Nov 2025: Poisoned Soup Update, Award Eligibility, How Award Nominations Work 🍲🏆

Hello fantastic humanoids. Welcome back or welcome here!

I'm Xochilt Avila, an indie author of speculative fiction and non-fiction. This morning I stepped onto my porch into the crisp autumn air, my heart the lightest it's felt in a year. There's still so much work to be done, still so many heinous acts of cruelty being allowed, but this week's elections felt like a step in the right direction.

One way I'm taking additional steps is by donating to a local food pantry. If you're able, please consider doing so. I chose Maryland Food Bank, but there are so many others you could pick, and money donations stretch much further than food.

Another small thing I do is participate in Postcards to Voters, which helps notify prospective voters about their upcoming local elections.

Anyway, here's the author stuff.

I'm so excited for you to read my non-fiction essay "Creepy Stuff Happens in Nowhere: An Ode to Courage the Cowardly Dog" in the Poisoned Soup anthology! Funnily, I wrote it during a December visit to California last year, so it'll have a similar feel for the winter season. It's an exploration of one of my first experiences with horror and how it ties to the vast, endless darkness of the California desert.

I'll share more next month, but in the meantime check out the gorgeous cover I've been permitted to share, as well as the anthology's Instagram.

We're entering what many in the indie writing space consider "Award Season," when numerous lit orgs open nominations for awards of achievement. This is the first year I'm putting myself out there. If anything I've written has moved you this year please consider my nomination!

If anything below intrigues you and you want to read it, I'll happily send a review copy 💖just email me at xochiltavilabooks@gmail.com

Short Fiction
"A Tall Glass of Water" - July 2025 by Night Shades.

"Welcome to Alexandria" - Sept 2025 in NYGEL's inaugural issue (18+).

"As Much as I Please" - Sept 2025 in Cosmic Horror Monthly, Issue #63.

"Closed for Maintenance" - Oct 2025 by Whisper House Press in the Dread Mondays anthology.

Creative Non-Fiction
"Felt, Fur, and Frightful Things: An Autistic Love of Mascot Horror" - Jan 2025 by Tenebrous Press' The Skull & Laurel, Issue 2.

"Just a Little Bit of Dirt" published July 2025 by Farmerish.

"Strange Things Happen in Nowhere: An Ode to Courage the Cowardly Dog" to be published Dec 2025 by Brigids Gate Press in the Poisoned Soup Anthology.

Some well known awards include the Nebula Award (via SFWA), the Hugo Award (via WSFS), the Bran Stoker Award (via HWA), the Shirley Jackson Award, and... the Cummies (via Dead Language Podcast).

Each award has its own nomination rules and categories. For this year, please consider my personal work for categories in short fiction and short non-fiction/creative non-fiction.

However, you can also nominate entire anthologies! If you've read my work in any collections, chances are you enjoyed the other stories there (I know I did). So also consider if there's full collections you'd like to nominate as well.

Lastly, there's "Best Of" collections, which highlight short-form publications from the last year. Tenebrous Press' Brave New Weird is a great example of this. You might see more of these out in the wild.

Of course, all of this applies to literature that I've had no part of. You should nominate whoever's work you've enjoyed this year. If that isn't me, no worries. I plan on dedicating a few days this month to send out my own nominations.

There's other things to share (including a VERY exciting acceptance in an upcoming anthology), but I'll save that for next time. Until then, stay warm.