# Gryllus Digital Literary Magazine

> Gryllus Digital Literary Magazine--a Brooklyn-based lit mag dedicated to publishing writing and digital art of all kinds.


## Posts

- [The Past is Her Punishment by Cole Stapleton](https://gryllus.world/the-past-is-her-punishment/): The Past is Her Punishment Yesteryear takes down the tradwife.by Cole Stapleton Yesteryear by Cairo Claire Burke is “the most buzzed-about novel of 2026”. Fifteen publishers competed in a major 2024 bidding war which was quickly followed by a star-studded scramble for the film rights, with MGM winning out and Anne Hathaway set to produce and star. The writer and podcast host has written a decidedly timely work of fiction: Natalie, an internet-famous “traditional lifestyle” influencer falls back in time to 1805. The book jumps between timelines, tracking Natalie’s rise to online stardom intercut with the brutalities of 19th century […]
- [Serotonin - Grant Maierhofer](https://gryllus.world/serotonin/): Serotonin: Writing and Depression An excerpt from the forthcoming release from Hobby Horse Pressby Grant Maierhofer Why, after such notable, such clear, such obvious improvement with the Effexor, back in Chicago, did I walk into our bathroom at the apartment, two or three weeks into the semester starting, and flush the bright pills down the bright white toilet? To say that I did this in the name of “authenticity” is incorrect, or only addresses aspects of what motivated me, rather than anything complete. Did I want to die? Did I want to return to my mental state before taking Effexor? […]
- [The Pilot](https://gryllus.world/the-pilot/): The Pilot by Sam Pink This guy comes in and sits at the bar and asks for a menu. He says I heard your pizza is good is that true. I say yes that’s true. He says alright is a 16 inch enough for two people, I gotta bring some home for the wife. Yeah for sure. Ok can I get a large sausage, onion, green pepper, and jalapenos. Sounds good I’ll put that in for you right now. Thanks, he says, and lemme get a salad too, lemme get that first. He closes the menu and hands it back. […]
- [Two Poems by Rachel Brown](https://gryllus.world/two-poems-rachel-brown/): Driving, I See Horses& 我爱家人 Two poems by Rachel Brown. Art by Joohee Park. Driving, I See Horses I swear It is so unnatural to see a horse in a trailer on a highway Weren’t they born to run? Hasn’t anyone the decency to tell them why the earth is moving without their physical consent? It’s all unbecoming, so what will become of us… Man was born to look directly into the eyes of the other man he is about to kill in whatever temperature of blood Now we make buttons and push buttons and the buttons kill and the […]
- [Company [REDACTED]'s 1-Way Mirror Up Close](https://gryllus.world/company-redacted/): Company [REDACTED]’s 1-Way Mirror Up Close Interview and profile by Sophia Halimah Parker. Photos by Joohee Park. dance crush (n): someone who dances or makes dance that you admire, adore, fixate on, avoid, and/or obsess over in secret, out-loud, at a distance, and/or up close. I first met Cole Stapleton, Mimi Doan, and Sacha Vega in the summer of 2023, by way of a dance-theater love square. Mimi and I were performing in a canon, a tightrope, a trust fall directed by Sacha, while Cole and I met working on Scottie Harvey’s A Live-Action Adaptation of an Episode of Tom & […]
- [Jenny Sexual Tells You What To Do #3](https://gryllus.world/jenny-sexual-3/): Jenny Sexual Tells You What To Do #3 A Gryllus advice column. by Jenny Sexual Greetings from the office of Dr. Jenny Sexual, pop star and mayoral candidate. This week we’ve got your best health-related questions. The doctor is in, take a seat, and run up a tab—this one’s on the state! Greetings from the office of Dr. Jenny Sexual, pop star and mayoral candidate. This week we’ve got your best health-related questions. The doctor is in, take a seat, and run up a tab—this one’s on the state!  Ms. Sexual,  My tooth gem is infected. I would seek medical advice […]
- [Paradise Lost Reading Group](https://gryllus.world/paradise-lost-interest-form/): Paradise Lost Reading Group Fill out the interest form below! Are you evil? Do you like poetry? Are you curious about Satan–even a little? If you answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to any of those questions—you should know about Gryllus Digital Lit Mag‘s Paradise Lost Reading Group! In the coming months we will read John Milton’s 1667 epic poem (oft-labelled ‘the greatest piece of writing in the English language’) about the fall of mankind, as told from the perspective of Satan.  After an initial interest digital meeting, we will meet four times in NYC, in Brooklyn and Manhattan (with the option […]
- [The Golden Fish](https://gryllus.world/the-golden-fish-2/): The Golden Fish by M. Verlaine I was one of only a small number of SamCom employees who heard the muffled pop of the mailroom explosion that afternoon. It was the final Friday of the quarter–always a busy day for the DOCS–and I was wrestling with a pile of forms in desperate need of processing. We would later learn how lucky we had been that the detonation had gone off on such a beautiful day; most of the office had worked only a few hours that morning, taking the rest of the day off for barbecuing or birdwatching or whatever […]
- [Plan Z](https://gryllus.world/plan-z/): Plan Z by Mackenna Vickery 01010111      You finally get that raise at work, so you decide it’s time to do the treatment again. What is money for, if not to be spent? And you’ve been waiting a while. It’s been, what, four months? You need this. You need this bad. Worse than you needed that guy from the Village to come over last weekend and let you fall asleep on his chest. You didn’t even have sex–you genuinely just fell asleep.     The treatment is called “Plan Z.” It’s a treatment for when all else fails. And it’s […]
- [An Interview with Ariel Dorfman](https://gryllus.world/ariel-dorfman/): An Interview with Ariel Dorfman Ariel Dorfman discusses The Suicide Museum, literary doubles, Henry Kissinger, and more.by Dylan Cloud There are few writers working today whose body of work displays as much literary and political intelligence as novelist, playwright, poet, and activist Ariel Dorfman. Born to Jewish immigrants in Argentina in 1942, he lived for ten years in New York before McCarthyism forced his family to relocate to Chile. There, Dorfman would go on to work as an activist, taking part in the ‘peaceful revolution’ of Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular and eventually serving Allende’s government as a cultural adviser. His […]
- [PLAY COUSIN](https://gryllus.world/play-cousin/): Edmund White discusses The Humble Lover, Heian Japan, and how to write a great sex scene. by Dylan Cloud
- [Two Digital Paintings](https://gryllus.world/two-digital-paintings/): Edmund White discusses The Humble Lover, Heian Japan, and how to write a great sex scene. by Dylan Cloud
- [Tupping Time Plus](https://gryllus.world/tupping-time-plus/): Edmund White discusses The Humble Lover, Heian Japan, and how to write a great sex scene. by Dylan Cloud
- [De-creation](https://gryllus.world/de-creation/): De-Creation Cole Stapleton reads Alvina Chamberland’s Love the World Or Get Killed Trying.by Cole Stapleton There is a series of improvisational ‘technologies’ created by choreographer William Forsythe that I find useful for both dancing and writing. One technology, Decreation, shares a name with Forsythe’s 2009 ‘artificial opera’ (which itself takes its name from Anne Carson’s 2005 collection of poetry and essays). Decreation challenges its dancer to trace a pathway backwards through space: invert the dance, reverse each gesture, and in doing so reshape the course of movement entirely. It is a prompt to un-become. Resisting the world’s constant pull of […]
- [Party Planning](https://gryllus.world/party-planning/): Party Planning by Glynnis Eldridge An electric eel goes limp in his hand when he pulls it from a pan of shallow water, north: the passing between realms. The eyes of the eel look just like yours while you sleep, when I pull your lids up to see you while you’re dreaming. I’m sure you saw me see you but you never tell me if you did. We are watching the acclaimed chef on TV. He is French, and is speaking in French, which you like, because you are trying to remember how to talk to your relatives. He is […]
- [Jenny Sexual Tells You What To Do #2](https://gryllus.world/jenny-sexual-tells-you-what-to-do-2/): Jenny Sexual Tells You What To Do #1 A Gryllus advice column. by Jenny Sexual Jenny Sexual is a pop star and mayoral candidate. A cross between Betty Davis and Bette Davis, she’s equal parts sex appeal and sex repulsion. Taking time from political campaigning and writing her debut album “THE GREAT WET,” Jenny is here to answer your stickiest questions. Jenny Sexual is a pop star and mayoral candidate. A cross between Betty Davis and Bette Davis, she’s equal parts sex appeal and sex repulsion. Taking time from political campaigning and writing her debut album “THE GREAT WET,” Jenny […]
- [Jenny Sexual Tells You What To Do #1](https://gryllus.world/jenny-sexual-1/): Jenny Sexual Tells You What To Do #1 A Gryllus advice column. by Jenny Sexual Jenny Sexual is a pop star and mayoral candidate. A cross between Betty Davis and Bette Davis, she’s equal parts sex appeal and sex repulsion. Taking time from political campaigning and writing her debut album “THE GREAT WET,” Jenny is here to answer your stickiest questions. Dear Jenny, I’m depressed because I find all emotions unbearable. My problem is not my depression—in fact, I’m quite happy with how it’s progressed—but I have my mother’s second wedding this weekend and I know she expects me to […]
- [Ponyboy: Intimacies & Ecstasies of a Transmmasc Jerk](https://gryllus.world/ponyboy/): Ponyboy: Intimacies & Ecstasies of a Transmasc Jerk The best book of 2023. by Cole Stapleton ‘Chop off my chestyou’re my surgeon justcut me openpull out the tissue andfeed it to your doghe’s a good boy’ ‘Chop off my chestyou’re my surgeon justcut me openpull out the tissue andfeed it to your doghe’s a good boy’ Certain readers will be familiar with the exhilaration I get when I encounter a good book about transmasculinity (or one that prominently features transmasculine characters). For me it often starts as a private pleasure. I see something flash across an instagram story or hear […]
- [7 Poems from Manic](https://gryllus.world/7-poems-from-manic/): 7 Poems from Manic by Pippin Lapish 4/24/23 The morning of4/24/23My poopLooked like cat foodShredded gibletsMy friends childWas bornSascha said          Don’t send          Any steaming shit          PoemsOkI kept snoozingMy alarmTo extendMy dreamIn whichI racedAnd wonAnd stoodAt a sinkLike an artist This Morning My poop         Was charcoalBlack         And fuzzyLike dandelion seedsDippedThroat-tarI am leaking oil         And geniusI amInvincible. 4/25/23 I dreamtThere wasAn authorToo tallFor his bedWho wroteStoriesAboutGrieving bunniesIt was Mother’s DayWe wereIn EuropeWhich wasA shipLooking forA good coffeeWhich wasImpossibleMy dadKept hounding meTo […]
- [5 Poems from The Contrarian](https://gryllus.world/5-poems-from-the-contrarian/): 5 Poems from The Contrarian Selections from Pippin Lapish’s poetry collection, published by Hobby Horse Press. by Pippin Lapish The Contrarian by Pippin Lapish is now available for order at HobbyHorse.Press The Executive Branch I am greasyAnd sternLike a single pepperoniOn the president’s face My heart is so pureYou could scrub a plateWith it. First Position Color wheelStart eatingFuck youLift itWith your toesWork outOnce in a whileFuck you Goof EverybodyThinks I’m jokingSo they laugh‍ I’m gonna startSome naked drama‍ I’m a partying diversionA self-hating queer showboatThe woman-lovingStraight male cipherI’m a big distractionI spill coffee on the codeAnd it becomes decodedI […]
- [The Trans Horror of Alison Rumfitt](https://gryllus.world/alison-rumfitt/): The Trans Horror of Alison Rumfitt A conversation exploring the gruesome worlds of horror writer Alison Rumfitt. by Mimi Doan and Cole Stapleton Alison Rumfitt “I never wanted to tell subtle ghost stories. Subtle ghost stories were all the rage back then. Most of them ended on a note of ambiguity. Mine ended on the ghosts being revealed to be real and all the characters that made it to the end burning alive… The borders are closed. The union flag is waving from the top of every tower and every tower is burning.” Alison Rumfitt Mimi: Alison Rumfitt creates these […]
- [Sink or Swim](https://gryllus.world/sink-or-swim/): Sink or Swim A Review of Jade Song’s Chlorine. by Cole Stapleton How much longer until we’re done growing up? Eruptive tragedy and sinking failure feel like an inevitability these days. We’re waist-deep in the worst of history–and the water is rising. How long do we force ourselves to tread before we letting ourselves slip into the tranquil depths below? In Chlorine, Jade Song tells the story of Ren, a star swimmer in a Pennsylvania suburb who lives with her emotionally distant immigrant mother. Ren is, for the most part, a normal high schooler; she dreams of taking home gold […]
- [The Woman in All of Us](https://gryllus.world/the-woman-in-all-of-us/): The Woman in All of Us A review of Britney Spears’ new tell-all, as featured on Kiara’s Court.by Kiara Smith I have been a Britney fan ever since I can remember. Like many of you reading this, I have been in awe of her talent since the first time I heard the iconic opening chords of “…Baby One More time.” Growing up, however, I was only really aware of the same chart-topping singles and tabloid headlines as everybody else. It wasn’t until the release of 2021’s Framing Britney Spears, when the public became aware of her conservatorship, that I dove […]
- [Endless Performance](https://gryllus.world/endless-performance/): Edmund White discusses The Humble Lover, Heian Japan, and how to write a great sex scene. by Dylan Cloud
- [Conversation Piece](https://gryllus.world/conversation-piece/): Conversation Piece Read the winning entries to Gryllus’ Conversation Piece writing contest.by Kurt Newton, Leslie Hodge, Ava McLaughlin, John Paul Caponigro, and Alexandra Gambee GREEN STARLIGHTby Kurt Newton Hello, Miss Simms. Key-in your destination. I’m afraid that off-world location is only available to high-ranking government officials. Please, Miss Simms, do not tamper with the keypad. Tampering with the keypad is illegal under Article 46 of the— Hello, Miss Simms. Key-in your destination. Thank you. Estimated flight time is thirteen minutes. Prepare for liftoff. How are we doing today? Isn’t the starfield especially brilliant this time of year? Yes, I can […]
- [Sex & Suicide with Edmund White](https://gryllus.world/edmund-white/): Edmund White discusses The Humble Lover, Heian Japan, and how to write a great sex scene. by Dylan Cloud
- [On The](https://gryllus.world/on-the/): On The by Ava McLaughlin    Train, I realize the spectral string connecting this reality and the one with you still in it has become indistinguishable. I watch myself transform the backpack of a random walker into yours–beige with a black square, my name sewn inside the front pocket. I can sense myself disagreeing with myself on whether or not you would wear that coat. Green was never your color. I can hear myself justifying why you are rolling a suitcase through the 34th Street Herald Square station on a Wednesday night. Are you coming back from a work trip? […]

## Pages

- [Gryllus Digital Lit Mag](https://gryllus.world/): {ANNOUNCEMENT} Paradise Lost Reading Group Fill out the interest form to learn about the Gryllus reading group! {POETRY} 5 Poems from The Contrarian by Pippin Lapish {INTERVIEW} Endless Performance Cole Stapleton interviews Nate Lippens about Ripcord. {ANNOUNCEMENT} Paradise Lost Reading Group Fill out the interest form to learn about the Gryllus reading group! {POETRY} 5 Poems from The Contrarian by Pippin Lapish {INTERVIEW} Endless Performance Cole Stapleton interviews Nate Lippens about Ripcord.
- [Submissions Etc.](https://gryllus.world/submit/): Thank you for your interest in submitting to Gryllus Digital Literary Magazine! Gryllus (pronounced like a pack of hot dogs: ‘grill us’) is managed by the editors of Hobby Horse Press, and is open to a wide range of both literary and unliterary writing. We are looking for writing and digital art which will cause our readers to smile or think (or preferably both). We’ll take anything that makes the rusty gears in the back of the brain start to sparkle… If you would like to have your work considered, please send submissions to editor@hobbyhorse.press with ‘Gryllus’ in the subject […]
- [The Gryllus Repository](https://gryllus.world/repository/): POETRY: Driving, I See Horses & 我爱家人 by Rachel Brown PROFILE: Company [REDACTED] Up Close by Sophia Halimah Parker ADVICE: Jenny Sexual #3 Jenny Sexual answers your most burning questions. POETRY: 5 Poems from The Contrarian by Pippin Lapish CONTEST: Conversation Piece Read the winning contest entries! INTERVIEW: Sex & Suicide with Edmund White by Dylan Cloud REVIEW: De-creation Cole Stapleton reviews Love the World or Get Killed Trying. FICTION: On The by Ava McLaughlin ART: Two Digital Paintings by Olivia Hamilton ADVICE: Jenny Sexual #2 Jenny Sexual answers your most burning questions. FICTION: The Golden Fish by M. Verlaine […]


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