in the heat." From "Risen" by Amy Windsor.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 3: Burning Bridges "She is happy for them. She is happy that their sadness and anxiety was temporary and had a fixed locus. But she is also reminded that her sadness was never their sadness at all." From "Stop the Bus and Pray for Me" by Lianda Burrows. shorturl.at/AJZSW
- We want to read your work! Submissions are now open for Sūdō Journal volume 6: "Disconnect." Submissions close June 30, 2025 for our December 2025 issue. sudojournal.com/submissions
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 3: Burning Bridges "Suddenly he hoisted the sledgehammer over his head then brought it down top of the TV with impressive force and stunning violence." From "Uncle Kev" by Peter Horgan. shorturl.at/AJZSW
- Reposted by Sūdō JournalIn case you missed it: Jade Croft and I wrote a piece on our experiences of studying the humanities in regional Australia and how they are at the pointy end of a long, international decline in the humanities in the English-speaking world doi.org/10.56449/146...
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 2: Hot Under the Collar "The feeling I had was akin to that feeling you get when you’re watching a movie with your parents and a sex scene comes on. It was silently, yet undeniably, awkward." "Ways of Seeing Sex" by Emma Maguire.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 2: Hot Under the Collar "A silver mask, eerily animated, in perfect repose, faces the worshippers. Serene and benign but still powerful. Enduring." From "Take Me to Church" by Tina Morganella, in Sudo Journal volume 2.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 4: Touch Wood "The tree has arms. The sky has eyes. We will drink water from the river, on the way to ourselves." From "Two Poems Translated in English with the Original in Russian" by Ivan de Monbrison, in Sudo Journal v4.
- "And the space and the heavy air / of the cabin / envelops us / with something infinite / like an insatiable / feeling of love." Read "Listening to A Moon Shaped Pool by Anton Lushankin in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "Bodies engineered for production redefine themselves through the mechanics of attachment, of the experience of palatable human emotions. The slow progression of love, artificial skin finding humanity, is an act of creation. Life is formed, captured, through deviation."
- "He fumbled a large ring on which two dozen keys hung, and riffled through them like a cumbersome deck of cards. When the right key clinked inside the latch, the door swung with the ungracefulness of a dust storm."
- Reposted by Sūdō Journal👍 AI mirage 👎 AI hallucination So many have objected to "hallucination" as a description of faulty AI outputs. We need a term that doesn't suggest conscious delusion. @xolotl.org and I analyzed 80+ alternatives and settled on "mirage." We make the case here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
- "In the brief moment of unconsciousness, the world around us is quiet, still. And when my mother wakes, the effort to see, to hear, to breathe is so immense that she contemplates, briefly, if she should let the falling snow kiss her skin into oblivion."
- "I like to leave it bare as words / on a tomb, death, the place / where no one wants to follow." Read "Follow" by Nancy Anne Miller in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "The physical approach enriches this recirculation while creating space for interpretation and discussion, functioning as a distancing or defamiliarisation effect in the style of Epic Theatre."
- "Pop was the most accessible of magic spells because, like a spell, one had to repeat a string of words, and like an incantation, it worked something improbable on the body, a sensation akin to fever, an illness that sedated the brain and worked every limb to the extreme."
- "My father has always shown his fondness for me. But then, why do I always feel like there is this hidden hate somewhere inside him, waiting to manifest toward me at the right time?" Read "My Father" by Chukwuemeka Famous in our latest volume, "Eras": buff.ly/418VcOA
- "Proudly displaying its Red Yellow Punk head / Punk attitude With black Abandoned eyes Watching" Read "Lest They Embellish a More Voluptuous Region" by Troy Walsh in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "In the era of #MeToo, stories about sexual assault and gender-based violence are receiving more media attention than ever before. But what are we meant to do with this information? What are we meant to do when every time we turn on the news we are confronted with another story?"
- "The heat and damp swirled as I stepped out of the shade of the palms. At 7 a.m. it was a thick gruel, like Satan had left the door to Hades open. This morning he’d cooked a stew of diesel and mouldy leaves and roadkill."
- Reposted by Sūdō JournalI did the 35 Questions to Fall in Love with ChatGPT (amongst other trials). Super excited to have "Jailbreaking" out with @sudojournal.bsky.social @tenille.bsky.social ! You can find my obsessive research here: sudojournal.com/wp-content/u...
- "I also stare intently at every plant I pass that has bee-friendly flowers on it when I’m out and about. I can watch the neighbour’s basil for ages. My family, of course, think I’m mad. Then again, they always did, so this isn’t a new development."
- "Are they aware of other worlds, forces / beyond their small pond – that their universe / has the security and permanence of a junk bond?" Read "The Vivarium" by Jeremy Gadd in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "As in the case of concrete (which had surrounded me particularly in my professional or workaday life as an academic), it had taken the material-affective qualities of Sydney sandstone for me to start linking biography and place; embodied experience and existential issues to do with migration . . .
- "I had gone to his motel room that night, I had undressed, he had heaved me, up and down, my arms around his neck, like I was nothing. I liked the feeling of being nothing." Read "Transit" by BLT in our new volume "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "Last night: I am in a dream world with him. He slashes my face with a scalpel. Left to right. North to South. The soft flesh of my face is scored like a fresh mango." Read "Peach" (and check out the accompanying artwork, "Futile") by Courtney Mason in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "When the angel came to reap the end of time, some children’s / parties were disrupted. To compensate, I hopped like a frog, / blew a blast on my own plastic bugle." Read "When the Angel Put an End to Time" by Andrew Leggett in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras/
- "Your words, your thistle seeds, blow away on the wind in mad anarchy aiming to take root." Read "Variegated, Fissiparous Animations: An Australian Writing Memoir" by Moya Costello in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/latest-issue/
- "I had heard of Pumpkin Men before, but I’d never seen one in the (lack of) flesh. He was about six foot eight though, and I felt my face go flush at receiving attention from someone so tall. Even someone with a gourd as a head." Read "The Pumpkin Man" by Kevin B in our new volume, "Eras."
- Reposted by Sūdō JournalSomehow, and despite my best efforts to detonate the journal after three issues (my plan from the outset) Sūdō Journal keeps on keeping on! Congratulations @tenille.bsky.social and @bethanykeats.bsky.social on the release of volume 5!
- Our 2024 volume, "Eras," is now available for your reading pleasure! Thank you to all of our contributors for trusting us with your brilliant pieces - it's been such a joy to work on this issue. Read the complete volume here: sudojournal.com/eras
- Reposted by Sūdō Journalvery honored to tell you my short story "hit immunity" is on this!! thank you @sudojournal.bsky.social for having me 🩷 sudojournal.com/latest-issue/
- Our 2024 volume, "Eras," is now available for your reading pleasure! Thank you to all of our contributors for trusting us with your brilliant pieces - it's been such a joy to work on this issue. Read the complete volume here: sudojournal.com/eras
- Reposted by Sūdō JournalWriters and poets. Have you seen my lists and Starter Packs - hundreds of writers, poets, litmags and presses. #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #Litmags LitMags bsky.app/profile/laco... Poets bsky.app/profile/laco... Writers bsky.app/profile/laco... Starter Pack #1 bsky.app/starter-pack...
