First Story: “Unraveling” by David Steffen (Originally published in the July 2014 Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine .) He passed from his study to his map room. One full wall of the room was covered in a map of the world. A red light pulsed in Michigan. That’s where the alarm had happened. On his own turf, where no other weaver had been known to establish themselves for two hundred years. From the drawer he pulled out smaller maps and found the glowing light there. The address was only a hun...
Mar 22, 2016•55 min
Cover art for this month is by Kassandra Leigh, a photographer, model, and self-professed dweeb with no social skills, chronic ailments, and a supreme appreciation of “me” time. She likes to take peectures of pretty, sexy, and creepy things, soft tacos with no lettuce, spooky supernatural anything, playing mages in Smite , heavy metal, the Sith Code, and things that start with the letter “C”: cats, camera gear, cold weather, cosmetics, clothing, and caffeine — but not candids. Flash Fiction: “Os...
Mar 15, 2016•47 min
Flash Fiction: “Genie from the Gym” by M.K. Hutchins (Originally published at Daily Science Fiction .) First Wish: I wasn’t stupid. Someone had abandoned that lamp in the gym locker room for a reason. I thought about just wishing to lose weight, but the genie might vaporize my arm or something to meet that requirement. So I wished that I could lose weight. Overnight, chocolate disappeared from the world. Anyone attempting to bake cookies would open their ovens to find cold, crisp slices of cucum...
Mar 08, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Flash Fiction: “Daddy’s Glasses” by Molly Flynn (Originally published at Every Day Fiction .) I peer into my drawer of glasses, deciding, and empty eyes stare back. Most people don’t notice the images pressed into the lenses, like the negatives of old photographs, but Daddy and I do. He keeps his glasses in the garage, but I’m not allowed in there. I select my pink ones with scratches on the lenses and Hello Kitty printed on the arms. They creak as I force them to fit and the plastic presses int...
Mar 01, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Flash Fiction: “An Old Warrior’s Final Countdown” by Kat Otis (Originally published at Every Day Fiction.com .) Ten spiraling stone steps led down to the dungeon. I dashed down them, the flames of the wall sconces wavering with the wind of my passage. Although I still held my sword at the ready, I found no one left to fight. When I reached the bottom, I sheathed my sword and drew my lock-picks instead. Nine brave warriors had given their lives to get me this far. One by one they had fallen to ou...
Feb 23, 2016•59 min
“Manannan’s Children” by Russell Blackford (Originally published in Dreaming Again .) Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose… — W.B. Yeats They’d chased a deer, which had bolted in terror from the forest, then run to a round grassy hill and vanished over the top. At the top of the hill, Finn and Oisin pulled back on their horses’ reins and wrapped their heavy cloaks more tightly against the bitter cold wind from the sea. Down on the shore was a lady, also on horseback, with the lapping waves and ...
Feb 16, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Short Fiction: “Darkening Skies” by Oliver Buckram (Originally published at Daily Science Fiction on November 4, 2015 .) Welcome to Dystopian Airlines. We now request your full attention as our flight attendants demonstrate the safety features of this Boeing 666 aircraft. Should we experience a loss of cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop from the compartment above your seat. Place the mask over your nose and mouth, secure the elastic band, and breathe normally. The flow of oxygen will start...
Feb 09, 2016•44 min
Flash Fiction: “Junk Silver” by Michael Canfield (Originally published at Daily Science Fiction.com .) Albe ignored Tic, who exclaimed “huh!” after stabbing another Wikipedia article in his usual overly-enthusiastic way. Albe then watched Tic push the article off the sharp end of his poker into the bag. Tic wiped his hand on his leg, as he did every time he cleared his poker of trash. Albe had gotten himself knee-deep in Myspace pages, which had started to seep through his garments and cling to ...
Feb 02, 2016•50 min
The cover art for this month is Icaria by Tomislav Tikulin , whose distinctive and stylish art is very reminiscent of the ’70s and ’80s and has graced the covers of many legendary SF, fantasy, and horror books, including Larry Niven’s Ringworld Engineers , Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama , Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (50th anniversary edition), and Stephen King’s Carrie . He can be found online at tomtikulin-art.com . (Both of our stories for this week were originally published in the ...
Jan 26, 2016•54 min
First Story: “Never Idle” by David Steffen (Originally published in Specutopia , July 2012). Jeremiah listened to each car as he walked through the busy mall parking lot, looking for one who could serve as both transportation and companion. A minivan dreamt of frequent trips with her family to the soccer fields to watch the children play. No, her family needed her, and they treated her well. A sports car dreamt of blurred landscape and the feel of the wind pushing her to the ground. No, too impu...
Jan 19, 2016•58 min
Flash Fiction: “An Episode Below” by Mel Staten Her bare feet lightly touch down on the bed of coals, moving forward. They should stop in heated agony, but onwards they move despite burning soles as she counts steps toward blistering burns. How oddly beautiful it is, a lake made of flames, so different from usual cool waters, so different from what she was used to but no less serene. Her feet move forward, toward the heat, not backwards away from it, and the flames lick the inky blackness all ar...
Jan 12, 2016•1 hr 1 min
Flash Fiction: “The Alchemist’s Wife” by Melody Marie Sage (Originally published at Daily Science Fiction on July 17, 2015 .) I remember we celebrated with the dark chocolate torte at L’oiseau D’or. Its glossy black ganache was splashed with a comet trail of 24 carat gold stars. The gilt leaf dissolved tasteless on my tongue. The idea of it was titillation enough. Ian talked about the project, and I pretended to listen to him, enjoying the sound of his voice, the exuberant parabolas he made with...
Jan 05, 2016•47 min
Flash Fiction: “The Judges” by Andrew Kozma The judges would not leave him alone. They followed him from home to work, watched him while he walked his dog, spied on his first dates, and checked him out while he was checking himself out in the mirror. Even while he was using the bathroom, they watched his every move. Oh, the judges didn’t say anything. That was part of the problem. They didn’t judge him in a way that was either morally approving or disapproving. Instead of talking, they used numb...
Dec 29, 2015•50 min
Flash Fiction: “Remembering the Dragon” by Aidan Doyle Do you remember me? I was once a great adventurer, journeying to distant lands, exploring lost ruins and chronicling momentous events. Now I’m trapped in a decaying ruin. If I show any weakness, my fellow prisoners will try to take everything from me. “You’re sitting in my chair, Henry. I reserved it because it has a view of the driveway and I want to know when my family arrives.” It was the anniversary of your mother’s death yesterday. Alic...
Dec 22, 2015•57 min
Story: “The Halfwyrd’s Burden” by Richard Ford Around early autumn the border trail west out of Valdor was windy as a nobleman’s trap and cold as a devil’s heart. It was two hundred leagues of forested inclines and boggy descents, with bears and wolves and worse lying in wait to fill their bellies before the long, hard weeks of winter set in. Sometimes there wasn’t even a path to see, and anyone who didn’t know the way would be lost quicker than a priest in a whorehouse. It was hard land, untame...
Dec 15, 2015•56 min
Story: “A Deeper Echo” by David Jón Fuller The smoky-grey dire wolf loped between darkened hulks of wooden box-cars on the sprawling CPR train yards of Winnipeg. The early June air was already warm and the sun had yet to rise. Warehouse doors clanged open at the looming Canadian Pacific station. The wolf came to an abrupt halt, sniffing the air. The scent of human body odor grew stronger through the heady mix of diesel and tar stench. A faint smell of pines tinged with oil lingered beneath. The ...
Dec 08, 2015•49 min
Flash Fiction: “Bless This House” by Beth Cato A pink sliver of sunrise glowed over the hills, and the cows lowed their need. Emma parted the barn doors. Her metal pail and other gear met the dirt floor with a solid thud. She began the morning routine, her joints stiff and eyes bleary. The baby had been up at all hours, and Kurt had fallen into a feverish sleep again. Not even little Grace’s wails could fully rouse Kurt anymore. Emma had sat within the candle’s glow, holding Grace at her breast ...
Dec 01, 2015•42 min
Flash Fiction: “Innumerate” by Laurence Raphael Brothers The sorcerer stands in the center of a magic circle, a conservative gray business suit showing under his white ritual mantle, the traditional rod of blasting in his hand. I’m off to the side, in the triangle of summoning. “Come not in that form! I adjure thee. In the holy name of–“ Okay, so maybe the roiling nest of cobras was a bit over the top. But I hate this slow, grainy material world. These sorcerers think we’ve got nothing better to...
Nov 24, 2015•43 min
Click Here to Support Far Fetched Fables on Patreon Novel excerpt: An Apprentice to Elves by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette Even as a grown woman of fifteen, Alfgyfa never stopped thinking about the wolves she had encountered as a child. Sometimes she tried to speak to them, stretching out into the pack-sense as far as she could. Once she thought she caught a whisper of mice-under-snow; sometimes she was sure she caught the trailing edge of the wild konigenwolf’s thoughts. But if they heard he...
Nov 17, 2015•1 hr
Support Tales To Terrify on Patreon First Story: “The Wheel of Fortune” by Steph Swainston Tuesday morning in May, bright sunshine. I came out of the shop, carrying a pole to pull the awning down. I was whistling. The shop door banged behind me and the cat fled off the step. The whole street was vibrant with the spring sun. There, sitting on the pavement and huddled against the terrace wall, was Serin. She was a pitiful sight, gin-dimmed eyes and head to foot in gutter dirt. I had last seen her ...
Nov 03, 2015•1 hr 4 min
Flash Fiction: “Percy’s Crossing” by Elizabeth Archer Support Tales To Terrify on Patreon Sir Percival Pettigrew saw things other men did not see until it was too late. “I should have named you Cassandra,” said Lady Pettigrew. “Pity you were male.” Only his mother understood him. Sadly, she died in a hunting accident, mistaken by Lord Pettigrew for a pheasant. “Shame about that damned hat of hers,” Lord Pettigrew lamented to Sir Percival and his siblings. He drank himself to oblivion, and left e...
Oct 27, 2015•40 min
First Story: “Mr. Green” by Gary Budgen Rust fell on Maiden Road, falling in tiny flakes borne by the wind and covering the ground with burnt red like a carpet of autumn leaf. The rust covered the parked cars, the folds and intricacies of privet hedges, the broken concrete surfaces of the front yards. I saw this on the day I visited my mother for the first time in a year, tail between my legs — basically skint — in hope of at least a Sunday lunch. Mr Jutley had been washing his white BMW and was...
Oct 20, 2015•54 min
This month’s cover art is Plains of a Different World by Leon Tukker . For more of his work, visit www.artstation.com/artist/leontukker or tryingtofly.deviantart.com/ Novel excerpt: “King of Shards” by Matthew Kressel The demon had saved Daniel, but the fool didn’t know it yet. They fell. They fell. No matter existed in this place before places, not a single atom in this void of voids. If he had a mouth to scream, the demon would have, because he remembered this terror, remembered tumbling into ...
Oct 13, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Story: “The Rabbit Catcher of Kingdom Come” by Kellie Wells One sudden spring, when trees and flowers, bamboozled by warmth, began budding in January, the prematurely honeyed air flatly refusing to chill again until late December, the town of Kingdom Come, Kansas, was beset by a plague of black-tailed jack rabbits that were not only many but jumbo, bigger than great danes they were, gargantuan rabbits, suspiciously well-fed, slavering over the zoysia, plump middles heaving, back feet long and br...
Oct 06, 2015•1 hr 8 min
First Story: “The King Beneath the Waves” by Peter Fugazzotto Werting could not break free. The frigid sea held the boy, his feet churning, tired arms paddling. The rocky shore, so close, taunted him with every swell. His lame foot felt heavy as a stone. Just as he was ready to give up, a wave lifted him. The water folded and he tumbled head over heels against sand and stone, grey sky replaced by a veil of bubbles and froth. His hands dug at broken shells and shiny weed and he crawled out of the...
Sep 22, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Story: “A Shard Glows in Brooklyn” by Alex Shvartsman One by one, I set off car alarms. I walked along the curb and methodically gave each parked car a gentle kick, just hard enough to trigger the siren. Behind me, a dozen violated vehicles already blared out of tune. The prospect hung back, sullen and quiet. He was having a tough week, and my erratic behavior wasn’t helping his mood any. With each siren adding its voice to the cacophony, the prospect got a little twitchier. To his credit, he ha...
Sep 15, 2015•47 min
Story: “Blood and Stardust” by Laird Barron Three years later, as I hike my skirt to urinate in a dark alley in the slums of Kolkata, my arms are grasped from behind. The Doctor whispers, “So, we meet again.” His face was ruined in the explosion — its severe, patrician mold is melted and crudely reformed as if an idiot child had gotten his or her stubby fingers on God’s modeling clay. I can’t see it from my disadvantaged perspective, but that’s not necessary. I’ve been following him and Pelt aro...
Sep 08, 2015•49 min
First Story: “The Kite of Stars” by Dean Francis Alfar The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du’l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she’d first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him. Maria Isabella had...
Sep 01, 2015•1 hr 6 min
Flash Fiction: “Dancing with Fire” by Caroline M. Yoachim The pond where I grew up was swampy and buzzing with insects. I slept in a bed of stargrass, and Mother whispered lullabies in the gentle current. Mother grew up in the ocean, and she hated our pond. Too many memories of Father lingered beneath the surface, long after drought had stolen him away. “Why don’t we go back to the ocean?” I asked. “I’m too old,” she said. “I don’t flow as smoothly anymore, and cloud hopping is for the young. Go...
Aug 25, 2015•57 min
Story: “Flesh of the City, Bones of the World” by John R. Fultz The Surgeon’s hands are his most delicate instruments. From the slim silver bones of the ten fingers to the minute arrays of gears, cogs, and springs set for agility and precision, to the pale elastic skin that stretches over the whole array, his hands are marvels of science. The rest of his body is no less amazing, no less detailed in its construction, a silver skeletal scaffold filled with organs of bronze and copper sheathed in t...
Aug 18, 2015•53 min
