A.T. Steel

Understand this: AI art is anti-human.

autumn by the pond
dappled light through slatted reeds
three white geese, asleep

#dailyhaikuprompt #haiku #geese #autumn #poetry

I won the 2025 Narrative Prize for my story "Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell"! ✨💙✨ www.narrativemagazine.com/winner-2025-...

I'm so tired of sharing a planet with people who only dream of escaping from it, who treat the earth as fundamentally evil and disposable. So fucking sad.

Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell | Narrative Magazine Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell by A. T. Steel — The city shimmered in summertime like gemstone jewelry ...

—excerpt from “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell” by A. T. Steel (@oldxanadu.bsky.social)

We are over the moon to share this year’s Narrative–Prize winning story, A. T. Steel’s “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”:

I won the 2025 Narrative Prize for my story “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”! 🥹 I am overwhelmed!

Steel was born in New York City and raised in Bronx homeless shelters, Harlem ghettos, and Brooklyn Brownsville projects.

Join us in celebrating A. T. Steel and his winning work, “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”!

@oldxanadu.bsky.social

WIP urban, LGBTQ coming-of-age short literary fiction story from a series of stories that I plan to continue publishing in various lit mags. #Wipsnips #comingofage Snippet immediately following a beating by a group of homophobic boys:

I've been using the em dash in my creative writing for decades. It's really sad to see it reduced to an "ai trick". Most people really are just... dumb. 🤦🏽‍♂️ #amwriting #writingcommunity

"Our art must be held sacred now more than ever, informed by our lives and (so) many little deaths." - @oldxanadu.bsky.social

So well said, and it's our pleasure. 😍 Check out Issue 10.1 of Foglifter in our bio for this wonderful story, "Waffles and Ice Cream for Breakfast" by A.T. Steel.

Yoo-hoo is chocolate water. Thanks.

Illustration of a demi goddess playing a fiddle. She has hair made of leaves that are flowering. She is wearing multiple layers of muse-like clothing with stripey patterns. There are sprouts of hyssop at her feet. Drawn by gdbeeart/prinnay, paint tool sai June 2025

Nature + Fiddle

This is why I keep a notebook and pen by the bed. 😖

A snippet from my short story WIP "Mixed Berry Pie", told from the POV of destitute trans teenage foundling Jasmine Milan in Harlem in the spring of 1992. 🤞🏽 here's to hoping I can finally crack the top 5 lit mag barrier with this one! #WIPSnips

Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell | Narrative Magazine Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell by A. T. Steel — The city shimmered in summertime like gemstone jewelry ...

Read something raw and relevant this pride month 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️. Check out “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell” as Story of the Week over at Narrative Magazine! ✨💕✨ Please comment and share! Help stories from our community reach mainstream audiences! www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stori...

community in the early 90s in the latest issue of Foglifter Journal. #lgbtq #fiction #writingcommunity

Thanks to Foglifter Journal for giving this story a comfortable home. Our art must be held sacred now now than ever, informed by our lives and (so) many little deaths. Spend time with trans teenage castaway Alma Castillo as she navigates life in the springtime of her youth in NYCs underground queer

Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell | Narrative Magazine Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell by A. T. Steel — The city shimmered in summertime like gemstone jewelry ...

Feeling extremely blessed as a struggling black writer to be kicking off Pride Month at Narrative Magazine with my story “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell”. Catch it before it leaves the main page!! 🙏🏽 The universe listens and rewards. www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stori...

during the Summer of 1991 from a hopeful start to a careless assault, and the fallout of her unhealthy and self-destructive coping mechanisms. CATCH IT ON THE MAIN PAGE OF NARRATIVE MAG FOR THE NEXT WEEK! ✨😌✨ #amwriting #lgbtq #urbanfiction #writingcommunity

Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell | Narrative Magazine Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell by A. T. Steel — The city shimmered in summertime like gemstone jewelry ...

www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stori... Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell by A. T. Steel

during the Summer of 1991 from a hopeful start to a careless assault, and the fallout of her unhealthy and self-destructive coping mechanisms. CATCH IT ON THE MAIN PAGE OF NARRATIVE MAG FOR THE NEXT WEEK! ✨😌✨ #amwriting #lgbtq #urbanfiction #writingcommunity

Many thanks to @narrativemag for making this piece Story of the Week. To read “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell” is to know me intimately as an artist. Being in a top ten lit mag like this is a dream come true! Spend a day with trans teenage castaway Alma Castillo

“The city shimmered in summertime like gemstone jewelry under a relentless sun.” —excerpt from “Honey Buns and Cream Soda in the Stairwell” by A. T. Steel

www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stori...

Thanks so much for giving this story a beautiful home!!! ✨💕✨😁

Understand this: AI art is anti-human.

How Can I Make Trans Day of Visibility Meaningful for Cis People? As a trans man, I can experience both erasure and hypervisibility in the same breath

If I had a dime for every time a cis person has accused me of shoving my transness down their throat, I might have been a volunteer instead of an employee for a nonprofit asking for donations for #LGBTQ+ civil rights a couple of years ago.
buff.ly/86aqVZv

#Transgender #Visibility #tdov

Zayn for a Day ⋆ Metallically Black A day in the life of young, trans foundling Zayn Youngblood living in Harlem in 1991, from waking up in her crowded, dilapidated tenement to sneaking off with her friends at night to seduce and rob a ...

For the children of Harlem in the summer of 1991, the streets were hallowed ground where anything was possible and where everything was possible — because nothing really happened if it didn’t happen there … #transdayofvisibility Read on: metallicallyblack.com/2024/08/zayn...

Zayn for a Day ⋆ Metallically Black A day in the life of young, trans foundling Zayn Youngblood living in Harlem in 1991, from waking up in her crowded, dilapidated tenement to sneaking off with her friends at night to seduce and rob a ...

Read some trans fiction on trans day of visibility ✨👌🏽✨ metallicallyblack.com/2024/08/zayn...

We are living in a post-scarcity art economy. There are more than enough admirers to go around.

Zayn for a Day ⋆ Metallically Black A day in the life of young, trans foundling Zayn Youngblood living in Harlem in 1991, from waking up in her crowded, dilapidated tenement to sneaking off with her friends at night to seduce and rob a ...

Check out my story "Zayn for a Day", published in West Branch Magazine print issue #105! Told from the POV of trans foundling Zayn Youngblood surviving Harlem ghettos in 1991. 🤍 Please share! #WritingCommunity #trans #fiction metallicallyblack.com/2024/08/zayn...