Fictional Worlds

Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints by Alex Dally MacFarlane Jump up! Take arms! Bare teeth! We fight for these sands. Sink iron knives and white teeth into their scented flesh, their soft city flesh, those stealers of our homes. This is our city now, this desert with its winds that scour our cheeks, […]

The Newsboy’s Last Stand by Krystal Claxton She stood up on her tip-toes, extending a slightly wilted white daisy up to Romulus, her whole body pointed and straight in the effort of reaching something that was entirely beyond her reach. For his part Romulus knelt down and took the flower and gave her a sad […]

Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer by Kenneth Schneyer 34.     Magda #4 (1989) Oil on poplar wood, 30 x 21″ Private collection Sometimes called “Devotion” by critics, this nude the earliest extant work featuring Magda Ridley Meszaros (1963-2023), Latimer’s favorite model and later her wife.  The lushness of the […]

Where Virtue Lives by Saladin Ahmed Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, the best ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat, was weary. Two and a half bars of thousand-sheet pastry sat on his plate, their honey and pistachio glazed layers glistening in the sunlight that streamed into Yehyeh’s teahouse. Adoulla let out a belch. Only two […]

Super-Baby-Moms Group Saves the Day by Tina Connolly From: Stef Jones-Tanaka To: Subject: Intros Hey Super Moms! Here’s the email group I mentioned to a couple of you at preschool today. Teacher Stacie said there are four of us families in the system right now at Little Darlings Preschool and shared your emails […]

ACT ONE SCENE 1: INSIDE A RECORDING STUDIO (WITCH, brightly) PseudoPod, The Sound of Horror! The familiar strains of PseudoPod’s opening music, “Bloodletting on a Kiss” begins. A moment of distortion interrupts, followed by a saxophone-driven 90’s talk show cover of the same song. Canned studio audience applause as the song concludes. WITCH (saccharine, without […]

Hummingbird by Eisuke Aikawa and Toshiya Kamei The translucent Ōe-san steps out of the bathroom and sits at the table as usual. He spreads butter on an invisible slice of bread, takes a bite, and chews it, holding the morning paper in his other hand. Just like a mime. I sit on the floor and […]

Catch By Ally Chua “There’s a monster under my bed,” my son said, stifling his yawn. I looked at Timmy, his sleepy eyes hidden beneath a mop of messy hair. I ruffled his head and nodded. “I’m sure.” “It keeps kicking my bed at night, Dad. He wants to play.” “Oh, yeah? Is that why […]

Rulebook for Creating a Universe by Tashan Mehta In an island that floats at the beginning of time, there is a Rulebook for Creating a Universe. This book is old, with instructions on how to make forever-worlds. It says, “When stitching a universe, think carefully about the kind of sun you want. Will it be […]

The Last Petal by Anna Madden Miss Lily Dale preferred hands to faces. Hands told a story that faces could hide. Her father’s hands had become so gaunt, so fidgety. A shipping merchant without ships was a man without a livelihood. He spent his days inside their new home writing letters to the port master. […]

Solace of the Keeper by Woody Dismukes If you watch the wind for long enough, you may find yourself a wisp. And though we call ourselves the Keepers, not even we can keep what is not there. We tell the living that we keep the dead, but only because that is what they want to […]

Down to Niflhel Deep by Maria Haskins The dog’s name is Roan. He doesn’t know how long he’s been running. Maybe it’s been hours, or days, or maybe it’s only been fifteen minutes since he slipped out of the backyard through the open gate, but however long it’s been, he hasn’t stopped running since. The […]

Tend to Me by Kristina Ten Nora is a serial becomer. She has become many things in her life, though rarely on purpose. The first time, it just sort of happened. The second time, it was a coincidence. Now, it is a habit she cannot seem to break. In the past, she has become a […]

Black Wings, White Kheer by Rati Mehrotra The wings knock against the closet door on full moon nights, trying to escape. The sound terrifies Sarita, because if it wakes Amit, he might think there’s an intruder in the apartment. He might arm himself with something (what? Sarita settles on the kids’ baseball bat), throw open […]

A Thousand Tongues of Silver By Kate Heartfield I am a book. My pages are purple. This is how they made me. First, they flayed the calves, stretched and scraped their wet skins. Then they mixed lichen and leaves, rotted in human urine, to mimic the purple that comes of torturing sea snails to force […]

Labyrinth, Sanctuary By A.E. Prevost Constance carves her timeworn tracks into the thirsty rock. With silent steps her footfalls smooth the stone, century into century, grooves and gullies growing green as time and seed take hold. Stone after stone, her hands build battlements and balconies, repair time-ragged trusses, stack spires towards the sun. Deep in […]

It has come to our attention, through multiple channels, that the current incarnation of Artemis Rising 5 has caused harm to members of our community. Thanks to Bogi Takács’s eloquent explanation of how to bring more voices to the table, we are examining the best way to repair the trust we’ve broken. We appreciate the […]

PodCastle 639: Kiki Hernández Beats the Devil Author : Samantha Mills Narrator : Sandra Espinoza Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Translunar Travelers Lounge. Rated PG-13. The dest… Kiki Hernández, rock legend of the Southwest, had seven devils on her tail. They scurried through the roadside scrub, not even trying to sneak. She could hear their scrabble-claws and clacker-tails, their dripping maws and teeth. via Pocket