So much greatness in this issue! Including a review of ALL THE DEAD WE HAVE YET TO BURY. Including stories by @thedrevlow.bsky.social @fionamckay.bsky.social @sudhab.bsky.social and a review of @mynachang.bsky.social's book!!!!

Thanks so much to the great D.E. Hardy and Claudine the cat for publishing this little pome of mine titled "Yes, I did break in and steal your cat."

Coming this Monday, humans! 🐈‍⬛🔥🐈‍⬛ @sudhab.bsky.social @thedrevlow.bsky.social @fionamckay.bsky.social @marioaliberto3.bsky.social @mynachang.bsky.social

For the humpday crowd. For the people who call Thursday "humpday." Only. Nobody else. If you read it and you're not a humpday person shame on you.

Very grateful to the great folks @literarygarage.bsky.social for taking a chance on this dark little ditty from my series: "Dateline Love Advice." It'd make my day if you'd take a look or at least check out their other great stuff literarygarage.com/the-thing-ab...

This one is funny, disturbing, brutally honest, and impossible to turn away from. An excellent story from @thedrevlow.bsky.social about desire, regret, and the lies we tell ourselves to keep going. Now live at The Garage: literarygarage.com/the-thing-ab... 🎸🎸🎸

"When the neighbor says Morning, and you nod and say, Not too bad." I dig this little piece of writing by @thedrevlow.bsky.social 💙💙💙

Here's a thing to read in the 45 seconds between doomscrolling and getting back to you miserable job: Thanks so much to @delgeo14.bsky.social & Marie-Louise McGuinness from Raw Lit for publishing it. And to Amy Marques for the great artwork. rawlit.weebly.com/8_4.html.

If you're looking for a thing to do for a minute or two between yawning and hating Monday (hating this trashfire of world), here's a thing I wrote mohawks & the Rapture. Major thanks to @citywidelunch for putting it out into the world: citywidelunch.wordpress.com/the-devils-d...

On Raw Lit - Issue 8 rawlit.weebly.com/8_4.html Misspoke ​by Amy Marques @amymarques.bsky.social & Social Niceties by Benjamin Drevlow @thedrevlow.bsky.social

For the weekend crew:

We are delighted to publish Tracy Fuad’s (@tracyfuad.bsky.social) extraordinary little poem, “Living.” In just a few words, she manages to build this vast interconnected universe where objects and bodies seamlessly blur together: bulbregion.com/Living-by-Tr...

If you missed it yesterday, I've got this new story, on the beautiful new journal, @bulbregion.bsky.social. It's real short. But with big heart! Thanks. bulbregion.com/Big-Things-S...

Our next iteration goes live tomorrow with two amazing pieces but before that, make sure to have a look at The Bulb Region writer Tracy Fuad’s (@tracyfuad.bsky.social) beautiful poem, “Birth,” in The Paris Review: www.theparisreview.org/poetry/7971/...

Our new iteration goes live today with Ryan-Ashley Anderson’s (@femmeintheory.bsky.social) incredible gut-punch of a story, “Booby Traps.” It’s honest, it’s brutal — make sure you don’t miss this one: bulbregion.com/Booby-Traps-...

The second piece of the day comes from the one and only Zac Smith (@zacsmithtweeto.bsky.social). “Three Smallies” is funny, brilliant, and… delightfully weird: bulbregion.com/Three-Smalli...

finally having a quiet moment to dig into @bulbregion.bsky.social... and there's two new stories! started with this @femmeintheory.bsky.social stunner. so good! "If we don’t have a name for it, we can’t be punished, right? Can you be punished for breaking a rule you didn’t know?"

Y'all need to check this one out. From the mad genius of my hero @sarpsozdinler.bsky.social. And it looks gorgeous.

Love City Lunch so much & hugely grateful for publishing this story about hairdressing & the rapture. Would be forever in your debt if you'd bother to take a gander & maybe even spread the news of the rapture. Or just check out the other goods City Lunch citywidelunch.wordpress.com/the-devils-d...

Love City Lunch so much & hugely grateful for publishing this story about hairdressing & the rapture. Would be forever in your debt if you'd bother to take a gander & maybe even spread the news of the rapture. Or just check out the other goods City Lunch citywidelunch.wordpress.com/the-devils-d...

@thedrevlow.bsky.social's "The Ghost of Johnny Cash Sings of Fire" medium.com/p/ba8b8315c5d6

Coming Soon! Raw Lit - Issue 8 Contributors 1/2 Mario Aliberto III Michael Anthony Sumayya Arshed Dorian Bayley Benjamin Drevlow @thedrevlow.bsky.social Victor Georgakopoulos Oliver Kleyer @funnyfrogget.bsky.social Mirjana M. @cyanidecherries.bsky.social

Thanks so much to trampset for nominating "The Ghost of Johnny Cash Sings of Fire" for Best Small Fictions. It meant a ton to have one of my favorites even take it and it means even more that they'd nominate from all the other great stuff they publish. Congrats to all.

My high school basketball coach decided we needed a come-to-jesus meeting to clear the air & define our roles. He went down the whole roster: you're our leader, you're our go-to guy... you're our rebounder... Then got to me: well, ben, you're my sweat hog.... And here I am 30 years later.

This one by Katy Haas is pretty f&cking great too: "i had a dream last night that Stone Cold Steve Austin was helping me rearrange furniture & i kept calling him Stone instead of his actual name but he was fine with it" @publishedbyjake.bsky.social jakethemag.com/i-had-a-drea...

This is pretty f*ckin brilliant: "Natalie is a dragon guarding a pile of Cheetos, wandering up and down mountains frozen in fairy tales." --Natalie Wolf @publishedbyjake.bsky.social jakethemag.com/quantum-theo...

A true trouser snake is no laughing matter. It can be deadly. It can inject you with its venom. It can reproduce if you don’t watch it. Watching it is important. Handling it too. Lord knows there are never enough skilled trouser snake handlers around when you really need them.

Please consider helping out and/or at least spreading the word

Kid lying on the floor at Ikea after sticking his pinky finger under his dad’s shopping cart: owie [starts crying] Father of kid crying on the floor at Ikea after sticking his pinky finger under his cart: Well why’d stick your finger under the cart then? Me: I see ya, lil bruh.

Merry Christmas. Here’s some money. I don’t know how to shop for you anymore. You never come home. I’m gonna die soon. Your dad is too. Your nephews are already in high school. It wouldn’t kill you to call at least. Well, hope you buy something nice for yourself at least. Love –Mom

Most of why I do BULL is to be able to publish writers that don't often get published by the capital L-lit mags, but then every once in a while I get something from one of my heroes without even asking them, and Sean Thomas Dougherty (@seanthomasd.bsky.social) is one of those:

Crop-dusting in Ikea while singing to myself "Crop-dusting in Ikea-ah" to the tune of Neil Diamond's "Coming to America"

You ever wonder what happens to all the deodorant? Like, does it all go straight to our brains? I guess that's why some people are happy stinking. #gamingthesystem

Neil Young said it’s better to burn out than fade away. But the real answer is lifelong irrelevance will never let you down.

Imagine you're a quarter horse. Your whole life being compared to thoroughbreds. Keep the cash, you say, gimme back my three quarters.

Learned from Wordle this morning that "apoop" is a word. It's just not THE word.

Me to the puppy: you may be cute but your breath smells like ass. Me to the puppy: but that's okay I'm ugly and my sweatpants smell like piss. Me to the puppy: We all have our cross to bear.

Thank you so much @thedrevlow.bsky.social for publishing my latest weirdness in @mrbullbull.bsky.social 'Obituary / Bryant Farmer (1975-2025)'

"Alexa says it’s gonna rain for weeks & pigs will drown & cows will starve and horses will take off for the highlands, breaking news: a certain local reporter has been arrested for breaking and entering–everybody’s hearts, including his own." flashboulevard.wordpress.com/2025/11/22/b...

Huge thanks to @francinewitte.bsky.social and Flash Boulevard for publishing this little story about how hard it is to dig a hole for a dead body in real life. Would be eternally grateful if you'd maybe take a looksy and see if you agree.

Huge thanks to @francinewitte.bsky.social and Flash Boulevard for publishing this little story about how hard it is to dig a hole for a dead body in real life. Would be eternally grateful if you'd maybe take a looksy and see if you agree.

Nice work in Flash Boulevard today from @thedrevlow.bsky.social. If people aren't subscribing to it (or checking out @mrbullbull.bsky.social for that matter) they're missing out.

Please read and then share and then check out his music, especially this one, this one is your new anthem: twocowgarage1.bandcamp.com/track/let-th...

Dear ChatGPT: Teach me how to live..., love..., laugh...

Tend to roll my eyes a bit when some singer dies and everybody's suddenly their biggest fans, but gotta say Todd Snider going is really bumming me out. Him & his folk/country uncles Jerry Jeff, Prine, Shaver, & Kristofferson all in 5 years. That's a major downer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL_E...

Yo, tonight I'm gonna totally rawdog that unprotected sex. JK. I hate babies. Not your babies. Just babies in general. JK Babies are a gift from god. Children are our future. We'd all be totally fucked if people stopped rawdogging for babies. Humanity'd, like, cease to exist. After we're all dead.

I'm not "pro alcoholism" necessarily, I just miss you pissing your life away so we could get drunk and you could laugh at my shitty jokes all night til we blacked out.

I may not be rich. I may not be famous. But I have at least 4 spots in my backyard where I can pee at any time day or night without my neighbors seeing me. #livingthedream

Sometimes I’ll catch myelf grinding my teeth over the course of a day & I’ll imagine my dentist threatening to make me wear a mouthguard but then I imagine myself no teeth & how much better that would feel, gum on gum, no sharp edges poke or prick, a hug for your barren mouth.

This isn’t me in a depression-coma on the couch, this me all 325 pounds holding on for dear life as I fight off the repo men in my brain for the soul of this couch.