Alligator by David Ryan is out today from Cash4Gold Books. Can’t wait to read!

We’re thrilled to announce our Pushcart Prize nominations for 2026: “On Craft” by Erica Dawson “Clutch” by Stephanie Frazee “Holes” by Nicole Desjardins Gowdy “Cooking Lesson” by Shira Haus “Five O’Clock Shadow in Philly” by Allen Means “The Opposite of Dusk” by Ron Riekki

It’s that time of year again!

Can’t wait to read this! Out 11/30 from Cash4Gold books. Preorder here: bookshop.org/p/books/alli...

“Poor Historian” by @rriekki.bsky.social haunts long after the read.

New remote classes starting this week with David Ryan: Studies in Shadow Form (starts tomorrow, Thursday, 7/24) and Irrealism: Surrealism and the Lyric Essay (starts Sunday, 7/27). His classes are so inspiring and generative! More info and signup here: curiovox.com/185-2/

What's in the box?

@variantlit.bsky.social’s own @barbaralockmd.bsky.social Her story’s sunlit-subtle menace will have you looking over your shoulder in a literary way!

What an honor! Thanks @variantlit.bsky.social for seeing something in this story!

A delightful and tender piece that I could read over and over and over again.

Congratulations Elijah! In case you missed it, read this @wigleaf.bsky.social Top 50 here:

"The mouse in the grass gains confidence, and it is harder and harder to keep track of her. She runs around and starts to remember herself, the part of her that ran through grasses in past lives." Read "Red White Fur" by Sonny Fillmore, about a snake, a mouse, a boy variantlit.com/red-white-fur/

"She presses her glossy lips together over a folded white napkin. When she pulls the paper from her mouth, there’s a perfect print of two coral lips—a Rorschach test: a butterfly. a boy. a blowfish. an ocean." Read this Micro Series by Laci Mosier from issue 21 variantlit.com/micro-series/

@derekshirae.bsky.social ‘s “Terminal” serves up strange snacks and an unlikely protagonist.

Yikes. Wondering where we’ll be even a year from now on this front.

“It’s kind of exhausting maintaining everything I have going on, which isn’t that much, but even without ambitions you still have to go and be whoever it is you’ve been for however long you’ve been alive.” So excited to have this new #flashfiction in Variant Lit. variantlit.com/sparrows-wor...

One urgent care visit takes an unexpected turn in @beebs44120.bsky.social ‘s “Nothing Dead in Your Ear.” Read it in Issue 21 from @variantlit.bsky.social here: variantlit.com/nothing-dead...

Cannot recommend David Ryan’s classes strongly enough! His revision course is 🔥, the craft classes so generative! Check out the what’s starting soon along with other opportunities here: curiovox.com

Prose, lighthearted and somber—little somethings for everyone in Summer Issue 21!

This one catches you midsteam and pulls you under. If only it didn’t hit so close to home. 🧚

Wonderful work in this issue, check it out!

A bit late to the party, but wow! Whoa! What a way to kick off summer reading.

I've designed the cover already for Issue 19 & I've drafted an article explaining the several key changes to Stanchion Magazine. All I need is your brilliant prose & poetry. Who's gonna send in something on June 16th for Stanchion's first ever guest editor, @fbereaud.bsky.social, to read?

I’ve found @esmewang.com’s free guides helpful and generative. This class could help get your memoir started!

Acceptance post! I’m so delighted @variantlit.bsky.social magazine has accepted a new #flashfiction of mine. I can’t wait to share it with everyone! ✨🌼🙌🎉 If you haven’t checked out the poetry and prose in Variant’s spring issue it’s a stunner variantlit.com/issue-twenty/

A new neat thing from Lemon Grove Writers! I’ve created 30 poetry prompts for April, and I’ll be emailing one out each morning (around 6am Central) for the whole month. Here's the link if you want to join in! lemongrovewriters.com/april-prompts

Sign up for this co-writing session! We had lots of poets in the last one, some short story writers, a novelist! Bring a current project or write something new: www.eventbrite.com/e/1257239500...

Let us help your story love you back! Imagine if your writing could treat you to a cup of coffee and pastry, or a drop in the rent bucket! We’re open for subs until April 5, and we pay! variantlit.com/submit/

"asking me again what kind of bird & yes for me a reason to wear the red wool mittens my mother knitted forty years ago" Read "Beyond the Frost" by @rich-jordan.bsky.social from Issue 20 🍓 variantlit.com/beyond-the-f...

"I spun quick as a whip, and there I saw him. Flopped on the floor, the chair overturned. I stared blankly—like a dog who’s finally caught his tail." Maybe you've seen him too? Read "The Man in the Corner of My Eye" by Nathaniel Mumau, from Issue 20 variantlit.com/the-man-in-t...

A story about two kids seeking redemption in the spirit world: variantlit.com/the-spirit-f...

Cluster flies are waking up for spring. Get vibing with it—read this buzzy piece from @variantlit.bsky.social’s own @megjnic.bsky.social!

Don’t pass up this chance to write in community!

Send us your most best, most gorgeous prose. Can’t wait to read it!

“He doubted she could really talk to spirits, but part of him really wanted to believe.” Manifesting something true, centered in this tale from Tom Lee: variantlit.com/the-spirit-f...

“I couldn’t even find the word that was my sister’s name. I wanted to run out that door into the night and keep on running. The cold and wind would hurt more than anything, but that’s what I deserved.” Haunting tale from @pahoehoe.bsky.social : variantlit.com/soft-and-war...

“The things you say to me now are only for now. If you teach the bird, she will continue to say them for years to come.” All the ways love endures in this story by Thom Hawkins: variantlit.com/a-legacy-of-...

“They moved into the little house that stood quietly between two pine trees. Inside, they made small meals in a tiny kitchen. Inside, they slept fitfully in dark rooms. Inside, no one could tell the truth.” Read e. säfverblad nelson’s magical realist tale here: variantlit.com/spine-of-har...

“Do you know the feeling? In a dark room, when your attention is elsewhere? Preoccupation wanes for a moment, and there he is. In the corner of your eye—the silhouette of a man.” Uncanny chills abound here, from Nathaniel Mumau: variantlit.com/the-man-in-t...

“When I sleep with the oncology resident, I wonder if my father will get better care. Maybe now he’ll qualify for the trial he supposedly can’t get into…” Love shown in ways both quiet and loud in @bsherm36.bsky.social’s variantlit.com/t4-n1/

“On the center of the raft, atop a bed of knit twigs, lies my betta, Erik Finn, orange and blue, like ‘a volcano at night,’ Dad said once, stoned.” Fly to to Valhalla on the wings of @travisflatt.bsky.social’s flash: variantlit.com/sail-on-valh...

“On her days off, Rita tidies up. She stacks the coins… arranges the bills so that the Georges are with other Georges, the Abes with other Abes... Soon enough, there are a lot of them, fat stacks of vinegary faces.” Read @sfreligh.bsky.social’s story here: variantlit.com/the-girl-mos...

“Egg just sat there… never left dirty dishes on the counter or trash next to the can. I could make whatever I wanted for dinner… Egg never complained. He was the perfect partner, silently bearing witness to my life.” @stephiosaurus.bsky.social ruffles some feathers… variantlit.com/clutch/

“I meowed in response. I was five—thirty-seven in cat years, and cats didn’t speak Japanese or need parents. Benji, cats are seen not heard, Grandpa barked.” Stellar micro series by @kyleisamu.bsky.social. Read it here: variantlit.com/the-ways-we-...

“The last time I saw my brother, Jay, a comet seared the night sky. I’m not saying the two things are connected, that the shit we did that night was cosmically important. But sometimes I wonder.” In “We Blazed,” by @amethystwrites.bsky.social, wonder and awe abound: variantlit.com/we-blazed/

“The shower curtain was opaque. Anything could’ve been happening on the other side.” In @queercomrades.bsky.social ‘s “Zizzi,” anything—even love, is possible. Read it here: variantlit.com/zizzi/

“I’d spent years here – hiding from my parents and siblings, listening to the same ten records on repeat, necking with pimply-faced boyfriends. I lost my virginity on that couch, barely visible underneath all the boxes.” Secrets are brought to light in @scmart.bsky.social’s variantlit.com/pogo/

“I thought the word sounded like a magic spell. It even begins with hex. A sort of abracadabra meets hydrocarbons.” This piece by Ron Riekki resonates: variantlit.com/the-opposite...

“The clink of her drained mug on the glass-top table recalls the litter of shot glasses… Both times, his weren’t the only eyes staring back.” @jmcm.bsky.social on the ways we try to escape ourselves variantlit.com/song-of-reas...

I forget there are 15 volcanoes surrounding me, five of them active, one of which destroyed my cousin’s home. Auntie Mel blamed Pele. I told her the gods have better things to do. Damn!! Read these amazing micros from @kyleisamu.bsky.social in @variantlit.bsky.social!!