Fictional Worlds

Strange Horizons - The Palace of the Silver Dragon By Y. M. Pang, Art by Galen Dara via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2QkRudx

The girl does not come to Mebuyen, so Mebuyen goes to the girl. She is standing ankle-deep in the river, looking down, her mouth open. via Pocket

I was just trying to boxtroll that asshole into quitting, like I’d gotten the two guys before him to do. I swear I wasn’t trying to get him all dead and shit. It wasn’t my box that did it. via Pocket

Me gills hurting me now. Dem spots just below me ears what does plump up wid pressure and let me know dey been working too hard for too long. Let me know is time to rise. I must soon break de surface of de water and fill up me lungs wid air. via Poc…

Out there, in the darkness, a huge invisible animal stretched, expanding, taking possession of the air, the water, the fragile rock structure. A sudden blow, like the breath that extinguishes a can…

There are people who await their ending, in their own beds, ready for the dust to sneak into their rooms and pantries, bedrooms and basements, to lie upon the old blankets, to fill their nostrils, …

Heather Lindsley’s short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Greatest Uncommon Denominator, and Strange Horizons. This story first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, was reprinted in Year’s Best SF #12 and Escape Pod, and has been translated into Polish and Romanian. Lindsley is also a graduate of the Clarion Writers’ …

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The first contestant worth mentioning wore manticore fur. The fibers, a deep shade of gunmetal, tapered to points of polished basalt. Ruffs of black cockatrice feathers bounced at his collar and cuffs as he swaggered down an aisle lined with twisted… Strange Horizons - The Skinwalkers Ball By Hammond Diehl, Art by Helen Mask via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2ITWze9

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io By Divine providence, we captured the mermaid with neither loss of life nor injury to any seaman, nor any harm done to the specimen. So easily we might have passed her by without even noticing her; but the sharp young eyes of Small Jack espied her a… Strange Horizons - A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, D.Phil, MSc.; or, A Lullaby (Part 1 of 2) By H… https://ift.tt/2UyjfSg

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons has had many faces since we began in 2000, and those faces are always changing. I often refer to us as the collective—or composite, Yoon Ha Lee style—which at any given time involves 50+ creative volunteers, committed to voices new,… Strange Horizons - Fond Farewells By Vanessa Rose Phin via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2HwR0kc

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Her father said at breakfast, "Drowned men can't have kids." He said it as if teaching Katy a lesson, or maybe as if she had asked. He kept looking at her, his fingers twitching on the Sunday newspaper like dropped lizards' tails. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io They said that she was poisoned. People always talk. Doc knew that it was the illness, though—the one that comes with the snow and leads people away behind it into the thaw. He said that it wouldn't be long before her husband visited us. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Peter had wanted a Little Brother™ for three Christmases in a row. His favorite TV commercials were the ones that showed just how much fun he would have teaching Little Brother™ to do all the things that he could already do himself. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Cesária Escobar was sixteen when she walked down the aisle, arm in arm with a man she had only met once. Her seven brothers and sisters watched in dismay, but her widowed mother wished her well. via Pocket Samovar - Saligia | English Translation By H. Pueyo, Translated by H. Pueyo via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JVdk97

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io When the bomb hit, I was almost inside the ladies' clothing store where I work. If I hadn't paused to check out a cute bicycle courier I would have been safe. The bomb detonated silently, coating the street with a brief yellow burst like the mother … Samovar - The Knack Bomb | De foefbom By Bo Balder, Translated by Bo Balder via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JTtC2s

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io This story is part of our 2015 fund drive bonus issue! Read more about Strange Horizons' funding model, or donate, here. Eyes, eyes, eyes. So many eyes on my long arms. via Pocket Strange Horizons - Hundred Eye By Yukimi Ogawa via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Uh15rz

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Where I’m from, it bodes ill to announce that you’re going somewhere. It’s a nuance of the language I was born into, where the word ‘go’ is swept under, reserved for foes and fiends while ‘return’ is extolled as a treasure. via Pocket Strange Horizons - Tessellations, In A Greater Hand By Artyv K via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2D5zyPV

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io First, the egusi seeds were roasted and ground in a paste. Gherek worked slivers of onions sliced into half moons and pepper seeds into the paste then pounded it some more. The dried white hibiscus flowers boiled in water with a little bit of salt, …

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The party was going swimmingly. Adé stood in a corner of her sitting room, presently doubling as an exhibition space, and took cautious sips from the glass in her hand, eyes following Nkem’s butterfly movements around the room. via Pocket

I heard about the story from the friend of a friend of an acquaintance, and didn’t put any stock in it at first. In my profession, you hear things like this with some frequency. You’d be a fool if you went running every time you heard someone cry fi… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Notes on a Resurrection By Natalia Theodoridou via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2J24rId

When the first breeze of the morning whistles over the green tips of the paddy-stalks to kiss the tawny jute thatching of the bungalow roof, Apa is already out on the verandah. It’s still dark but that doesn’t matter, it’s been more than twoscore ye… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - And Now His Lordship Is Laughing By Shiv Ramdas via Instapaper https://ift.tt/301dTB7

It’s no secret that Carrie’s been having trouble starting her thesis. And, okay, maybe she has been complaining for weeks, and maybe Professor Kawamura has started breathing down her neck, and maybe Yumi and Kazu have been bearing the brunt of it al… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Invisible and Dreadful By S. R. Mandel via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2TRH2NK

I woke up that morning in the mood for curry, so I ended up at the supermarket. I was pushing a shopping cart down the ethnic aisle, scanning the shelves of spices, when you appeared beside me. I didn’t have to turn to know you were staring. The sid… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Someday We'll Embrace This Distance By Niyah Morris, Art by Em Allen via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2KwwAYQ

Amaya sits among empty armchairs and fading curtains in a room brightened by plastic flowers. On each wall there’s a still life, and a grey carpet covers the floor. She stares at her yellowing copy of Bleak House until the words become black insects… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - The Weather Dancer By Aisha Phoenix via Instapaper https://ift.tt/33d7NAr

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io 1.  The first time you meet a murderer, you are in kindergarten. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “It makes it hard to give good advice, you know?” The air in the occult store is close, dim. Patchouli coats Cassandra’s lungs, familiar as disdain. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io CONTENT WARNING: “There is the past and the not-past,” Heron said, blood dripping from their arm onto the nightingale floor. “Which is this?” “The not-past, you idiot.” Dog grunted as he peeled back Heron’s sleeve. via Pocket

It was during the time the Angel lived with us. I could no longer bear sweeping the feathers. I didn’t mind the intoxicating celestial scent his nesty-nasty room exhaled. It only started to bother me when I took a guy home to spend the night and a f… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io