God's Cruel Joke literary magazine
@godscrueljokelp.bsky.social
https://www.godscrueljokelit.com
Submissions are OPEN.
God's Cruel Joke propagates writing that explores the uncanny intersection of the profound and the profane.
Submissions are OPEN.
God's Cruel Joke propagates writing that explores the uncanny intersection of the profound and the profane.
"For the eight quiet and progressive years that Hog Hollow had been in operation, Darrel had been instructing the herd in simple English. The pigs caught on quickly and were soon able to recognize many verbal and written commands."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/seefahrt-the...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/seefahrt-the...
November 13, 2025 at 12:01 AM
"For the eight quiet and progressive years that Hog Hollow had been in operation, Darrel had been instructing the herd in simple English. The pigs caught on quickly and were soon able to recognize many verbal and written commands."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/seefahrt-the...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/seefahrt-the...
"What we’re talking here like to come from a Mary Poppins portmanteau: Romantasy! Bodice-rippers with pixie dust! And this john-ray’s got it all: Werewolf- and vampire-adjacent princesses languishing in Tudorbethan castles from structural gaslighting"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
November 7, 2025 at 7:11 PM
"What we’re talking here like to come from a Mary Poppins portmanteau: Romantasy! Bodice-rippers with pixie dust! And this john-ray’s got it all: Werewolf- and vampire-adjacent princesses languishing in Tudorbethan castles from structural gaslighting"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
Read Boy/Girl by Tommy Cheis in GCJ5—about a Palestinian sleeper agent in the earliest phases of schizophrenia who, on discovering that a female member of his terrorist cell is an undercover FBI agent, must decide what to do about her.
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculative-erotics
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculative-erotics
November 5, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Read Boy/Girl by Tommy Cheis in GCJ5—about a Palestinian sleeper agent in the earliest phases of schizophrenia who, on discovering that a female member of his terrorist cell is an undercover FBI agent, must decide what to do about her.
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculative-erotics
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculative-erotics
"All those precious secrets
in that closet in that pocket
in the back of that head.
Not so long ago I was in
need of a sign but I have
stripped all surplus pain
of attention so now it only
shrieks if I glance that way
with my sunbuttoned eyes."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/lindsay-mcle...
in that closet in that pocket
in the back of that head.
Not so long ago I was in
need of a sign but I have
stripped all surplus pain
of attention so now it only
shrieks if I glance that way
with my sunbuttoned eyes."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/lindsay-mcle...
November 4, 2025 at 7:10 PM
"All those precious secrets
in that closet in that pocket
in the back of that head.
Not so long ago I was in
need of a sign but I have
stripped all surplus pain
of attention so now it only
shrieks if I glance that way
with my sunbuttoned eyes."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/lindsay-mcle...
in that closet in that pocket
in the back of that head.
Not so long ago I was in
need of a sign but I have
stripped all surplus pain
of attention so now it only
shrieks if I glance that way
with my sunbuttoned eyes."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/lindsay-mcle...
Gregory Wallace is wrapping our October up with some fun ones.
"The happy peacock's cool comments/ red breasted feather girl at my tables / carpeted butter of the sun countries / long crepe of phantom sphinx / east of cracking ember / the gas immolated you"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/greg-wallace...
"The happy peacock's cool comments/ red breasted feather girl at my tables / carpeted butter of the sun countries / long crepe of phantom sphinx / east of cracking ember / the gas immolated you"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/greg-wallace...
October 28, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Gregory Wallace is wrapping our October up with some fun ones.
"The happy peacock's cool comments/ red breasted feather girl at my tables / carpeted butter of the sun countries / long crepe of phantom sphinx / east of cracking ember / the gas immolated you"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/greg-wallace...
"The happy peacock's cool comments/ red breasted feather girl at my tables / carpeted butter of the sun countries / long crepe of phantom sphinx / east of cracking ember / the gas immolated you"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/greg-wallace...
"Lunacy served as our sextant beneath a low, dead sky. When night fell, the grim crusaders howled like wolves. They pounded their fists against the ground and danced, beating themselves as if trying to exorcise a deeper pain harbored beneath their skin."
godscrueljokelit.com/copal-stephen-myer
godscrueljokelit.com/copal-stephen-myer
October 21, 2025 at 6:57 PM
"Lunacy served as our sextant beneath a low, dead sky. When night fell, the grim crusaders howled like wolves. They pounded their fists against the ground and danced, beating themselves as if trying to exorcise a deeper pain harbored beneath their skin."
godscrueljokelit.com/copal-stephen-myer
godscrueljokelit.com/copal-stephen-myer
2 new poems from Nicholas Grooms!
"All of the people who are underneath my skin / like the tumor I try and avoid touching / while petting the belly of my elderly beagle / Knowing her time is nearing end / sick with the thought of holding her limp body"
godscrueljokelit.com/2-poems-nicholas-grooms
"All of the people who are underneath my skin / like the tumor I try and avoid touching / while petting the belly of my elderly beagle / Knowing her time is nearing end / sick with the thought of holding her limp body"
godscrueljokelit.com/2-poems-nicholas-grooms
October 14, 2025 at 4:31 PM
2 new poems from Nicholas Grooms!
"All of the people who are underneath my skin / like the tumor I try and avoid touching / while petting the belly of my elderly beagle / Knowing her time is nearing end / sick with the thought of holding her limp body"
godscrueljokelit.com/2-poems-nicholas-grooms
"All of the people who are underneath my skin / like the tumor I try and avoid touching / while petting the belly of my elderly beagle / Knowing her time is nearing end / sick with the thought of holding her limp body"
godscrueljokelit.com/2-poems-nicholas-grooms
"I got shipped to the zoo in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to mate with the dominant male, Iago. He was a fervent Catholic and had a pet truffle pig called Aldo. He was a hunk but wore eyeliner."
- 'Normalmaxxing' by Tempest Miller in GCJ5
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
- 'Normalmaxxing' by Tempest Miller in GCJ5
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
October 11, 2025 at 6:41 PM
"I got shipped to the zoo in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to mate with the dominant male, Iago. He was a fervent Catholic and had a pet truffle pig called Aldo. He was a hunk but wore eyeliner."
- 'Normalmaxxing' by Tempest Miller in GCJ5
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
- 'Normalmaxxing' by Tempest Miller in GCJ5
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
"Only the first blood could show me the future, I learned, after spending hours hunched over the toilet, like a fortune-teller and her crystal ball. On my second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth days, nothing resembling anything ever came out."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/3-stories-ne...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/3-stories-ne...
October 8, 2025 at 2:20 PM
"Only the first blood could show me the future, I learned, after spending hours hunched over the toilet, like a fortune-teller and her crystal ball. On my second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth days, nothing resembling anything ever came out."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/3-stories-ne...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/3-stories-ne...
We're kicking off October appropriately with some more Steve Gerson fiction.
"Above, through a moment of cloud break, Georgie thought she saw a star, first a dim white, next flickering pink, then pulsing red, but it disappeared behind a passing cloud."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson...
"Above, through a moment of cloud break, Georgie thought she saw a star, first a dim white, next flickering pink, then pulsing red, but it disappeared behind a passing cloud."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson...
October 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM
We're kicking off October appropriately with some more Steve Gerson fiction.
"Above, through a moment of cloud break, Georgie thought she saw a star, first a dim white, next flickering pink, then pulsing red, but it disappeared behind a passing cloud."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson...
"Above, through a moment of cloud break, Georgie thought she saw a star, first a dim white, next flickering pink, then pulsing red, but it disappeared behind a passing cloud."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson...
We're going subterranean today. Learn about all the complications of having two taints with 'Spelunker' by Tex Gresham and KKUURRTT.
godscrueljokelit.com/tex-g-kkuurr...
godscrueljokelit.com/tex-g-kkuurr...
September 30, 2025 at 9:04 PM
We're going subterranean today. Learn about all the complications of having two taints with 'Spelunker' by Tex Gresham and KKUURRTT.
godscrueljokelit.com/tex-g-kkuurr...
godscrueljokelit.com/tex-g-kkuurr...
Read @horrorsong.blog's 'How to Fuck a Genocide' in GCJ5!
"Ascending into a conglomerate, hand over hand, these instantaneous eunuchs devour fetal tissue to build a new city. All roads converge and fail to provide access or egress. All time is an accident."
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
"Ascending into a conglomerate, hand over hand, these instantaneous eunuchs devour fetal tissue to build a new city. All roads converge and fail to provide access or egress. All time is an accident."
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
September 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Read @horrorsong.blog's 'How to Fuck a Genocide' in GCJ5!
"Ascending into a conglomerate, hand over hand, these instantaneous eunuchs devour fetal tissue to build a new city. All roads converge and fail to provide access or egress. All time is an accident."
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
"Ascending into a conglomerate, hand over hand, these instantaneous eunuchs devour fetal tissue to build a new city. All roads converge and fail to provide access or egress. All time is an accident."
godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
SPECULATIVE EROTICS is here!
This anthology hits like a goddamn brick to the dome, every single piece. MASSIVE thanks to everyone featured in this issue. I'll be posting some of the choicest cuts over the next couple weeks.
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
This anthology hits like a goddamn brick to the dome, every single piece. MASSIVE thanks to everyone featured in this issue. I'll be posting some of the choicest cuts over the next couple weeks.
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
September 26, 2025 at 2:40 PM
SPECULATIVE EROTICS is here!
This anthology hits like a goddamn brick to the dome, every single piece. MASSIVE thanks to everyone featured in this issue. I'll be posting some of the choicest cuts over the next couple weeks.
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
This anthology hits like a goddamn brick to the dome, every single piece. MASSIVE thanks to everyone featured in this issue. I'll be posting some of the choicest cuts over the next couple weeks.
www.godscrueljokelit.com/5-speculativ...
Last feature this week are fun ones, 3 poems from @malikbtxt.bsky.social .
"my ex asked / “did you ever think you'd come back from your splendid life, walk into your living room and find you had no life left?” / I didn’t at all and now i miss the company"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/malik-berry-...
"my ex asked / “did you ever think you'd come back from your splendid life, walk into your living room and find you had no life left?” / I didn’t at all and now i miss the company"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/malik-berry-...
September 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Last feature this week are fun ones, 3 poems from @malikbtxt.bsky.social .
"my ex asked / “did you ever think you'd come back from your splendid life, walk into your living room and find you had no life left?” / I didn’t at all and now i miss the company"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/malik-berry-...
"my ex asked / “did you ever think you'd come back from your splendid life, walk into your living room and find you had no life left?” / I didn’t at all and now i miss the company"
www.godscrueljokelit.com/malik-berry-...
Read 'Magnolia Light' from Benjamin Ray Allee!
"Then he looked at me, and in his eyes I saw my own throat slit, my eyes plunged into by greasy thumbs, my stomach bitten by caried teeth. What the hell?"
godscrueljokelit.com/ben-r-allee-magnolia-light
"Then he looked at me, and in his eyes I saw my own throat slit, my eyes plunged into by greasy thumbs, my stomach bitten by caried teeth. What the hell?"
godscrueljokelit.com/ben-r-allee-magnolia-light
September 19, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Read 'Magnolia Light' from Benjamin Ray Allee!
"Then he looked at me, and in his eyes I saw my own throat slit, my eyes plunged into by greasy thumbs, my stomach bitten by caried teeth. What the hell?"
godscrueljokelit.com/ben-r-allee-magnolia-light
"Then he looked at me, and in his eyes I saw my own throat slit, my eyes plunged into by greasy thumbs, my stomach bitten by caried teeth. What the hell?"
godscrueljokelit.com/ben-r-allee-magnolia-light
It is a pleasure to finally announce that Issue 5 - Speculative Erotics is complete and will be releasing 9/26, with back-to-back bruisers from 27 contributors!
Saying this issue is gnarly is a massive understatement - unprecedented levels of depravity and dissolution.
Saying this issue is gnarly is a massive understatement - unprecedented levels of depravity and dissolution.
September 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM
It is a pleasure to finally announce that Issue 5 - Speculative Erotics is complete and will be releasing 9/26, with back-to-back bruisers from 27 contributors!
Saying this issue is gnarly is a massive understatement - unprecedented levels of depravity and dissolution.
Saying this issue is gnarly is a massive understatement - unprecedented levels of depravity and dissolution.
Read 'The Procedure' by the phenomenal Erin Elizabeth Williams: www.godscrueljokelit.com/erin-e-willi...
"We see hundreds of women in every day for this. It’s a quick in and out. Nothing to worry about, not at all. My own daughter had it done just last year, and she’s never felt better."
"We see hundreds of women in every day for this. It’s a quick in and out. Nothing to worry about, not at all. My own daughter had it done just last year, and she’s never felt better."
September 9, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Read 'The Procedure' by the phenomenal Erin Elizabeth Williams: www.godscrueljokelit.com/erin-e-willi...
"We see hundreds of women in every day for this. It’s a quick in and out. Nothing to worry about, not at all. My own daughter had it done just last year, and she’s never felt better."
"We see hundreds of women in every day for this. It’s a quick in and out. Nothing to worry about, not at all. My own daughter had it done just last year, and she’s never felt better."
Today's new Doughboy piece cuts — 10:19.
"So it goes and goes and goes until it doesn’t. 10:06. He suspects she masturbates in the shower. Often exits more flushed than the heat warrants. He’s not jealous. Just wishes for an invitation."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/doughboy-1019
"So it goes and goes and goes until it doesn’t. 10:06. He suspects she masturbates in the shower. Often exits more flushed than the heat warrants. He’s not jealous. Just wishes for an invitation."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/doughboy-1019
September 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Today's new Doughboy piece cuts — 10:19.
"So it goes and goes and goes until it doesn’t. 10:06. He suspects she masturbates in the shower. Often exits more flushed than the heat warrants. He’s not jealous. Just wishes for an invitation."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/doughboy-1019
"So it goes and goes and goes until it doesn’t. 10:06. He suspects she masturbates in the shower. Often exits more flushed than the heat warrants. He’s not jealous. Just wishes for an invitation."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/doughboy-1019
Gerson refuses to stop sending me gold.
"From the second story, askew in rusted bolts, our family name hung like a victim on a gallows. On the front porch, a menu board memorialized a last meal in partial letters, an acrostic to a past generation's dream."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson-2
"From the second story, askew in rusted bolts, our family name hung like a victim on a gallows. On the front porch, a menu board memorialized a last meal in partial letters, an acrostic to a past generation's dream."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson-2
August 29, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Gerson refuses to stop sending me gold.
"From the second story, askew in rusted bolts, our family name hung like a victim on a gallows. On the front porch, a menu board memorialized a last meal in partial letters, an acrostic to a past generation's dream."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson-2
"From the second story, askew in rusted bolts, our family name hung like a victim on a gallows. On the front porch, a menu board memorialized a last meal in partial letters, an acrostic to a past generation's dream."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/steve-gerson-2
"But now the holy strip away the smoke, / the skin, the prayers, the / uneasy past and all the dirt, / besmirching tombs of your forebears. They / release your vanished breath, lay bare - / your shroud-caress, your laughter / trapped in stone."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/a-w-earl-2-p...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/a-w-earl-2-p...
August 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
"But now the holy strip away the smoke, / the skin, the prayers, the / uneasy past and all the dirt, / besmirching tombs of your forebears. They / release your vanished breath, lay bare - / your shroud-caress, your laughter / trapped in stone."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/a-w-earl-2-p...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/a-w-earl-2-p...
"These feathered, airborne rats caused trouble throughout the town, but there was something peculiar about my position, perhaps the proximity of the church tower, which offered them the perfect launch point from where they could orchestrate their raids."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/jeremy-dixon...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/jeremy-dixon...
August 12, 2025 at 4:34 PM
"These feathered, airborne rats caused trouble throughout the town, but there was something peculiar about my position, perhaps the proximity of the church tower, which offered them the perfect launch point from where they could orchestrate their raids."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/jeremy-dixon...
www.godscrueljokelit.com/jeremy-dixon...
3 very short and very very good flash fictions today from Caleb Weinhardt.
"He was covered in it, that’s what I remember. Like iridescent scales all over his body. It made the flashing nightclub lights shimmer off of him through the haze."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/caleb-weinha...
"He was covered in it, that’s what I remember. Like iridescent scales all over his body. It made the flashing nightclub lights shimmer off of him through the haze."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/caleb-weinha...
August 5, 2025 at 4:31 PM
3 very short and very very good flash fictions today from Caleb Weinhardt.
"He was covered in it, that’s what I remember. Like iridescent scales all over his body. It made the flashing nightclub lights shimmer off of him through the haze."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/caleb-weinha...
"He was covered in it, that’s what I remember. Like iridescent scales all over his body. It made the flashing nightclub lights shimmer off of him through the haze."
www.godscrueljokelit.com/caleb-weinha...
Two heavy experiments today from @jmartinpoetry.bsky.social!
These bad bois hit like a pair of bricks to the dome.
'for the confined, improperly intent, even virtually afflicted' & 'chewed, clenched against a sagging face, opened up to reveal the exit'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/joshua-marti...
These bad bois hit like a pair of bricks to the dome.
'for the confined, improperly intent, even virtually afflicted' & 'chewed, clenched against a sagging face, opened up to reveal the exit'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/joshua-marti...
July 29, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Two heavy experiments today from @jmartinpoetry.bsky.social!
These bad bois hit like a pair of bricks to the dome.
'for the confined, improperly intent, even virtually afflicted' & 'chewed, clenched against a sagging face, opened up to reveal the exit'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/joshua-marti...
These bad bois hit like a pair of bricks to the dome.
'for the confined, improperly intent, even virtually afflicted' & 'chewed, clenched against a sagging face, opened up to reveal the exit'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/joshua-marti...
"Now, the question prying on my mind is where to get ‘really hot red lipstick.’ Gwyneth Paltrow calls it ‘the essence of beauty.’"
Jingling the Jackass, or How Dr. Danforth Löwengruber Got “Really Hot Red Lipstick” in Terre Bleue, Missouri
by Peter Geier
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
Jingling the Jackass, or How Dr. Danforth Löwengruber Got “Really Hot Red Lipstick” in Terre Bleue, Missouri
by Peter Geier
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
July 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
"Now, the question prying on my mind is where to get ‘really hot red lipstick.’ Gwyneth Paltrow calls it ‘the essence of beauty.’"
Jingling the Jackass, or How Dr. Danforth Löwengruber Got “Really Hot Red Lipstick” in Terre Bleue, Missouri
by Peter Geier
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
Jingling the Jackass, or How Dr. Danforth Löwengruber Got “Really Hot Red Lipstick” in Terre Bleue, Missouri
by Peter Geier
www.godscrueljokelit.com/peter-geier-...
Two poems today from henry 7. reneau, jr.
"like brutes who stumble upon fire / within a shifting geometry of shadow & light : a gathering of blessed lunatics / composing prayers & war songs & the sky chock full of stars"
- from 'the propagation of light'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/henry-reneau...
"like brutes who stumble upon fire / within a shifting geometry of shadow & light : a gathering of blessed lunatics / composing prayers & war songs & the sky chock full of stars"
- from 'the propagation of light'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/henry-reneau...
July 16, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Two poems today from henry 7. reneau, jr.
"like brutes who stumble upon fire / within a shifting geometry of shadow & light : a gathering of blessed lunatics / composing prayers & war songs & the sky chock full of stars"
- from 'the propagation of light'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/henry-reneau...
"like brutes who stumble upon fire / within a shifting geometry of shadow & light : a gathering of blessed lunatics / composing prayers & war songs & the sky chock full of stars"
- from 'the propagation of light'
www.godscrueljokelit.com/henry-reneau...