JOY DEVA BAGLIO • WRITER
  • About
  • Short Stories
  • News
  • Substack
  • Events
  • Media
  • Consulting / Editing
  • Contact
    • The Word Collector

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
They Could Have Been Yours (Reprint)
Apex Magazine
Spring 2023 | Issue 136

Originally Published in The Missouri Review (spring 2022)

"IT'S 8AM ON A MONDAY, AND I'M CURLED IN BED, eating cereal from a plastic bowl and browsing the Site, indulging a secret, bitter part of myself that likes to keep tabs on the past. I’m used to seeing every type of announcement, but there’s something about J’s engagement post, something I hadn’t expected, that pricks me like a tack. Perhaps it’s that no one wants to see a former lover happily engaged, especially not first thing in the morning, or maybe it’s the constant commenting of mutual friends, continually pushing the post to the top of the feed. He has a beard now and longish hair; still attractive, but in a cusp-of-middle-age kind of way. He’s wearing angular sunglasses and grinning, arms around a petite, rabbit-faced brunette, the ring on her finger thrust into the foreground like a small glittery moon..." continue reading
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
- Connect -
- Upcoming Events -
AWP 2026 Events, at the 2026 Conference in Baltimore
March 5 - 7, 2026, in Baltimore, MD 
  • Nevermore: A Haunted Literary Reading, at the Lord Baltimore Hotel Theater • Thursday, March 5 at 6pm • Featuring Carmen Maria Machado, GennaRose Nethercott, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Matthew Lansburgh, Jennifer Pullen, & Joy Baglio • Learn More / RSVP

  • Speculating the Machine: How Fiction Writers Are Rendering a New AI Reality • with Sequoia Nagamatsu, Jane Pek, Erika Swyler, & Allegra Hyde • Learn More

  • Smiling at the End of the World: Why Dystopian Fiction Gives Us Hope • with Ciera McElroy, Brenda Peynado, Michelle Stirling, & Sequoia Nagamatsu • Learn More
- Alone in a Room: Substack -
Welcome! Alone in a Room is my writing / craft Substack (and newsletter), featuring craft teaching, original writing prompts, what I'm reading and thinking about, upcoming events, and general writing-related thoughts! Visit Substack Page!
  • About
  • Short Stories
  • News
  • Substack
  • Events
  • Media
  • Consulting / Editing
  • Contact
    • The Word Collector