Cotton Xenomorph

Cotton Xenomorph News — Cotton Xenomorph Dear Hive Members and Readers of CX, We began this magazine years ago with one big goal: to publish amazing writing and celebrate the diversity of voices that we didn't think were getting enough reco...

Dear Xeno Hive, friends, contributors, and readers: we have some important news to share with everyone.

We’re going on hiatus for 2025 to recharge, reorganize, and eventually return to uplifting writers in our community ❤️👽

Read more here ⬇️

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Quiet Men — Cotton Xenomorph BY Angelica Cabral TW: contains depictions of sexual assault It seems that every day a new man in San Francisco loses the ability to speak. There is no disease that we know of. Simply, one nig...

My first ever piece of published FICTION is up on @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social !

After the Flood Recedes — Cotton Xenomorph BY Justin Carter All through June the water rose. Neighborhood by neighborhood we fled, at first because the mayor asked nicely and then, later, because she asked more forcefully, because she tol...

Branched out into some speculative fiction with “After the Flood Recedes” at @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2023...

In the Modern Retelling of Cassandra, You're Autistic — Cotton Xenomorph BY chelsea stickle Your friend’s boyfriend says, “You know how she is.” When you say you don’t, he sketches an emotional mess who strikes like a snake. But you know your friend, and you know how t...

And last but not least @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social published my story about a modern Cassandra. In case you're wondering, she's queer and autistic.

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

The Devil's Lake Social Club — Cotton Xenomorph BY Mike Prask Our barn doesn’t need an outside motion light, so my husband says, emphatic. But Daniel is also ever-indulgent, and the soonest Saturday, he’s out on the ladder, early before Fay o...

Followed by "The Devil's Lake Social Club" a month or so ago in @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social. Thanks to everyone who gave them a read!

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Everything That Could Go Wrong — Cotton Xenomorph BY Tina Zhu A car breaks down in the desert. There is no cell phone reception. Yenyen and Maggie discover they are down to the last bottle of water. They could try to walk to wait for someone to...

Got a flash up at @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social on all the weird ways a relationship could go wrong :)

I mention this all the time in conversations and no one I speak to seems to have heard about it. theconversation.com/ai-is-a-mult...

Swimming Lessons From the Void — Cotton Xenomorph BY Sara Dobbie At the bottom of the well I have all the time in the world. Damp, mossy stones circle their way to the sky, a tiny sphere of distant light. The atmosphere up there is warm and sun...

“We fall asleep and dream together of another planet drenched in swirling oceans where thousands of people are sinking or swimming.” 💞

@sdobbie.bsky.social in @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social

Lockerbie, 1988 — Cotton Xenomorph BY Mary Thorson We learned that the sky was made of metal and people in the dark of the shortest day of the year. Just as fast as rain, the sky ripped open orange and our town’s population grew by ...

Does anyone know of places to submit flash publications for award consideration this year? I would love to send out my @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social story for consideration, Lockerbie, 1988 www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Swimming Lessons From the Void — Cotton Xenomorph BY Sara Dobbie At the bottom of the well I have all the time in the world. Damp, mossy stones circle their way to the sky, a tiny sphere of distant light. The atmosphere up there is warm and sun...

Very excited to have a weird little story up at @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social today!

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

“Sometimes, the stars send down spider silk threads with messages attached on thin slips of parchment. Fortune cookie predictions, like…”

A gorgeous dream-touched story by @sdobbie.bsky.social in @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social

Sometimes the Library Looks Like the Amityville Horror House — Cotton Xenomorph BY Corey Farrenkopf Most people don’t believe you when you tell them you work in a haunted library, which is fair. You don’t believe anything unless you experience it first hand. Patrons tell...

If you want to read a piece of flash about the haunted library I used to work in, check out Sometimes the Library Looks Like the Amityville Horror House, published over in @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social! www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Rose Garden Funeral of Sorts — Cotton Xenomorph By Jordan Kurella (art by MARTHA WIRKIJOWSKI ) The last time Kevin and I argued about the dog’s ashes, I made him cry. So for six months, his dead Akita sat in a plastic bag on my kitchen co...

i absolutely love @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social as a lit magazine. they are terrific and their editorial staff is top notch. i wrote this story as an exercise, and finished it for Cotton Xenomorph specifically. it’s my only lit fic published piece. love it.

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2018...

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Lockerbie, 1988 — Cotton Xenomorph BY Mary Thorson We learned that the sky was made of metal and people in the dark of the shortest day of the year. Just as fast as rain, the sky ripped open orange and our town’s population grew by ...

This is the story I’m most proud of, this year. Still so thankful to @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social for giving this little lady a home. www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Two Poems — Cotton Xenomorph BY Adam Gianforcaro Nature Walk Ticks microwave their blood meal and eat dinner alone while other beasts run circles around heat-stroked starlings. You know, God flooded the earth for good reaso...

Nature Walk & Poem in Superposition (in @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social)

Done!!

Icon!!!!!!!! ❤️🤩

Out from Behind a Rock — Cotton Xenomorph by K.C. Mead-Brewer Mina knows she’s not allowed inside Momma’s room. She knows. And she obeys the rules. She’s a good girl. Honey, to a fault. But there’s that noise again behind the door. A skitt...

I have the great honor of being @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social's first-ever publication! from back in 2017, check it out

Gotcha!

Sometimes the Library Looks Like the Amityville Horror House — Cotton Xenomorph BY Corey Farrenkopf Most people don’t believe you when you tell them you work in a haunted library, which is fair. You don’t believe anything unless you experience it first hand. Patrons tell...

And a flash piece about a haunted library where I used to work in @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social called Sometimes The Library Looks Like The Amityville Horror House www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Expiration Dates — Cotton Xenomorph BY Kaj Tanaka We are at the grocery store looking for expensive cheeses and salad kits in the discount bin like we do. There’s an old man kind of hovering over our shoulder. He acts impressed with ...

I have a cute little story over at @cottonxenomorph.bsky.social about meeting a ghost at the grocery store and really feeling "living on a prayer" by bon jovi

👻😻

www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

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Of course!!!! An OG!!!

👏👏

You Can’t Come Back If Your Memories Are Missing - Electric Literature "Accidental Girls" from PATTERNS OF ORBIT by Chloe N Clark, recommended by Juan Martinez

Hello blueskyers

I've done an intro before but with everyone finally starting to come over here 🥺 I thought I'd do a little intro thread of some of my writing to get to know me

First up this story about the cost of memory, trauma, and friendship

electricliterature.com/accidental-g...

Major congratulations to our co-editor Teo for his debut poetry collection news 🤗🎉🥳👏🎊🙌🎁🎈

GLANCES / MEN 1994 — Cotton Xenomorph BY Kami Enzie Note: “GLANCES / MEN” is erased and modified text from "Sunday, 2/6" ads in the "Glances" section of the Feb. 11, 1994 issue of the Washington Blade, page 102. Only in the ...

Today’s poem “Glances / Men 1994” by Kami Enzie is definitely a poem that stays with you long after you finish reading it.

We love found/erasure poetry and this one especially hits hard www.cottonxenomorph.com/journal/2024...

Gotcha!

Hell yea