Electric Literature
@electricliterature.com
Making literature exciting, relevant and inclusive
electricliterature.com
electricliterature.com
A story about a whole life spent as a fabulous queer club kid. (@mbsycamore.bsky.social) (@iamlisako.bsky.social)
Ecstasy Is Temporary but Being Fabulous Is Forever - Electric Literature
An excerpt from TERRY DACTYL by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, recommended by Lisa Ko
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November 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
A story about a whole life spent as a fabulous queer club kid. (@mbsycamore.bsky.social) (@iamlisako.bsky.social)
Reposted by Electric Literature
"I can’t think of any other American novel that traces the AIDS pandemic to the early months of the COVID pandemic w/as much heart, humor, & radical style" Thanks to @iamlisako.bsky.social for a stunning intro to this excerpt @electricliterature.com, thank you💞 electricliterature.com/terry-dactyl...
Ecstasy Is Temporary but Being Fabulous Is Forever - Electric Literature
An excerpt from TERRY DACTYL by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, recommended by Lisa Ko
electricliterature.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
"I can’t think of any other American novel that traces the AIDS pandemic to the early months of the COVID pandemic w/as much heart, humor, & radical style" Thanks to @iamlisako.bsky.social for a stunning intro to this excerpt @electricliterature.com, thank you💞 electricliterature.com/terry-dactyl...
Is "performative reading" a thing? What book have you seen people reading in public the most?
November 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Is "performative reading" a thing? What book have you seen people reading in public the most?
“My classroom was on the first floor, next to the nuns’ lounge. I used their bathroom to puke in the mornings.”
Bettering Myself - Electric Literature
“Bettering Myself” by Ottessa Moshfegh My classroom was on the first floor, next to the nuns’ lounge. I used their bathroom to puke in the mornings. One nun always dusted the toilet seat with talcum…
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November 9, 2025 at 8:01 PM
“My classroom was on the first floor, next to the nuns’ lounge. I used their bathroom to puke in the mornings.”
"When I blow out my solar-powered, flame-free soy candles, I wish for the same thing I have for the past five years:" (@McSweeneys.net)
A Regular Day in California, as Envisioned by Right-Wing Republicans
“Nearly half of Republicans believe California ‘not really American.’ ” — LA Times - - -After being jolted awake by yet another earthquake, I take...
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November 9, 2025 at 6:01 PM
"When I blow out my solar-powered, flame-free soy candles, I wish for the same thing I have for the past five years:" (@McSweeneys.net)
What better reprieve is there than to revel in the wreckage of white pieties?
Their Unbearable Whiteness Blots Out the Light - Electric Literature
Mark Doten’s "Whites" is a darkly comic look at white America
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November 9, 2025 at 4:01 PM
What better reprieve is there than to revel in the wreckage of white pieties?
"You like it when I hurt you in the dark.” buff.ly/yPtyI5W
November 8, 2025 at 8:01 PM
"You like it when I hurt you in the dark.” buff.ly/yPtyI5W
"He supports rent freezes for all, especially for Mets fans." (@mcsweeneys.net)
Is New York City Turning Halal? What You Need to Know About Zohran Mamdani’s Proposed Policies
If Zohran Mamdani does the inevitable and becomes mayor, and if he avoids deportation for committing the most tell-tale sign of a communist—using y...
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November 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
"He supports rent freezes for all, especially for Mets fans." (@mcsweeneys.net)
“Perhaps our starkest divide is between those who own property and those who can’t.”
7 Books About the Precarity of Urban Life - Electric Literature
These authors examine wealth disparity, property ownership, and the collision of lives in shifting neighborhoods
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November 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM
“Perhaps our starkest divide is between those who own property and those who can’t.”
Political imagination is a free space that no one can occupy.
7 Books About the Power of Political Imagination - Electric Literature
These authors from Palestine, Libya, Lebanon, and elsewhere use storytelling to assert their presence on stolen homelands
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November 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Political imagination is a free space that no one can occupy.
“Professor Fulton Mathis’s vehicular misadventure had been devastating for him, but the university had taken it in stride.”
His Sex Addiction Is Proof of Free Will - Electric Literature
“Love of Fate” by Rafael Frumkin, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature
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November 7, 2025 at 9:01 PM
“Professor Fulton Mathis’s vehicular misadventure had been devastating for him, but the university had taken it in stride.”
“All of it is related, the activism and the politics and the situation happening in Egypt and what’s going on in Palestine, everything going on in America right now.”
A Story of Family's Grief Set Against Political Upheaval in Egypt - Electric Literature
In Deena ElGenaidi's "Dust Settles North," characters witness the crumbling of government and family systems
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November 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
“All of it is related, the activism and the politics and the situation happening in Egypt and what’s going on in Palestine, everything going on in America right now.”
“Readers drawn to this list will find a clearer sense of what it means not merely to have a psychiatric disorder but to live with a mind that persists in pain.”
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November 7, 2025 at 6:03 PM
“Readers drawn to this list will find a clearer sense of what it means not merely to have a psychiatric disorder but to live with a mind that persists in pain.”
“These characters are not good people—that’s part of the fun.”
Vampires Wreaking Havoc on a Queer Cruise - Electric Literature
In "Vampires at Sea," Lindsay Merbaum turns a floating party into a smutty, blood-slick carnival of danger and desire
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November 6, 2025 at 11:01 PM
“These characters are not good people—that’s part of the fun.”
“The thing about being from Queens is that when you leave Queens you realize there’s no other place in the world like it.”
7 Books About Life in Queens by Writers of Color - Electric Literature
Bushra Rehman, author of "Roses in the Mouth of a Lion," recommends stories set in the most diverse neighborhood in the world
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November 6, 2025 at 10:01 PM
“The thing about being from Queens is that when you leave Queens you realize there’s no other place in the world like it.”
When your commitment to the church is lukewarm, even after you’ve been dead for hundreds of years.
I'm Sorry, You've Reached the Wrong Messiah - Electric Literature
“Paul's Tomb,” flash fiction by Will VanDenBerg
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November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
When your commitment to the church is lukewarm, even after you’ve been dead for hundreds of years.
Time to polish up your essays! 📝 ⚡ 💡 Electric Literature will open for submissions in ✨Personal Narrative✨ on Monday, December 1! All submissions will be accepted through our Submittable page. Portal closes at 11:59 PM PST on Sunday, December 14, or when we receive 500 submissions.
November 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Time to polish up your essays! 📝 ⚡ 💡 Electric Literature will open for submissions in ✨Personal Narrative✨ on Monday, December 1! All submissions will be accepted through our Submittable page. Portal closes at 11:59 PM PST on Sunday, December 14, or when we receive 500 submissions.
Novels about what it means to see your homeland become unrecognizable or disappear altogether.
8 Books About (Literally) Divided Countries - Electric Literature
These stories powerfully illuminate the lingering personal and political damage of countries that have fractured
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November 6, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Novels about what it means to see your homeland become unrecognizable or disappear altogether.
“If parents refused to give up their disabled children, authorities would threaten to take their other children away and commit the parents to forced labor unless they complied.” (catharinacoenen.bsky.social)
My Mother, My Aunt, and the Horrifying History of Psychiatric Hospitals Under Nazi Rule - Electric Literature
Each time Elfriede is hospitalized, my mother knows she’s forever behind those bars
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November 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
“If parents refused to give up their disabled children, authorities would threaten to take their other children away and commit the parents to forced labor unless they complied.” (catharinacoenen.bsky.social)
"As a dictator, there’s no limit. Your power is boundless. Some political figures in the West admire that."
Ha Jin Returns to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in His New Novel - Electric Literature
“Looking for Tank Man” sharply examines authoritarian regimes through the eyes of a college student uncovering facts suppressed by her government
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November 5, 2025 at 11:01 PM
"As a dictator, there’s no limit. Your power is boundless. Some political figures in the West admire that."
“The most excruciating part of Carrie is the brief moment she’s happy… She dances with Tommy, as they kiss, as she rests her head against his shoulder. She doesn’t know there’s a bucket of pig’s blood teetering in the rafters. She asks Tommy why he brought her to the dance.”
"Carrie" Helped Me Process the Sexual Shame of My Religious Upbringing - Electric Literature
I feel broken in a way no one else is, and I refuse to talk to anyone about it
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November 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
“The most excruciating part of Carrie is the brief moment she’s happy… She dances with Tommy, as they kiss, as she rests her head against his shoulder. She doesn’t know there’s a bucket of pig’s blood teetering in the rafters. She asks Tommy why he brought her to the dance.”
"Sundays Are for Yard Work" by Kate Brody, selected as one of the the 2025 Best Small Fictions anthology! Help us celebrate by reading the piece, on our site now!
Lawn Care Tips From My Dad's Ghost - Electric Literature
"Sundays Are for Yard Work," flash fiction by Kate Brody
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November 5, 2025 at 7:01 PM
"Sundays Are for Yard Work" by Kate Brody, selected as one of the the 2025 Best Small Fictions anthology! Help us celebrate by reading the piece, on our site now!
These authors explore how the betrayals of their own bodies and minds opened up new possibilities for them. (@tiffanygrahamcharkosky)
10 Memoirs That Take Readers on a Medical Journey - Electric Literature
These authors explore the relationship between a health challenge and writing one’s way toward new perspectives
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November 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
These authors explore how the betrayals of their own bodies and minds opened up new possibilities for them. (@tiffanygrahamcharkosky)
The story of a prophet who comes back to life and doesn’t quite feel like leading his old sect to Jerusalem.
I'm Sorry, You've Reached the Wrong Messiah - Electric Literature
“Paul's Tomb,” flash fiction by Will VanDenBerg
buff.ly
November 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
The story of a prophet who comes back to life and doesn’t quite feel like leading his old sect to Jerusalem.