FAQ

Who are you?
Who AREN’T we?

What do you like?
We have no set aesthetic. Send us the wild things, the run-of-the mill things. Teo enjoys personal narrative with a good volta. Chloe loves all things monstrous and weird. Hannah is a sucker for anime. EKA will hardly turn down X-Files and Star Wars. Check out what we’ve published, what we write, what we tweet about. Send us what you think might fit or what might stretch our minds. We’re always open to new, lovely (or unlovable) things.

What do you NOT like?
NO CREEPS.

What does NO CREEPS mean?
Anything with language of oppression. That means: prejudice, racism, xenophobia, classism, sexism, ableism, serophobia, fat-shaming, intolerance of religion, homophobia, etc. Submissions that include this will be immediately rejected and if multiple pieces from a writer include this, we will no longer read future submissions from them. We’re serious. Additionally, we do not publish work that is abusive or harassing in nature. We reserve the right to remove published work and/or not read work by those who are abusers.

So... do I have to write about social justice?
Nope! As long as you don't have anything that contains language of oppression, that is harmful to others, etc, then you're ok. You can write about the dark stuff, the heavy things, the pain and trauma. BUT, we don't want it to be exploitative. If you're unsure about your piece, email us at editors@cottonxenomorph.com.

How quickly can I expect a response?
Frankly, we can’t tell you. Duotrope has the best data on that. We are a small team, so when we’re in agreement (for acceptance or rejection), things go quickly. When life (like COVID or Academia) gets in the way, we go slowly. If we are deeply behind, we go on hiatus to catch up and give deference to those who submitted earlier. Please be assured that ALL submissions are read by multiple readers.

Do you pay?
Sadly, at this moment we do not pay contributors. We are very committed to a free submission process and everyone involved in this journal is an unpaid volunteer. In the future, we hope to run contests that will have prizes. We are MORE than glad to promote you across our social media platforms.

Rights?
All we want are first-time electronic publication rights. We don't plan on having a print publication. You always retain copyright and rights return to you after publication.

Why Cotton Xenomorph?