“Straws,” I said. “Why straws?” “Because they’re cute, obviously,” said Foreman. “Don’t you think?” I squinted at them. Nearly a dozen were inching around his feet. As I watched, one flopped onto his boot, looking like a second shoelace. I guessed you could have called them cute—if you happened to be an overeducated, underemployed geneticist like Foreman. Really, they looked like worms: thin… Source...
“All The Eyes That See” was originally published in Cosmic Horror Monthly issue #42 (ed. Charles Tyra, December 2023); it also won the 2023 Australian Shadows Award for Short Fiction. C/W: child abuse, domestic abuse From the author: “This story is me once again exploring the absolute weirdness of rural Australia, like I continue to do in my Tales From The Gulp books… Source
PseudoPod 1027: This Thing of Darkness is a PseudoPod original. C/W: grief, approaching death Nissa Harlow: nissaharlow.com Tina Connolly: tinaconnolly.com ‘Don’t Put a Rug on a Polished Floor’ public information film Scarred for Life on Bluesky: @scarredforlife.bsky.social Writers from the Antarctic call Anthologies and Collections 2026 call 7… Source
PseudoPod 1026: Thoughts and Prayers is a PseudoPod original. C/W: Gun violence, school shooting https://www.npr.org/2025/09/08/nx-s1-5317647/school-shooting-industry https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/school-shootings-database/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Craft_(film) https://www.findlaw.com/ Source
PseudoPod 1025: Impostor Syndrome is a PseudoPod original. The Mighty Boosh-Back to the Crunch Looking back, the first red flag was during the job interview, when Chad said their target demographic was males, ages thirteen to seventeen. “That’s pretty specific,” I said. He shrugged. “Market research.” If I had been using the critical thinking skills I obtained from five… Source
“Witchcraft” was first printed in Ornaments in Jade, 1924 “How I Turned My Little Brother Human” was first published in Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces, edited by Eric Raglin, in September 2025 “Visit Seahaven” was first published in Factor Four magazine in 2024 “Get Nourished” is a PseudoPod original C/W: pregnancy and pregnancy loss, death in the family, child death… Source...
W: Emotional control, intimate partner abuse ‘Grandifolia’ is a PseudoPod original The first time I do everything the way I’m supposed to. I wait for the new moon and walk into the woods at midnight. I carry a jar of pig’s blood and wear a wreath of nettles, ignoring as best I can the stinging on my scalp. I tread silently, carefully, one bare foot settling deep into the dirt… Source
‘All the Good You Did Not Do’ originally appeared in Apex magazine in November of 2023 C/W: reference to PTSD, depression When the doors slide open, the screams escape. Saul is summoned from his security podium by the researchers’ howls, and he slides in his formal uniform shoes until he finds them caged in an elevator open to the atrium-style lobby. Source
‘Bad Doors’ was originally published in Uncanny Magazine in 2023, and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. C/W: pandemic, family and animal disappearance/death The country was at just over ten thousand deaths the morning that the door appeared. On Kosmo’s phone NPR was interviewing a doctor with a nasal voice about the need for social… Source
PseudoPod 1020: Walking Tour of Scarborough in Nuclear Winter is a PseudoPod original. Rogue One final scene 30 Days Of Night trailer From the author: “All of the landmarks in this story are real places in Scarborough, where my mother grew up and where I spent many childhood summers dining on crisps and 99 Flakes, and drinking fizzy drinks and orange squash in a rented chalet with… Source...
‘Superstition’ was first published in the anthology 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era Remote Viewing Clerks 1 Donnie Darko The Destructors Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand by Primitive Radio Gods The strangest gig I ever had was fetish destruction. In July of 1995 I answered an ad in a newspaper asking for… Source
‘The Polyamorous Heart of Death’ first appeared in the anthology And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel CW: 2nd person PoV, transphobia, implied necrophilia The Neutral Milk Hotel The music track that inspired this particular story: HOLLAND, 1945 Which is from the album, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea M. Source
PseudoPod 1017: In the Hands of a Different God is a PseudoPod original. C/W for body horror, child abuse/neglect, implied homophobia Jim Kristofic novels Coyote Stranger The Sundown Killers Why Miitaries Must Destroy Cities To Save Them (Add your own air quotes as appropriate) Destroying a Quote’s History In Order To Save It Hank Green: Chemo is Weird… Source
“Left by the Tide” first appeared in Weird Tales, March 1929 “Sirens Chasing Sirens” first appeared in The Gateway Review back in 2018 “Dread and Faith” was originally published in February 2025 in Blood Lust from Black Hare Press Far from the frenzy Of the frantic world above Two beneath the blue Could even fall in love Links: From the author of ‘Sirens Chasing… Source...
PseudoPod 1015: What Haunts the Newbuild? is a PseudoPod original. When the Night Comes Out If the dead who loved her haunt an old home’s bones, what haunts the newbuild? What makes her creak and moan? Every house is a violence—and a weathered house knows this better than most—but if the trees that once stood on her land form an old home’s dead-spirit frame… Source
‘Faith, Hope and Charity’ was first published in Hearst’s International Combined with Cosmopolitan, April 1930. C/W strong violence, racist language Here’s a link to the Archive.org of the original text: https://archive.org/details/sim_cosmopolitan_1930-04_88_4/page/40/mode/2up Jim Kristofic novels: Coyote Stranger, The Sundown Killers 1892 Homestead Strike The… Source
“The End Of The Story” was originally published in Weird Tales, vol. 15, no. 5 (May 1930). Link: Weird Tales original text Original layout from Weird Tales The Emperor of Dreams documentary Best collection of Smith’s poetry The following narrative was found among the papers of Christophe Morand, a young law-student of Tours, after his unaccountable disappearance during a… Source
“The Book” was first published in 1930 in The London Mercury and later collected in The Weird (Tor Books, 2012) CW: harm to child/animal, reference to suicide On a foggy night in November, Mr. Corbett, having guessed the murderer by the third chapter of his detective story, arose in disappointment from his bed and went downstairs in search of something more… Source
“Tailpiece” first appeared in More Ruthless Rhymes, 1930, and “The Second Awakening of a Magician” first appeared in The London Mercury, November 1930 C/W: fire My son Augustus, in the street, one day, Was feeling quite exceptionally merry. A stranger asked him: ‘Can you tell me, pray, The quickest way to Brompton Cemetery ?’ ‘The quickest way? Source
“A Rose For Emily” was first published in The Forum, April 30, 1930 C/W for racial slurs [n-word], mental illness, misogyny, homophobia and Spoiler poisoning [collapse] I When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to… Source
‘Christmas Eve at Beach House’ was first published in Routledge’s Christmas Annual, 1870. C/W murder, intimate partner violence To support us during our year-end campaign, go to https://escapeartists.net/support-ea The Oldhammer Fiction Podcast Eliza Lynn Linton Dr. Frizzle on Bluesky It seemed as if the Mackenzies were under a spell, and that none of… Source
“Cyanide Constellations” was published in the collection Cyanide Constellations and Other Stories by Sara Tantlinger in October 2025. C/W: Suicide, 2nd person PoV To support us during our year-end campaign, go to https://escapeartists.net/support-ea Author’s note: This story ended up being the title piece for my debut fiction collection… Source
“The Children of the Event” was first published in the collection ‘Portraits of Decay’ by Carson Winter, published by Salt Heart Press in June 2025. To support us during our year-end campaign, go to escapeartists.net/support-ea Notes from the author: As long as I can remember, I’ve been a Godzilla fan. My fate was set at the age of six, when me and a neighborhood boy rented… Source
PseudoPod 1006: Give A Dog A Bone is a PseudoPod original. From author: “Give A Dog A Bone” is the third story in the series of tales following the exploits of a married couple of werewolves whose relationship is under some unusual stresses. Both of the previous stories, “Licking Roadkill” and “Last Supper” also appeared at PseudoPod, and were inspired by a real-life conversation I had… Source
“Do It” was first published in the anthology ‘120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era’ C/W: gun violence, knife violence Note from author: The pizza joint in the story is based on a locally (local to me) famous spot in Boston’s South Shore. Having been raised on the North Shore I take umbrage at this city having ‘shore’ anywhere near it in geographic… Source
“Madame Painte: For Sale” was first published in Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, edited by Doug Murano (Crystal Lake 2017), and then in the Word Horde collection ‘Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions’, in August 2025. C/W: 2nd person POV “This?” the man behind the counter says. “Why, this is Madame Painte.” The figure is short… Source
“House Traveler” originally appeared in Bourbon Penn #34, Dec. 2024 and is reprinted in Thomas Ha’s debut collection, “Uncertain Sons and Other Stories” C/W: alludes to alcoholism The five of us were gathered on the floor of one of the last houses, trying to decide which of the group would be the one to go outside. Sitting around an electric camping lantern… Source
“The Squatters” originally appeared in the 2025 Anthology, Silk and Sinew C/W for mass graves, genocide The government begins excavating the bones in late February to coincide with the events planned to commemorate the massacre. It is meant to gesture that they truly do intend to follow through on their promise of “truth and reconciliation” and with the upcoming… Source
PseudoPod 1001: A Coven of Cats Under the Light of the Moon and The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied animal harm (Coven) On this night, we escaped from our homes—we darted through the open doors, we leaped over the privacy fences, we fled under-bush to converge on this place. Some of us have traveled many miles, our paw-pads scraped raw… Source...
“Novel of the White Powder” first appeared in The Three Impostors in 1895. C/W: drug abuse, delusions The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War by Arthur Machen The Angel of Mons Jess Nevins on The Novel of The White Powder White Lines by Grandmaster Flash Godzilla Minus One My name is Leicester; my father, Major-General Wyn Leicester… Source
