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May 2025: Welcome ✨Author About, Why a Newsletter, Upcoming Pubs, Novella Updates, Micro Story (Exclusive)

Hello!

I'm Xochilt Avila - An indie author of horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction. I also occasionally write non-fiction when the mood strikes. Currently, I'm fairly small potatoes in the lit world, but you may have seen me in:

🖤The Book of Queer Saints Volume II w/Medusa Publishing Haus
🖤Spectrum w/ Third Estate Books
🖤Solidarity Forever w/ Cursed Morsels (released with Cynthia Gómez’s debut collection The Nightmare Box & Other Stories)
🖤Ghoulish Tales Issue #3 w/ Ghoulish
🖤The Skull & Laurel Issue #2 w/Tenebrous Press

If you've read any of my stories, thank you for supporting me, and I hope you enjoyed! If you haven't read them yet, give them a shot~ But seriously, there's so much talent in each of these collections. I'm honored to be included alongside some seriously incredible writers.

You may have also seen my icon from somewhere! My wonderful husband💖drew it for me. You can see more of his work on BluSky.

Why a Newsletter?

So, why have I made a newsletter? Frankly, it's the best way to keep in touch with one's readers, especially in a constantly changing virtual landscape.

After watching Twitter and Meta become right-wing cesspools, and queer and trans creatives becoming increasingly censored, I'm no longer banking on the longevity of any particular digital space. With a newsletter on top of my other communications, I feel more confident that I can reach the people who want to read my work.

On average you'll hear from me once a month, maybe more or less depending on how much I have to share. You can expect things like publication dates, event announcements, life updates, and exclusive content. I might even link to fanfics if I can blow the dust off of my AO3. I'll also probably share photos of my cats.

A photo of my cat Jo. He's a skinny short-haired gray cat with a bit of grey on his face. He has light green eyes. His big nose is up in the camera. He's sniffing you.
A photo of one of my cats Jo. He's a skinny gray cat with soft green eyes. His big honking nose is right up in the camera. Sniff sniff.

So, in line with that, here's what's coming up:

Upcoming Publications

🖤 Closed for Maintenance in Dread Mondays w/ Whisper House Press 💼 Oct 2025 - Reluctant new janitor Perry gets more than he bargained for in this disgusting, work-horror short story.

🖤 Creepy Stuff Happens in Nowhere in Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, & Insane w/ Brigids Gate Press 🥣 Dec 2025 - Why is the unknown so captivating? I explore this through a snappy ode to Courage the Cowardly Dog.

🖤 Welcome to Alexandria in NYGEL's debut issue (18+)🐙Date TBD - My first published erotica! In this tale, Professor Ambrose Hitchcock explores the Alaskan Tongass in search of an impossible library that he'll never want to leave.

🖤 As Much as I Please in Cosmic Horror Monthly 🕰️Date TBD - What's the most precious thing you can take from someone? Time, of course. I can't wait for you to read this twisted, cosmic creature love story in a future CHM release.

Novella Updates - Mariposa

I'm still querying my queer eco-horror novella Mariposa.

Mariposa follows the life of Professor Lucas Herrera, a gay entomologist at the affluent and conservative Ventura University, as he seeks to uncover the secrets of his most significant scientific discovery amidst the tragedy of his most gutting loss. With the other half of his corazón taken away, Lucas pours himself into the oozing, pulsing mystery that he's stolen from the Lacandon jungle.

This book is very dear to me. It's a commentary of the hypocrisy of higher education, a celebration of Mexican-American culture, and an examination of how grief and unchecked ambition can twist a person's heart.

Once I have more news you'll hear all about it. The novella market is slow at the moment, but I have high hopes that I'll find its forever home soon.

A promotional image for Xochilt Avila's unpublished novella "Mariposa" - There are three photographs in a horizontal line. The first image is a forest labeled "hunger." The second image is someone putting on blue medical gloves labeled "Liquefaction." The third image is someone holding a smoking gun labeled "Emergence." These images represent the three acts of the book.
A promotional image for Xochilt Avila's unpublished novella Mariposa. There are three images in a horizontal line. They are meant to be interpreted left to right. The first image is a green, vibrant forest, and it is labeled "Hunger." The second image is a person putting on blue medical gloves, and it is labeled "Liquefaction." The third image is a person holding a smoking gun, and it is labeled "Emergence." These images and titles represent the three acts of the book.

Micro Story - Smoke

For sticking to the end, please enjoy a micro story about the end of the world. You know, light hearted stuff:

For our letters, we use the faded pages tucked in the back of my favorite books. They’re plentiful, even after we’ve burned so many.  But beyond that, I just want to use them.

I told him once how the smell reminded me of childhood, of the summer days I spent crafting potions and spells in the sliver of yard behind my parents’ Los Angeles condo. With chubby fingers I tossed fistfuls of weeds and dirt and trash into my bucket, my cauldron. Then, with surgical precision, I pulled my slips of parchment out from Snicket and Pilkey and the like, scrawled my incantations in messy crayon, and dropped those too in the sludge.

            I don’t remember what spells I wrote. What I’d wished for, if anything. Friends, perhaps. Which makes me glad to have him with me. Even now.

Especially now.

            A cheap merlot and a fire pit sits between us. We lounge on the back deck of our starter home, of the last home we’ll ever own. Ownership amounts to little now. But we know we’d been lucky once, and it seems pointless to avoid the outdoors now, so why not enjoy ourselves? Orange still engulfs the sky, as it has every night since the sirens waned.

He thinks it’s beautiful. I don’t disagree.

            It’s slow work. Our hands are emaciated, the pads of our palms turned to stone. But we push through. We write to cross-country relatives, to former colleagues, to the friends we were both fortunate to find, to those who wait on the other side. And when we finish we drink and let the flames consume our goodbyes. Minutes later, I don’t remember what I’d written. I’m much too tired. But I hope the smoke wafts far.

           (thank you everyone for reading! See you in the next one)

An image of Xochilt Avila's business card. It is a maroon card with two transparent moths interlacing their wings in the background. Their title is "Xochilt Avila," and their subtitle is "Queer Indie Horror Writer."