Kate McIntyre

I'll be reading with @cobramilk.bsky.social tonite to celebrate the amazing new issue! Get registered below

@katemcintyre.bsky.social constantly wows me. Two incredible stories herein--

Thank you my friend! 🍄

"Outside the dirty glass, darkness closed in. Like black wrapper on gift nobody wanted to receive. Train locked me in, hardly any passengers..." Each twist of this great piece by @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social surprised me. New on hex today!

Beginnings for HAD Simone de Beauvoir once said beginnings are sheer acts of choice. Eliot believed the end and the beginning are all entangled. Anything that falls in-between is collateral. There must be a reason new beginnings are rarely gentle and often messy. Send me anything that explores why that might be the case. Think in terms of a fresh start, a clean slate, the beginning of a long journey, a reset, whether it be literal, metaphorical, or spiritual. Submissions open Wednesday, 1/14, 10 AM (MT) / 12 PM (ET) / 6 PM (CET). Submissions will be capped at 150, so be quick. The nitty-gritty: 750 words for prose (or 2 micro pieces of equal combined length) 1-2 poems & hybrid pieces (each no longer than 2 pages) All submissions will receive a response within 24 hours. Thanks all for participating. 💀 💀 💀 — Sarp

SUBMISSION CALL COMING!

Wednesday, 1/14, 10 AM (MT) / 12 PM (ET) / 6 PM (CET)
Subs will be capped at 150, so be quick.

The nitty-gritty:
750 words for prose (or 2 micro pieces of equal combined length)
1-2 poems & hybrid pieces (each no longer than 2 pages)

guest ed: @sarpsozdinler.bsky.social

6 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Stories You Can Read Online For Free These excellent sci-fi and fantasy short stories are available to read for free online, and they're the perfect antidote to doomscrolling.

My latest Book Riot is live! I spotlight 6 SFF short stories you can read online for free. Featuring works by @kswalkerwrites.bsky.social, @thesuiway.bsky.social, @iamchrisscott.bsky.social, @kristinaten.bsky.social, Chiemeziem Everest Udochukw, and Celestine Ndanu K.

bookriot.com/sff-short-st...

Dewdrops by Glenn Orgias Mr Hyun lived down the hall, he was elderly and had arthritis so I’d cook him meals (he offered to pay, but given that I’d been cajoled into spying on him it was the least I could do). Everyone knew a...

"Everyone knew about our friendship, and by that I mean: the Kremlin."

This week in hex: a birthday party, anti-gravity secrets, the complexities of parenting. We are BEYOND thrilled to feature the incredible @glennorgias.bsky.social's "Dewdrops," an unforgettable slice of magic! Spread the word! 😈

Colorful Cobra Milk cover

Excerpt from “Doors”

Excerpt from “Carl’s Bad Cavern”

So honored to have two shorties in this gorgeous new issue of @cobramilk.bsky.social. One piece emerged from a dream, the other from a generative workshop led by Evan Williams. And double joy to share pages with @hexliterary.bsky.social contributors Julián Martinez and Monique Quintana! 🐍🐍🐍🍄🍄🍄

Enthrall! by Stephanie Feldman The children saw their chance. The cheese course lay in ruins on the endless table. The parents were too tipsy or sleepy, too busy arguing or laughing or singing, too distracted loosening belts and...

"The children saw their chance."

This week's hex is a wonder, a magical game of hide and seek, an absolute beauty! A children's game that slips into something so much more. Dreamy, and oozing with life, we are so lucky and thrilled to feature @sbfeldman.bsky.social's "Enthrall!"

Go check it out!

Innocence by Cheryl Pappas He slips into the house party unnoticed, wearing a fedora and a bright pink handkerchief in his suit pocket. He is dressed like the other men, just as the invitation had specified. The women’s shawls ...

"She is conveniently in the kitchen, slicing a large orange with one of the knives. Her limbs are exquisitely long, her cutting precise. Slip..."

As New Year's parties beckon, mark this tale of gentle menace from the nonpareil @cherylpappas.bsky.social, new on hex! 🔪🍊🕷️

Thrift Store Perfume by Alice M See here, o ye wistful, see here! The sweat of God, bottled. Collected from His pits. A drop grants salvation. Smell here, o ye damned! Open thy nostrils, thou wretch, smell the funk of divinity! Anim...

"See here, o ye wistful, see here! The sweat of God, bottled."

Folks! This week, the one and only @notveryalice.bsky.social offers a spritz of holy oddness and love. Absolutely love the language in this story. Don't miss "Thrift Store Perfume," up now on the site! 🙏

Unsolved Mysteries by Chris Scott Ten years old, watching Unsolved Mysteries on the floor, dunking Oreos in my Keebler Elf glass of milk. A husband and wife are fighting. Not the real husband, not the real wife. A reenactment. The wif...

"In the basement the television is on, and Robert Stack is waiting for me, his gray trench coat perfectly still against a black void. 'In the closet under the stairwell, remove the wood paneling...'"

@iamchrisscott.bsky.social leads us into impossible architectures, new today on hex!

PUSHCART NOMINEES "VOLCANO PEOPLE" BY RICHARD MIRABELLA "A SILENT SONG" BY KATHARINE TYNDALL "AT THE (CENTRE) OF IT ALL" BY ISANA SKEETE "TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES" BY WHITNEY COLLINS "THE BABIES WHO HAVE NO EYES" BY LILLIE E. FRANKS "IT SMELLS LIKE DEAD GIRLS IN HERE" BY SKYLER MELNICK

hex's Pushcart nominees! 💥🍄💥 @rpmirabella.bsky.social @katharinetyndall.bsky.social @isanaskeete.bsky.social @whitneycollins.bsky.social @lilliekoi.bsky.social @skyskkyy.bsky.social

Best Small Fictions nominations “Inclement Weather” by John Chrostek “The Cattle-Maiden” by Megan Barickman “Volcano People” by Richard Mirabella “Truth or Consequences” by Whitney Collins “Dreams of the Fallen Angelic Youth” by Shiwei Zhou

Best Small Fictions nom nom noms! 💥👹💥 @rpmirabella.bsky.social @whitneycollins.bsky.social @johnchrostek.com @barickme.bsky.social @shiweizhou.bsky.social

Best Microfiction nominations “The Fastnet” by Adrian Dallas Frandle “Actually, My Experiences Are Universal!” by Juniper White “Thrift Store Perfume” by Alice M “My Brother Danny” by Elena Zhang “Greetings From Sands Point, New York!” by Avery Gregurich

hex's Best Microfiction noms 💥🖤💥 @notveryalice.bsky.social @ezhang77.bsky.social @adrianf.bsky.social @junewhitewrites.bsky.social Avery Gregurich

Paternal Possession by Mikee Parangalan Delaney and I met my dad outside of the diner for his birthday. We scooted into a booth and my dad asked the waitress for her name. She smiled and he told her that she had Nice Teeth. I couldn’t stifl...

"We scooted into a booth and my dad asked the waitress for her name. She smiled and he told her that she had Nice Teeth. I couldn’t stifle my laugh, so he asked, 'What?'"

Love love love the strange inheritance of dadlike silliness in Mikee Parangalan's "Paternal Possession," up now on the site! 🩸

“We are protected from flames by cool winds of dark matter. It’s too bright to see much torture…”

Yesss Joe on HAD yessssss

🔥🔥😈🔥🔥

What an amazing opening line: "One by one, the talk show hosts were dying."

MY WIFE'S IN THE SHEDDDD

Trinidad by Geese on Apple Music Song · 2025 · Duration 3:44

Exhibit #2:

Pimp My Ride by Julián Martinez Xzibit has planted the smallest bomb inside of a bomb which rests under the floating 2001 Toyota Corolla painted candy red with pinstripe and flames which hangs on the fuse of an even bigger bomb, the...

what's it mean that two of my favorite recent artworks are about bombs in/under cars?

Xzhibit #1, @martinezfjulian.bsky.social new today on @hexliterary.bsky.social

“While the curtains close, Jesus fiddles with the drained batteries in his chrome torso.”

What joy! Two new Elena Zhang pieces today.

“And that pitcher still a little weepy out there still moping like a bastard. He’s a bastard that guy that pitcher. Good guy though, does a lot for his community…”

Oh man, the voice here hits just right. 🧢⚾️

“Vicuna. ‘The smallest member of the camel family,’ I said, caressing his coat. ‘Most of them die from terror when sheared…’”

I adore our latest offering: lyrical, odd, gorgeous.

So honored to be featured on this amazing list!

My story Thirst Trap is out in @hexliterary.bsky.social (link in the comments). Read it to get your thirst quenched!

Thanks to the hex team for being amazing!

@hexliterary.bsky.social is the best, and I'm thrilled my latest story found a home with them.

This story made my friend laugh so hard he pissed himself! (My friend had been hospitalized because he hadn't urinated in a month. Doctors are now using my story for more medical breakthroughs).

Today on hex, @seandowie.bsky.social offers an all-time great first line. Then there's this killer moment: "I strutted. My plump buttocks in denim shorts no doubt caught their attention." And you won't believe the ending. Read it! 👇

One of my favorite reading experiences is being completely baffled by something until all of a sudden I'm totally into it