Richard Cabut Recommends: Constructed Situations and Torn Surfaces We launched my current book Ripped Backsides: Postcards from Beneath the Pavement at Flux Lumina, an arts loft both luminous and dark, as well as fab, on the Bowery in NYC last summer. As is the custo...

we have a fantastic list of book recommendations by Richard Cabut @richardcabut.bsky.social !

Cabut talks about his book 'Ripped Backsides' & the Situationists, a group of artists who criticized consumer culture & tried to destroy the “spectacle” of modern life

xraylitmag.com/richard-cabu...

Ugh have to go get ready to teach and am only halfway through this thing. Don't be like me, read it when you have time to finish it. So good so far.

Don't miss this one. A favorite.

This is good.

“I’ve already lost my son; I can’t lose the Catholic Bridge Club too.”

City Limits by Hannah Smart “They’re saying it hurt a lot.” “Well, yeah. Dying tends to do that.” “But this wasn’t, like, a typical death.” Four people sit at the table next to mine—two men and two women. One woman is blonde; th...

we have a story by Hannah Smart !

it's about a man who accidentally fakes his death & goes around town spying on his friends & family, to hear what they say about him.

soon the story of his death starts slipping out of his control.

xraylitmag.com/city-limits-...

Smart Search List of the Day The Smart Search List of the Day is: Short Stories feat. @xraylitmag.bsky.social @troublemakerfire.bsky.social @y2kq.com et al. https://duotrope.com/search/smart/fiction/short-stories-ycOvCKp6

The Smart Search List of the Day is: Short Stories feat. @xraylitmag.bsky.social @troublemakerfire.bsky.social @y2kq.com et al. https://duotrope.com

"Fear is a catalyst for love, or at least a shortcut to sex.” “Fear Theory” / X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine

From Lizzie Challen Hubbard's excellent "Fear Theory" in X-R-A-Y:

"Then they come. From under the door, from under the bed. Quick-moving shadows, with long tails. Bigger than the lab rats, and meaner." @xraylitmag.bsky.social

freilly2020.substack.com/p/fear-is-a-...

“As I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity…” - William Blake, ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’

Stephanie Yue Duhem talks to Audrey Lee about her new book 'Utter Goodness' !

this book sounds really good, i added it to my reading list -- i bet u will too after reading this interview

xraylitmag.com/spiritual-ho...

“Bass flopping softly in dark waters.” - Gilbert Sorrentino, ‘The Moon In Its Flight’

“The grackles crack their throats of bone in the smooth air.” - Wallace Stevens, ‘Banal Sojourn’

Fruit Cutting Factory by Chuckie Smith There are bugs in the watermelon. They’re supposed to be bugless but they always have the little white maggot bugs and sometimes, like today, they have the black scarab weevil bugs even though they’re...

'Fruit Cutting Factory' by Chuckie Smith is so good !

it's about a person who loves to cut fruit...until a new kind of fruit arrives that looks like human hands.

a really well written, funny, weird, surreal story that will stick with u all day

xraylitmag.com/fruit-cuttin...

"Outside, it was still Florida." - Joy Williams, 'The Beach House'

"She saw that sadness was stretched worldwide across my face." - Grace Paley, 'An Interest in Life'

ICYMI

THE BOARD GAME (33 CONSECUTIVE BLOG ENTRIES FROM GOODSUNFUN.WORDPRESS.COM) by Tyler Plofker July 9, 2025 Today I started a wonderful new project! Im making a board game! The board is made of dirt. The dirt is 300 yards by 300 yards and is outside. there is one piece (so far) and it is a litt...

i love this weirdo story Tyler Plofker !

it's blog posts by a man who either invented a board game, or is having a manic break with reality, or both. a very funny story. i love writers who experiment with voice. read it !

xraylitmag.com/the-board-ga...

Love!

hi ! yes we opened up today, but if it’s not showing as open it’s because we already hit our cap. sorry ! we’ll be open again May 1st

DESSINS D'ENFANTS by Tom Snarsky Chauncey skipped five grades. When he took his seat in English 9 with Mrs. Sotomayor he looked like a mushroom in an arboretum. He was very quiet, only answering when called on directly and sheepish i...

This describes (I think) @tomsnarsky.bsky.social's latest in x-ray. xraylitmag.com/dessins-denf...

A lot of my fave short stories are three small true stories dressed up in a trenchcoat.

cover of March Xness Anthology, a yellow book with a cassette tape on the cover

Happy Publication Day to the Official @marchxness.bsky.social Selection Committee, @angermonsoon.bsky.social and @meganc.bsky.social, and the long awaited, never duplicated HIT REPEAT UNTIL I HATE MUSIC: THE MARCH XNESS ANTHOLOGY!!!

www.splitlippress.com/product-page...

WOOT!

'HIT REPEAT UNTIL I HATE MUSIC': A SPLIT LIP ANTHOLOGY GROUP INTERVIEW Founded a decade ago as a competition between sad songs known as March Sadness, the tradition of pitting tracks against each other has persisted year on year, mutating in theme, but forever guided by ...

in celebration of the new collection of writings about music by Split/Lip Press @splitlipthemag.bsky.social - 'Hit Repeat Until I Hate Music: The March Xness Anthology'

several writers talk about about the first time that music made them lose their mind. read it !

xraylitmag.com/hit-repeat-u...

DESSINS D’ENFANTS by Tom Snarsky Chauncey skipped five grades. When he took his seat in English 9 with Mrs. Sotomayor he looked like a mushroom in an arboretum. He was very quiet, only answering when called on directly and sheepish in groupwork, but he paid attention every second. At the end of one class he overheard an older girl say smoke in a low voice. Another day he saw an older boy put his hand down his pants, which choreography not even the boy noticed. Chauncey could feel that he was developing…[the text in the screenshot cuts off here; click the link in the post reply to read the full story!]

extremely honored to be back in @xraylitmag.bsky.social today with a short story about a young mathematician — a thousand thanks to the good folks at X-R-A-Y for hosting this one, and to the one & only @joshuahebburn.bsky.social for accepting & editing it!

DESSINS D'ENFANTS by Tom Snarsky Chauncey skipped five grades. When he took his seat in English 9 with Mrs. Sotomayor he looked like a mushroom in an arboretum. He was very quiet, only answering when called on directly and sheepish i...

i love this story by Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social !

it's about a math prodigy who is hyper-observant of others around him, but struggles to connect. i love the math talk in this story & the details. the sentences are killer <3

xraylitmag.com/dessins-denf...

LITTLE SISTER, WHY HAVEN'T WE HEARD FROM YOU? by Timothy Boudreau We remember the shy teenager who visited aunts and uncles with a novel and a piece of knitting.  The adult in an over-sized sweater, huddled in a corner over a cup of tea. Though separated by ten year...

"We must allow ourselves to make brave mistakes." - by @tcboudreau.bsky.social in a story I just heard him read, now out in his book "Love You, Miss You, Goodbye Forever" ( @stanchion.bsky.social ), originally from @xraylitmag.bsky.social : xraylitmag.com/little-siste... #FlashInTheFeed

RECOMMENDS: DREAM MACHINES by Emmalea Russo Dreams. Dreams. Dreams. Nightmares. Reveries. How do they power us? Take hold? What do they tell us, in their own wicked and unwieldy ways? Lately, they’ve been on my mind, as I’m teaching a yearlong ...

Emmalea Russo recommends some fantastic books that all revolve around the theme of dreams

take a look !

xraylitmag.com/recommends-d...

AN INTERVIEW WITH LEE UPTON by Alice M Alice M: As I read The Withers I was struck by its genre. Even before the narrative mentioned Rebecca, I thought, ‘This is Lady’s Companion Gothic.’ I tumble thoughts in the back of my head as I read ...

Alice M @notveryalice.bsky.social interviews Lee Upton @leeupton.bsky.social about her new book, 'The Withers' !

check it out !

xraylitmag.com/an-interview...

CHEST by Oliver Land At the work Christmas party I sat with the junior staff, who were all shy and awkward. I made small talk about indie music with the shyest one, then talked to another about video games. One of the sen...

we have a 300 story by Oliver Land @oliverland.bsky.social !

it’s about an accident that happens after a Christmas work party. a dark, vacuum sealed, portentous story

xraylitmag.com/chest-by-oli...