via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io When she woke that morning, she named herself Hawthorn. She said it into the mirror, three times, just as she’d been instructed: “I am Hawthorn. I am Hawthorn. I am Hawthorn.” via Pocket Beneath Ceaseless Skies | Across the Bough Bridge by Mackenzie Kincaid via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JBQwIj

As an orphaned sixteen-year-old, Lynette was haunted by the ghost of Mirror Boy, the drowned child who replaced her reflection. Ten years later, she’s built herself a new life, but all that is threatened when Mirror Boy returns, warning of danger. v… Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy | Tor.com via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2Wx5lBA via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

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via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io In war-torn Kurdistan, a group of traumatized orphans is given a gift that could change their lives and the lives of everyone in the world, while in Washington, DC, an elderly woman undergoes medical procedures that radically change her life. My bro… OneZero | Tor.com via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2UAInv4

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via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io  In the deepest canyon in the inhabited worlds, giant mantas soar through the air and leave patterned structures behind. A team of sapiologists seek to prove that these delicate filaments are true language, not just bee’s dance. But time has run out… The Deepest Rift | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2YCj2Qc

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The state took Aphra away from Innsmouth. They took her history, her home, her family, her god. They tried to take the sea. Now, years later, when she is just beginning to rebuild a life, an agent of that government intrudes on her life again, with … The Litany of Earth | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2yotAZH

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via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Presenting a new original science fiction story, “A Clean Sweep With All the Trimmings,” by author James Alan Gardner, a Damon Runyon-esque tale of courteous guys, bulletproof dolls, and the fedora-clad spacemen that bring them together. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Among the universe’s civilizations, some conceive of the journey between stars as the sailing of bright ships, and others as tunneling through the crevices of night. Some look upon their far-voyaging as a migratory imperative, and name their vessels…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io "Always." At the moment I'm standing in my darkened cabin at base camp in Mare Nubium. By headlamp only I carve a chess piece—a knight—out of moon rock. I'd crushed one earlier after Tchaikovsky called me out on a dumb move. The screen and radio cut…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io As Tor.com departs from its longtime home, the iconic Flatiron building, we present this sweet farewell from Seanan McGuire. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io A dog detective is hired by a female human to investigate a murder that she committed. But of course, all is not as it seems. Before I take on an investigation for someone, I first make at least a cursory investigation of that someone. via Pocket Knowledgeable Creatures | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2NInacA

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Ritter was newly returned from seeding the harbor of Odessa with kraken eggs, an act of sabotage that would deny the Mongolian Wizard access to the Black Sea for years to come, when a uniformed young man appeared at his door with a telegram. “Tella-…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Something terrible had happened. Linnea did not know what it was. But her father had looked pale and worried, and her mother had told her, very fiercely, “Be brave!” and now she had to leave, and it was all the result of that terrible thing. via Poc…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Presenting a new original story, “Uncle Flower’s Homecoming Waltz,“ by author Marissa K. Lingen, a tale in which children and adults must be taught how to daydream properly; a respite against the never-ending war that rages around them. This story w…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Egypt, 1912. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine. via Pocket A Dead Djinn in Cairo | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2yzzgRh

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io There is a clamor of ancient lovers hiding under my hat. They sit or pace impatient, whittle bits of me with tiny knives also whittled from bits of me, and I let them. They each came to me, as lovers do, in the vast before—with small hands upturned,… Strange Horizons - All Muddle By Sionnain Buckley via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2GleGFN

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Lyra’s judges were not Anubis or Michael but three stern figures whose faces shifted from those of the fates, to the muses, to the musical judges on reality television. Their chambers rose high and dark and empty from the endless sand. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io CONTENT WARNING: when my father reprograms my mother { my mother becomes unbreakable    angles like a subway map    glitter bubblegum steelhard cyberwoman    a Galatea in Python too cold to share a bed with she boneless titanium I can’t do a portrai…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Beneath Ceaseless Skies | Faêl by Tobi Ogundiran via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2XW4MoW This is what ended the war: the witch-king lusted after power and it was the death of him. How did the story go? Before Elehua became a witch, he was a man. Before he was a king, he was a commoner. Once there were three moons, three sisters: Ana, La…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Beneath Ceaseless Skies | Gert of the Hundred by L.S. Johnson via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JNmReY The boy’s name was Nicholas, though it took Gert some days to learn it. At first he was just a shadow in her garden, watched by the spiders who strummed their webs as he passed them, vibrating intelligence on the invader: he touches leaves, he watch…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “That’s Ifenwa,” the captain said, pointing at a smear of light almost directly overhead. Inlesh repeated the name dutifully to himself. “That’s Ontok.” A pentagon of bright sparks halfway up the sky. “They’ve each got their own names, but you don’t… Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart by Sam J. Miller Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy via Instapaper https://ift.tt/325fgRm

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io My grandfather was a rickshaw coolie. He was born in China in the late 19th century, in a tiny village upriver from the coast of Fujian province. It was a time of misfortune. The rice harvests had failed. The landlords were heartless. His mother had… Xingzhou by Ng Yi-Sheng Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2YsmaxV

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “The Road You Take” by Jean Wolfersteig | Akashic Books via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JRVJf9 Akashic Books is proud to introduce a new flash fiction series, Duppy Thursday. Though we’re based in Brooklyn, our location envy of the Caribbean is evident throughout our catalog. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io At the mathematical center of Dorothy’s father’s RV, at its golden ratio curl, there is a tarot card pinned to the corkboard. The High Priestess; she has been there longer than Dorothy can remember. Worn at her edges, drawn in lines of gold and whit… Strange Horizons - Hunting the Viper-King By Kathryn Harlan via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2NlY7Qf

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io 1000M Synchronized Diving Finals | Abyss & Apex via Instapaper https://ift.tt/31pkAOz They say the walk to the edge is the hardest part. Don’t believe them. Tani walks beside me, muscles hewn in stone. My twin, except—lucky me—she’s female and unrelated. We’re the first mixed team to make it this far. A fantasy couple in the eyes of …

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io A Study in Pink and Gold | Abyss & Apex via Instapaper https://ift.tt/31iHZRy He sits on the roof and takes another bite of bland, convenience store sushi, watching the massive body of a Drifter float by at eye level. He likes to come up here to eat lunch most days. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Homecoming | Abyss & Apex via Instapaper https://ift.tt/31pkwyj “Charley.” A lilting, feminine voice calls out from behind me, and it takes every ounce of self-control not to jump or gasp. It’s one of those early autumn days when the sun shines so brightly it hurts, and the wind whips everything to and fro, but …

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io One Soul, Parchment Thin | Abyss & Apex via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Kj9Lrz Slowly, I fold the paper. A forty-two degree offset from the right side, continuing to a point on the far edge. Satisfied, I press down, make the crease deeper, stronger. I work with more than my usual caution. This is an important work, and mistake…