"“Inundated” by Jonathan Laidlow(Originally published in Ecotones.)Yuri woke up to the sound of waves breaking at the end of the street, and knew that the undines had breached the final defences. Even his house, one of the furthest from the harbour, would be theirs once again, like the rest of the city.Jonathan Laidlow grew up in the North West of England, near the Sellafield Nuclear Power plant, which regularly leaked. He has one good leg, one good eye, and one good ear… His stories have appear...
May 17, 2017•49 min
“Another Beginning” by Michael McGlade(Originally published in Shimmer #29.)The Real BeginningÓgán loses Niamh to his best friend Malachy. Ógán and Niamh had been high school sweethearts, and the three of them had been inseparable -- the Three Blind Mice.Ógán stumbled onto this scene: the affair in full swing, the pair of them at it like otters in his best friend's bed (he'd seen a documentary about how otters held hands when they slept -- but this right now was absolutely not cute). Ógán had be...
May 09, 2017•29 min
"Main Story: “What the Blood Bog Takes” by Barbara A. Barnett Originally published in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #47.) On the Day of Sacrifice, my sister Asthore and I wait at the blood bog's edge, our feet sinking into the muddy shore. Asthore gawks with unbridled curiosity as the ceremonial procession emerges from the fog-shrouded forest; I watch with trepidation. Our clan-chief Fallon leads the procession, a sheepskin mantle draped across his sinewy shoulders and a...
May 02, 2017•49 min
"“The Ministry of Sacred Affairs” by Claude Lalumière(Originally published in Here Be Monsters #7: Tongues and Teeth.)Lost in music, it takes some time for Leo to register that Rosa is calling his name, that her hand is trembling on his shoulder. He lays down his violin and clasps her wrinkled hands between his."Something terrible's happened next door. At the Bergens'. Pounding on the wall. A shriek. Things thrown about." Rosa speech is terse, choppy, nervous. Leo stands up and enfolds his small...
Apr 25, 2017•30 min
"Main Story: “Wallamelon” by Nisi Shawl(Originally published in Aeon #3.)The boys ran ahead of her as she walked, and circled back again like little dogs. Kevin urged her onto the path that cut across the vacant lot beside his house. Mercy was standing on a pile of rubble half the way through, her straight hair shining in the noonday sun like a long, black mirror. She was pointing down at something Oneida couldn’t see from the path, something small, something so wonderful it made sad Mercy smile...
Apr 18, 2017•51 min
“The Sorcerer's Aprpentice” by Robert SilverbergOriginally published in Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy.)Gannin Thidrich was nearing the age of thirty and had come to Triggoin to study the art of sorcery, a profession for which he thought he had some aptitude, after failing at several for which he had none. He was a native of the Free City of Stee, that splendid metropolis on the slopes of Castle Mount, and at the suggestion of his father, a wealthy merchant of that great city, he had gone f...
Apr 11, 2017•56 min
"“The Adventurer's Wife” by Premee Mohamad(Originally published in She Walks In Shadows.)It was not till after the adventurer had been interred that we learned that the man had been married. My editor, Cheltenwick, did not even let the graveyard mud dry decently on his boots before he dispatched me to the widow’s house with instructions for a full interview, which I had no doubt he would embellish even more than his wont.“Delicate sighs, Greene,” he said, hurrying me into a cab and pushing a fre...
Apr 04, 2017•27 min
"“The Blind Queen's Daughter” by Scott Huggins(Originally published in Hides the Dark Tower.)The heavy mauls swung inward, the only thunder in the soft morning rain. The priests watched, trembling. The small man from Arabia stared hungrily at the widening hole.The bricks sealing the cell shivered, and Amren watched his father’s jaw tremble under the blow. Tremble as it never had in two desperate battles. Not even when the men of his auxilia fell about him in desperate retreat had Amren seen Sir ...
Mar 28, 2017•37 min
"This Week: “The Inn of the Seven Blessings” by Matthew Hughes(Originally published in Rogues.)The thief Raffalon was sleeping away the noon-day heat behind some bracken a short distance from the forest road when the noise of the struggle awakened him. He rolled over onto his stomach, quietly drawing his knife in case of need. Then he lay still and tried to see through the inter-layered branches.Figures scuffled, voices spoke indistinctly, the syllables both sibilant and guttural. A muffled cry,...
Mar 21, 2017•1 hr 18 min
“The Temple of Thirteen Pleasures” by Laurence Raphael Brothers(Originally published in The Sockdolager #3.)"I'm sorry to summon you like this, Countess" said Marcus apologetically. We were sitting together on a divan in his townhouse drawing room. Lord Cyprian's heir was dressed in a deep crimson suit so dark it was almost black, with a ruffled white cravat held in place with a ruby stickpin. A black memorial armband for his late father was prominent on his sleeve. I was in my temple whites."Pl...
Mar 14, 2017•34 min
"This Week: “Caveat Emptor/Caveat Venditor” by Ed Ahern(Originally published in Silver Pen.)As warlocks go, Harald was a failure. Even though his curses were vigorously evil, and his pitches quite logical, he almost always lost the business. Harald partly blamed his sex. Most internet advertising for spells and curses came from witches. Those seeking vengeance or unfair advantage picked the repugnant hags rather than Harald, who was merely homely and middle aged. Harald had given himself mental ...
Mar 07, 2017•29 min
"This Week: “Dependent Assemblies” by Philip A. Suggars(Originally published in Interzone #262.)“Purity of blood, purity of spirit. One nation united by the river, one nation united under the sun” – Elias Rojas presidential campaign slogan, Buenos Aires 1894.Alfonso and Marcelo were cold and tired as they shovelled the dirt onto Celia’s small body in the shallow grave. Alfonso dared himself to look down, catching a glimpse of her porcelain fingers and the yellowing heads of the freesias that the...
Feb 28, 2017•31 min
“Sea of Strangers” by Michael M. Jones(Originally published in Inscription.)There was a weird vibe in the halls before first period today. As I made my way towards homeroom, weaving between people with experienced ease, I picked up a thousand different emotions-- everything you’d expect from a building packed to the gills with hormone-ridden teenagers and long-suffering adults-- and something new, strange, and impossible to identify. A slippery, elusive, emotional flavor that tinted the rest wit...
Feb 21, 2017•45 min
"“Languid in Rose” by Frances Silversmith(Originally published in Fantasy for Good.)Lilia I, Queen of Roses, reluctantly opened her eyes to yet another perfect day, courtesy of the Enchantment. The briar rose outside her windows threw moving shadows on the salmon-colored material curtains of her four-poster bed. What a disgustingly lovely sight.Lilia forced her heavy limbs to a sitting position. Instantly, her maid appeared with a cup of hot chocolate -- as she did every morning. When she was yo...
Feb 14, 2017•36 min
"First Story: “The Girl in the Windmill” by Wendy Nikel(Originally published in Enchanted Spark. Based on the Italian fairy tale "In Love with a Statue")Maartje van Dijk lived in a windmill.At the age of ten, her vater and moeder perished at sea, and she was sent to live with her Opa on the coast. Despite her grief, she grew to love him and he taught her all about how to grind the village's grains and tend the enormous sails and gears that made the mill run.Her Opa hadn't always run the mill, th...
Feb 07, 2017•31 min
sh Fiction: “Connection” by Lynette Meija(Originally published at Daily Science Fiction.)The magician wobbled a little on his bar stool."Ask me what I did for a living," he said. Somewhere deep inside of him a small voice was shouting to shut up, that he sounded like a fool, but he ignored it. His plane was likely delayed until morning, anyhow."I already know what you are," she answered. Her pale skin seemed to shimmer a little in the murky atmosphere of the bar. He liked the way the dim light p...
Jan 31, 2017•48 min
Flash Fiction: “Descanso Dream” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #12, originally published at Daily Science Fiction.)Descanso is the smallest of the Rose Knights, and perhaps the strangest. He is a dream made flesh, a pale man with skin the white of the ocean's dead, riding a horse of fog and silk. His banners trail behind him like a wind from the Orient. His smile gleams of starlight and the gentle thoughts of a loving woman. Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until h...
Jan 24, 2017•34 min
"First Story: “The Bed of the Crimson King” by Filip Wiltgren(Originally published in Grimdark #9.)The king lies in his big bed under the crimson covers, and dreams of freedom. The bed is not his, not the way the grasses of the savanna were, but he must sleep in it. It is the king's bed, and he is the Crimson King, and he has no choice.He had no choice when he went into the military at thirteen. He had no choice when he shot his commander and formed his own band at nineteen, and he had no choice...
Jan 17, 2017•59 min
"Flash Fiction: “The Robbed” by Tim W. Boiteau(Originally published at Every Day Fiction.)You can’t find your keys this morning, so your wife drives you to work.At dinner, it seems, the salt is lacking, but when you attempt to add some more, the shaker is bare.The only consolation at the end of such a troubling day, of course, is Aurelius, but he too is absent from the shelf.When sleep doesn’t come, the bedroom grows long, the blankets constrict the body, stretching over with elastic tension, bl...
Jan 10, 2017•31 min
"Flash Fiction: “Hope for Enthos” by Addison Smith(Originally published in Fireside magazine.)The muted horns of passing cars drifted up to Enthos, where he sat on his ledge, peering over the street. The familiar lights and sounds were both comforting and maddening. The scent of flowers washed over him, the blossoms continuing their cycle of blooming and dying under his watch. How much time do I have left?The sun fell below the horizon, casting shadow over the city, but he felt no chill of night...
Jan 03, 2017•40 min
"Flash Fiction: “Myriam” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #11, originally published at Daily Science Fiction.)When the Rose Knight Myriam arrived in the farthest reaches of the magical lands of Hy Rugosa, she was already so pale she soon became known as the Gossamer Knight. She told no one from whence she hailed or why she had sought out the lands of Hy Rugosa, but rumors abounded: that she had assassinated the leader of the Inner Sea, that she had poisoned the Prince ...
Dec 27, 2016•41 min
Flash Fiction: “Dreidel of Dread: The Very Cthulhu Chanukah” by Alex Schvartsman(Originally published in Galaxy's Edge.)Twas the night before Chanukah, and all through the planet, not a creature was stirring except for the Elder God Cthulhu who was waking up from his eons-long slumber. And as the terrible creature awakened in the city of R'lyeh, deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, and wiped drool from his face-tentacles, all the usual signs heralded the upcoming apocalypse in the outside world: mass...
Dec 20, 2016•1 hr 22 min
Flash Fiction: “Under the Bed” by Effie Seiberg(Originally published in Crossed Genres.)I keep it clean under the bed. I go swoosh swoosh swoosh and suck the dust away. Jimmy can’t have a dusty bed. It would make him sick. I don’t want Jimmy to get sick. I love Jimmy. So I keep it clean.Jimmy’s been gone for three nights.Every night, we used to do our special thing. I’d slooooowly start to move. Make the whisperiest of sounds. And Jimmy would pretend to be frightened and he’d scream. His mom wou...
Dec 13, 2016•37 min
Feature Story: “The Double-Edged Sword” by Sharon Shinn(Originally published in Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology: Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy.)I sat at the back of the dark tavern at the table that, in the past five years, had come to be known as mine. Even on the days when I did not bother to leave my house, or leave my bed, no one sat in this booth except me. The townspeople knew better, and strangers who made the mistake of sitting in my place would be told politely by Samue...
Dec 06, 2016•1 hr 13 min
Flash Fiction: “Myriam” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #10, originally published at Daily Science Fiction.com.)When the Rose Knight Myriam arrived in the farthest reaches of the magical lands of Hy Rugosa, she was already so pale she soon became known as the Gossamer Knight. She told no one from whence she hailed or why she had sought out the lands of Hy Rugosa, but rumors abounded: that she had assassinated the leader of the Inner Sea, that she had poisoned the Prin...
Nov 29, 2016•35 min
First Story: “Evil is as Evil Does” by Travis Burnham(Originally published in Aoife's Kiss.)Right in the middle of my nefarious plan to create an enormous ball of bubonic plague-infected fleas, the door gong set my teeth to rattling. I sent Herschel to see who it was.“It's today's virgin,” he rumbled from the end of the hallway.“Well don't just stand there like an idiot, bring her in,” I shouted. “You know the routine.” Herschel is as loyal as any evil master could hope for, but if his intellect...
Nov 22, 2016•56 min
"Flash Fiction: “1348” by Russell Hemmell(Originally published in Strangelet 1.4 and also End of the Year Anthology 2015.)He arrived on Sunday, after a winter of sleep and snow. A jester with clear blue eyes, pale lithe hands and white flowers in them. He smiled and said, I come in peace. I ply my trade with buffooneries and riddles, and the joking tambourine accompanies my laughter. Enjoy my gifts, you beautiful city, and the good time I bring. He bowed in reverence, with the beauty of an angel...
Nov 15, 2016•37 min
Flash Fiction: “In the Timeline Where the Moscow Metro Opened in 1934” by S.L. Harris(Originally published at Daily Science Fiction.)In the timeline where the Moscow Metro opened in 1934, we live together in a khrushchyovka on Bourbon Street and eat green caviar on waffles. Times are hard but we love each other like we never love each other, like we never love anyone else, in all the hundreds of millions of timelines I've seen.S.L. Harris is a writer and archaeologist who lives in Chicago with h...
Nov 07, 2016•40 min
"Flash Fiction: “Papagena” by Jay lake and Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #8, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.)Papagena was born on the Borderlands, between the sere landscape of the south and the orange plains to the north, a child of two homes, and when she chose to become a Rose Knight, her allegiance was to the plains as well as the desert, to the fertile land of Osverio as well as the harsher but warmer beauty of the Desertlands.She did not wear only one color. Some...
Nov 03, 2016•56 min
"Flash Fiction: “Anatomy of an Arrow” by Natalia Theodoridou(Originally published on Daily Science Fiction.)"So, uh, I've been meaning to ask. What's that?" He pointed at the fletching that poked out of a hole in her blouse, a few inches from her chest. It almost dipped in her bowl every time she bent to take a spoonful of soup.She shrugged and looked away. "An arrow.""An arrow." He mouthed the word slowly, as if trying to wrap his mind around each syllable.Natalia Theodoridou is a media and cul...
Oct 24, 2016•41 min
