beestung is a quarterly online micro-magazine for non-binary, genderqueer, and two-spirit writers and readers, with an emphasis on intracommunity sensibilities and exploration and expansiveness. beestung resists the canon and all forms of bigotry.

We’re particularly interested in exploration and the expansiveness and possibilities of writing and art.

beestung considers poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrids, and art by creators who fall under the non-binary umbrella, genderqueer umbrella, and two-spirit umbrella. Multilingual work and work in translation is welcome. 

Historically underrepresented writers are encouraged to send work. beestung pays a $20 honorarium to writers and artists selected for publication.

we don't publish work by women, only two-spirit, genderqueer, and non-binary writers.

The best hybrid magazines laugh at established rules, mixing forms, resisting categorization, embracing ambiguity, and queering genre conventions. Editor picks from Half Mystic.

Hybrid Lit Mags for Genre Rebels

For Pride Month this year, we're featuring 20 of our favorite LGBTQ+ literary magazines. (Psst... if you're seeing this in June 2026, they're open right now, so don't miss out!)

LGBTQ+ Lit Mags We Love

Publications with stories in this respected annual flash fiction showcase. Perhaps the most prestigious flash-specific recognition.

Lit Mags in Wigleaf's Top 50

Basically what it says in the title. Our top most bookmarked fee-free lit mags that nominate for the Pushcart Prize.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize (and Don’t Charge Fees)

Small, thoughtful publications for the poems and stories that started as snippets in your notes app.

Quiet Corners of the Internet Seeking Notes App Masterpieces

Online publications putting forward exceptional short stories for Best of the Net.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

A targeted resource for short story placements with potential for Pushcart recognition.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Specialized publications that recognize exceptional brief fiction through Pushcart nominations.

The ultimate ranking of the world's liveliest indie literary magazines, curated by author and editor Charlie Fish. These are the passion projects; the kaleidoscopic cutting edge.

FISH List of Lively Indie Literary Magazines 2025

FISH List of Lively Indie Literary Magazines 2026

Digital publications advancing very short fiction for Best of the Net consideration.

Flash Fiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Publications with ultra-short stories under 400 words selected for this anthology series. The definitive collection for the microfiction form.

Lit Mags Featured in Best Microfiction Anthologies

Best Microfiction, edited by Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke, celebrates the art of the extremely brief narrative. These publications have editorial teams with particular sensitivity to the craft.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best Microfiction

Identifies publications that put forward outstanding online work for this respected digital anthology established in 2006.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Publications that nominate work for this respected anthology series founded in 2015 by Tara Masih to celebrate fiction under 1,000 words.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best Small Fictions

A comprehensive guide to journals that regularly nominate work for the Pushcart Prize.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

These magazines have the fastest response times, so you won't be left hanging for months. No more endless waiting. Just, you know, regular waiting.

Literary Magazines with the Fastest Response Times

Explore the all-time most competitive speculative fiction literary magazines. These magazines are revered in the fiction world for their editorial rigor.

Most Competitive Speculative Fiction Magazines of All Time

Explore the most popular literary magazines of all time. These long-established publications are a staple in the literary world for writers of all genres.

Most Popular Literary Magazines of All Time

Check out the all-time most popular speculative fiction literary magazines. These publications have a long-standing reputation for quality speculative fiction.

Most Popular Speculative Fiction Magazines of All Time

Digital publications nominating outstanding essays and creative nonfiction for Best of the Net.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Highlights publications that regularly put forward essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction for Pushcart consideration.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Online journals that specifically champion poetry for Best of the Net consideration.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Focuses specifically on poetry journals with established histories of Pushcart nominations.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

beestung

General call

The Pleasure Issue
Deadline: June 13th, 2026, Deadline for BIPOC writers: June 20th.
To be published August 20th, 2026.
Please direct work to Christian M. Ivey at christianmivey@gmail.com.

The Pleasure Issue will be an issue interrogating the varying politics of pleasure via the difference between the erotic and the pornographic through flash fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and art. Pleasure does not exist in a vacuum. It could be argued that satisfaction and suffering are happening simultaneously, and both can elicit pleasure. There is the fact that someone’s satisfaction or suffering can be pleasurable as well, and that there isn’t an amount of education or effort that will eradicate racism, homophobia, transphobia, and such. Which leads to what are the relationships between what we fear and desire, and how does how we engage signify these importances? Complicating Queer folks’ relationship to pleasure under white, cis hetero, patriarchal sexual hegemony provides an analysis for the possibility of a radical act, which is not merely having sex or writing about sex, but to add to the clarity of sex and sexuality that is forbidden because of the Law and moral ethic of civil society. Pornography started as text and then adapted to images and then video, as it is commonly associated with today, and has shaped how we determine what kind of sexualities are acceptable and not. With these interrogations of the mundane, this issue will play a part in a long line of Queer folks’ expression and understanding of self-determined states within civil society’s libidinal economies. The works would range from erotica to erotica literature, with bonus points for a strong speculative element.

This issue off beestung will be in conversation with the T4T issue of TSQ edited by Cameron Awkward-Rich and Hil Malatino, Samuel R. Delany’s “Aye & Gomorrah” and Phallos, Darieck Scott’s Best Black Gay Erotica,  Audre’s Lorde’s “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism, Jennifer Nash’s “Black Anality,” Christopher Chitty’s Sexual Hegemony, Tim Dean’s “Lacan and Queer Theory” and Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking, Blanche Richardson’s Best Black Women’s Erotica, Tristan Taormino’s Take Me There, Octavia E. Butler’s Bloodchild and Lilith’s Brood, Eric A. Stanley’s Atmospheres of Violence, mayfield brooks’ “Improvising While Black,” Jeffery M. Elliot’s Kindred Spirits, e.e. cummings, Leonard Cohen, Wanda Coleman, Melvin Dixion, Essex Hemphill, HBO’s Real Sex, MTV’s Undressed, and many more explorations of sex and sexuality via text, audio, image, and video of the past, current and future.

Please send work for The Pleasure Issue to Christian M. Ivey at christianmivey@gmail.com.

Non-binary, two-spirit, and genderqueer writers and artists

The Pleasure Issue - for BIPOC writers

Non-binary, genderqueer, and two-spirit writers and artists

Non-binary, two-spirit, and genderqueer writers and aritsts

beestung

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