Huge congratulations Ben Kline! It Was Never Supposed To Be is the 2026 Lambda Literary Award Winner for Gay Poetry!! @benkline.bsky.social
Let good literature mold your mind. Start here:
In a different world, our feed would be full of art and beauty, like @kplumhoff.bsky.social ‘s illuminating spark. Read it and catch the light!
“A bottle slides just enough to break the pattern when his sleeve catches it, and he stills it with two fingers like it is fragile, like it contains the part of his brother that might still be reachable."
from Micro Series by Joseph Randolph
variantlit.com/micro-joseph...
“*You’re funny*, said Beatrice. Her ex-boyfriend was dull and didn’t like to joke.
*You’re beautiful*, said the ant. *Like a flower.*”
@noramaynard.bsky.social in @variantlit.bsky.social variantlit.com/the-peony-ant/
What would happen if you dreamed a new life and moved away from the old? Find out —read “Something,” @nickdmytrow.bsky.social ‘s first published work of fiction!
Can’t say enough about this gorgeous story!
Empathy is at the heart of this devastating flash from N. D. Stone.
Lessons in how to love another, rendered exquisitely by Joseph Randolph.
“A bottle slides just enough to break the pattern when his sleeve catches it, and he stills it with two fingers like it is fragile, like it contains the part of his brother that might still be reachable."
from Micro Series by Joseph Randolph
variantlit.com/micro-joseph...
"Go ahead and tell me I’m thinking too narrowly, that I’m asking too much. That my questions miss the mark."
Read "Graydough" by Adina Leschinsky Levine
variantlit.com/graydough/
Read "In a different world, I am not a stranger to this ranch," by @kplumhoff.bsky.social from Variant issue 23
variantlit.com/in-a-differe...
“They’re Irish, the others…. They pull up quietly, disrobe, and walk the sloped path right into the ocean…. Like stepping into their showers, they do this. He’s not sure if that makes them more crazy or less.”
Read all of “Something” by @nickdmytrow.bsky.social in @variantlit.bsky.social Issue 23.
"Around town, they called the factory Mother. Mother had a hundred divisions. Sometimes, when Yvette came home after a shift, her breath smelled like metal. Smelled like the opaque white plumes from the incinerators and the agitating spaces."
Read "Exposure" by David Ryan
variantlit.com/exposure/
"Truth is, I don’t go outside anymore. Don’t open my door. My mother’s wallet lies empty on the table like a gutted fish. I found it on our welcome mat, still warm from her hand when they took her."
Read "The Hollow" by N.D. Stone
variantlit.com/the-hollow/
