Every so often, we notice a trend in the slushpile. At one point, it was a really unfortunate tendency for manuscripts to involve people murdering dogs within the first 50 pages, usually in graphic ways. Lately, it’s been aliens. Aliens appearing in the third act, so to speak, with no logical ties to the rest of the manuscript.

We…have no idea what’s up with the aliens, but we’re starting to formulate a theory.

The Cilantro Theory of Aliens.

Witness: