Sean Dowie
seandowie.bsky.social
Sean Dowie
@seandowie.bsky.social
Writer of stories, reader of more. Words in HAD, Maudlin House, hex.

sean-dowie.com
Pinned
@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).
"No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue."

This week, we bring you the Great American Short Story, a brand new one by @seandowie.bsky.social. This one is a jaw-dropper. Hilarious. Unexpected. Don't miss "Thirst Trap!"

💪💀👇
Thirst Trap by Sean Dowie
No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue. Travelers often discovered it. Their passion for deserts was as fiery as the temp...
hexliterary.com
Reposted by Sean Dowie
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! 👇
"No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue."

This week, we bring you the Great American Short Story, a brand new one by @seandowie.bsky.social. This one is a jaw-dropper. Hilarious. Unexpected. Don't miss "Thirst Trap!"

💪💀👇
Thirst Trap by Sean Dowie
No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue. Travelers often discovered it. Their passion for deserts was as fiery as the temp...
hexliterary.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
I saw lots of talk here this morning about grooming habits and masculinity and I'm nearly SURE that folks are talking about Chance (of Chance's Modeling Venue), the protagonist of @seandowie.bsky.social's latest in @hexliterary.bsky.social !!!! Go peep it!
"No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue."

This week, we bring you the Great American Short Story, a brand new one by @seandowie.bsky.social. This one is a jaw-dropper. Hilarious. Unexpected. Don't miss "Thirst Trap!"

💪💀👇
Thirst Trap by Sean Dowie
No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue. Travelers often discovered it. Their passion for deserts was as fiery as the temp...
hexliterary.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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!
September 30, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue."

We are lucky as hell to have @seandowie.bsky.social back in hex with one of the funniest, strangest tales we have ever read. I'm absolutely obsessed with "Thirst Trap," up now!
💪💀👇
Thirst Trap by Sean Dowie
No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue. Travelers often discovered it. Their passion for deserts was as fiery as the temp...
hexliterary.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue."

This week, we bring you the Great American Short Story, a brand new one by @seandowie.bsky.social. This one is a jaw-dropper. Hilarious. Unexpected. Don't miss "Thirst Trap!"

💪💀👇
Thirst Trap by Sean Dowie
No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue. Travelers often discovered it. Their passion for deserts was as fiery as the temp...
hexliterary.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:15 PM
@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).
"No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue."

This week, we bring you the Great American Short Story, a brand new one by @seandowie.bsky.social. This one is a jaw-dropper. Hilarious. Unexpected. Don't miss "Thirst Trap!"

💪💀👇
Thirst Trap by Sean Dowie
No modeling agency praised my biceps enough, so my father bought me an oasis. It became my personal modeling venue. Travelers often discovered it. Their passion for deserts was as fiery as the temp...
hexliterary.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"There is an aperture in my hand, a thumb-print whirl where tissue once flowed uninterrupted—"

We are obsessed with this wonderfully weird @mizukiyamagen.bsky.social story. A manifesting of grief that you won't soon forget. A wound that's more than a wound. Do NOT miss "The Hand's Aperture"! 🐌
The Hand's Aperture by Mizuki Yamagen
There is an aperture in my hand, a thumb-print whirl where tissue once flowed uninterrupted—like a channel grown curious and turning back on itself. Last week it was a mosquito bite: a temporary river...
hexliterary.com
September 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
we're live baby! send em if you got em 🙏
oh hi, we're opening for submissions tomorrow, Friday 9/5! 200 cap & we'll stay open until filled. mark ur calendars 👇
September 5, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
short.
fiction.
August 28, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
psst: if you’d like email notice about our next submission period (very soon), please join our NEW mailing list! sign-up link is under the “Future” tab on our website!
Future
Guidelines hex publishes flash literary fiction and prose poetry with speculative elements. We welcome the surreal, the weird, and the uncanny. Scare us, surprise us, take us to space. Show us how ...
hexliterary.com
August 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
Aftergooners! If you haven't already read "A Silent Song," what are you waiting for??? and if you have? Read it again ya dingus! This story rocks so hard!!!
"Allowed only those senses which enabled its labor, the malus drone’s world was one of touch and smell."

A tale of wildness, of freedom, impeccably written, @katharinetyndall.bsky.social's "A Silent Song" is the body/eco/labor horror you need this week! We are so stoked to share this one with you!
A Silent Song by Katharine Tyndall
Allowed only those senses which enabled its labor, the malus drone’s world was one of touch and smell. The scent of spring-warm tree bark, the movement of air through branches, spoke of obstacles. The...
hexliterary.com
August 12, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"Allowed only those senses which enabled its labor, the malus drone’s world was one of touch and smell."

A tale of wildness, of freedom, impeccably written, @katharinetyndall.bsky.social's "A Silent Song" is the body/eco/labor horror you need this week! We are so stoked to share this one with you!
A Silent Song by Katharine Tyndall
Allowed only those senses which enabled its labor, the malus drone’s world was one of touch and smell. The scent of spring-warm tree bark, the movement of air through branches, spoke of obstacles. The...
hexliterary.com
August 12, 2025 at 2:12 PM
I'm a serious, introspective person now!

I have a new story out in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social called Queerbait. It's about a fisherman who catches gay mermen with queerbait.

It's more somber and intellectual than my last few pieces.

maudlinhouse.net/queerbait/
Queerbait
Fisherman Peter caught the gay merman with queerbait. Explicit gay content was illegal on land, even in pursuit of mermen flesh. Luckily, fishermen learned how to produce eye-catching bait without get...
maudlinhouse.net
July 28, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"Some kind of a noise. Or a nudge, a push."

We are BEYOND thrilled to have @aaronburch.bsky.social back in hex this week with "The Attic!" This story is the best kind of surprise, linguistically wonderful, a foray into the unsettling, all without losing Aaron's great sense of heart. Don't miss it!
The Attic by Aaron Burch
Some kind of a noise. Or a nudge, a push. Probably both. A “Babe, babe,” together with or followed by, enough of a jostle to wake me up while trying not to startle me. “Sorry,” Michelle said. “I...
hexliterary.com
July 15, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"Our eyes are plugs that keep truth out, that bend it when it tries to force its way in. The babies sat in their corner and stared back."

new on hex today ! "The Babies Who Have No Eyes" by Lillie E. Franks @lilliekoi.bsky.social , a story that perfectly balances comedy and horror !! 👇 👶 ✨
The Babies Who Have No Eyes by Lillie Franks
At some point everyone makes the same joke: it must be nice caring for babies who never cry. But the babies who have no eyes do cry; they’re born crying just like everyone else. You can see their tear...
hexliterary.com
July 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
OH MY GOD!

This is what I look like right now, because I just had a story published in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social (link in the comments), and IT'S SO GOOD I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

It's about a vampire obsessed with Sabrina Carpenter.

Check it out!
June 12, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
love this story by Ravi Mangla @ravimangla.bsky.social !! it’s about a recently widowed woman who goes to see the hippos at the zoo, meets a dude drinking alcohol through a straw, & overhears some juicy mermaid drama. read this pronto !

xraylitmag.com/sea-maidens-...
SEA MAIDENS by Ravi Mangla
Ever since her husband was hit by a municipal bus, Mrs. Atwal would spend her afternoons watching the hippos at the aquarium. Their fleetness of hoof belying their primordial size. At two o’clock, on ...
xraylitmag.com
May 20, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"My dead friend isn’t supposed to be on the whale watching tour."

today we have a very beautiful & beautifully written story by Kelly Dasta ! great dialogue, perfect pacing, & an emotional ending. read it !

xraylitmag.com/whale-watchi...
WHALE WATCHING by Kelly Dasta
My dead friend isn’t supposed to be on the whale watching tour. It’s a pale summer morning, the harbor glazed with fog. I’m standing on the boat’s upper deck directing tourists aboard, gesturing to em...
xraylitmag.com
May 30, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
it's "fuck it dawg friday," and also short story month is coming to an end (thankfully it's short story year every year) so here's one last short story. @pitheadchapel.bsky.social is a mag I've been trying to crack from the beginning, so was thrilled when they liked this one enough to run it!
A Series of Sequential Movements
Daniel Miller The man born with a Rubik’s Cube for a head has a headache. I know this because he tells me. We are sitting on my couch and the basketball game is on, but not so loud as to further ca…
pitheadchapel.com
May 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"The first time he calls me babe, it’s the mid-90s again and I’m just a girl watching Bowie in the tightest leggings I have ever seen..."

We are absolutely thrilled to have Adelina Sarkisyan back in hex with some nostalgic yearning, the brutal love of goblin hearts. A gorgeous new poem. Check it! 👇
The Goblin King Calls Me Babe by Adelina Sarkisyan
The first time he calls me babe, it’s the mid-90s again and I’m just a girl watching Bowie in the tightest leggings I have ever seen and wondering if I would ever dare to wish the wishes I had, since ...
hexliterary.com
May 27, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
Pssst! Want to read something weirdly fun?? Try this, but keep those laughs silent if you want to stay alive 🤫

Thanks @hexliterary.bsky.social and @seandowie.bsky.social for this! 😂

#speculative #flashfiction #weirdfiction #reading
"When the aliens swarmed Earth, people had to be silent or communicate through ASMR."

This week on hex, an absolute wonder by @seandowie.bsky.social! This one is WILD. Katana wielding aliens! Infinite Jest! And all of it circling back around into the deeply human. Don't miss Mr. ASMR, up now! 👽👂⚔️
Mr. ASMR by Sean Dowie
When the aliens swarmed Earth, people had to be silent or communicate through ASMR. The aliens had sensitive hearing, and if you were too loud, they’d disembowel you—or decapitate you if you were luck...
hexliterary.com
May 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
"When the aliens swarmed Earth, people had to be silent or communicate through ASMR."

Funny, weird as hell, and deeply human. @seandowie.bsky.social's newest has it all. This story is so exciting and if I were a ear-katana wielding alien I would force you all to read it. Mr. ASMR, up now on hex!
Mr. ASMR by Sean Dowie
When the aliens swarmed Earth, people had to be silent or communicate through ASMR. The aliens had sensitive hearing, and if you were too loud, they’d disembowel you—or decapitate you if you were luck...
hexliterary.com
May 20, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Sean Dowie
Joe said it best -- so grateful and lucky that y'all send us such brilliance, that we get to publish stuff like @seandowie.bsky.social's Mr. ASMR. Long live @hexliterary.bsky.social
May 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM