Suzie Q
FICTION: I have a demon inside me. It knows all my secrets, all my weaknesses. On a good day, when the sun is shining, the offering plates are filled with honey and I have enough candles for my cir…
Stories
The voices begin three days before someone is to die. The coffin-maker wakes up covered in sweat. He has been talking in his sleep again, his wife says, in the language of the dead.Three Meetings of the Pregnant Man Support Group
FICTION: I meet with the other pregnant men on Thursdays. Our room at the civic center is between the recovering alcoholics and cancer survivors. We’re currently at eleven, now that Wallace shot hi…
SHORT FICTION: You wake up to your phone crawling across your face, buzzing hard against your cheekbone. Snatch it up on muscle memory and the little plastic cilia retract. The screen is achingly b…Cherry Wood Coffin
The voices begin three days before someone is to die. The coffin-maker wakes up covered in sweat. He has been talking in his sleep again, his wife says, in the language of the dead.
SHORT FICTION: Not everything that’s missing was taken, but once it’s gone, it’s gone, ain’t it? There’s nothing to be done about it now. What isn’t dead is burned to the ground. What isn’t mourned…Fifteen Minutes Hate
SHORT FICTION: You wake up to your phone crawling across your face, buzzing hard against your cheekbone. Snatch it up on muscle memory and the little plastic cilia retract. The screen is achingly b…
SHORT FICTION: “Thank you for accepting me into your life, Mr. Sonata.” I started explaining my functions and maintenance requirements. He put a finger to his lips, so I lapsed into silence.Mother Jones and the Nasty Eclipse
SHORT FICTION: Not everything that’s missing was taken, but once it’s gone, it’s gone, ain’t it? There’s nothing to be done about it now. What isn’t dead is burned to the ground. What isn’t mourned…
SHORT FICTION: The war was fought in twelve minutes between twenty-four people on thirty-six sides.Cold Blue Sky
SHORT FICTION: “Thank you for accepting me into your life, Mr. Sonata.” I started explaining my functions and maintenance requirements. He put a finger to his lips, so I lapsed into silence.
Stars so Sharp They Break the Skin
SHORT FICTION: The war was fought in twelve minutes between twenty-four people on thirty-six sides.
3,300 words Five knew two things about Brother Ted Gunderson: The man loved Jesus, and hated his own son. Five was never allowed to call him Father or Pa. Once Five was old enough to string the wor…The Sharp Edges of Anger
SHORT FICTION: “Rose is ten when the blacksmith’s son pushes her into the river. She lands badly, rocks scraping her knees, tearing her palms. Her dress is cold and wet against her skin as she drag…
SHORT FICTION: Intrigue is our game. We play it well. It is all we have. She steps out of the pub with smoke on her lips, heels in her hands. A flicker of gin hides behind her eyes. Her interest me…Clap Your Hands
3,300 words Five knew two things about Brother Ted Gunderson: The man loved Jesus, and hated his own son. Five was never allowed to call him Father or Pa. Once Five was old enough to string the wor…
ORIGINAL SHORT FICTION: Beneath you, the airbus—an older model, a little threadbare at the wings—thrums with complaints, dissatisfied with the double standards imposed by its makers: a pilot is per…We Are New(s)
SHORT FICTION: Intrigue is our game. We play it well. It is all we have. She steps out of the pub with smoke on her lips, heels in her hands. A flicker of gin hides behind her eyes. Her interest me…
ORIGINAL SHORT FICTION: The water runs lukewarm with that familiar chemical sting that all recyc water has. It cuts off after exactly one minute, making the pipes knock. It echoes deep inside the s…A Priest of Vast and Distant Places
ORIGINAL SHORT FICTION: Beneath you, the airbus—an older model, a little threadbare at the wings—thrums with complaints, dissatisfied with the double standards imposed by its makers: a pilot is per…
7,300 Words Day 21 I reach the dairy mid-way through my morning rounds, expecting to find Mary hard at work inside. But the simple wood structure is silent. I knock on the door. “Mary? It’s Karen. …Irregularity
ORIGINAL SHORT FICTION: The water runs lukewarm with that familiar chemical sting that all recyc water has. It cuts off after exactly one minute, making the pipes knock. It echoes deep inside the s…
4,900 Words You’d think it would make us happy when a kid checks out the same book a zillion times in a row, but actually it just keeps us up at night. The Runaway Prince is one of those low-budget…Work, and Ye Shall Eat
7,300 Words Day 21 I reach the dairy mid-way through my morning rounds, expecting to find Mary hard at work inside. But the simple wood structure is silent. I knock on the door. “Mary? It’s Karen. …
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies
4,900 Words You’d think it would make us happy when a kid checks out the same book a zillion times in a row, but actually it just keeps us up at night. The Runaway Prince is one of those low-budget…
4,300 Words Translated by Andy Dudak When we gaze up at the heavens, we see exactly what one sees from Mother Earth: the resplendent, teeming stars and beacons of civilization flickering in the dar…Symphony to a city under the stars
Allegro con brio The night she came back, the Cut bled dimensions off onto the City … like every other night. Sinclair was ready for that day’s sunset. He’d been ready for the longest time. Alone i…
6,200 Words Rhett Walker had always been a creature of unsettled dreams. When he woke on one particular night, somewhere in the dusty nowhere of west Durango, he couldn’t quite remember what had ca…To Blight a Fig Tree Before It Bears Fruit
Witness the Meshing. What a crowd has gathered. Reappropriated gallows creak beneath the weight of eight brown bodies hanging. Their wrists are shackled with electric zip ties. Their bellies are sw…
On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog
SHORT FICTION: When the dog dies, she doesn’t know she is dying. You shouldn’t feel sorry for her. To her, life lasts forever.
The Last Exorcist by Danny Lore Author’s Note: This piece was commissioned and then declined by a prominent magazine. The only information that has been altered/omitted are locations, as those have been deemed a national security risk. Re-post and share at will. Naheem is our last great exorcisRiding the Signal
SHORT FICTION: Alec Chu traveled the high road, swinging his bot through the trees.
Free Fiction for 3/12/11
Now posted: [via Ideomancer Vol. 10, Issue 1] Now posted: Apex Magazine Issue #22. Now posted: Beneath Ceaseless Skies #64. @Tor.com: “The Desecrator” by Steven Brust @Tor.com: “T…
Lifeblood by Michael A. Burstein - By Blood We Live : By Blood We Live
Michael A. Burstein is a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award and the winner of the 1996 John W. Campbell Award for best new writer. His fiction frequently appears in Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine, and much of his short work was recently collected in I Remember the Future, from Apex Publications. “Lifeblood” takes …
Mermaid’s Hook | Apex Magazine
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Microfiction: A Guidebook to Enceladus Fauna for Dummies | Apex Books & Apex Magazine on Patreon
A Fool’s Baneful Gallantry | Apex Magazine
via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io At sunfall, the sellward, the spellcaster, and the wyrmrider paused at the foot of a dune and peered at the sun wester across the Sahael, the sea of sand. They had walked thirty days and were yet to come upon an oasis, caravan, or waykeep. At this r…
The Tomato Thief | Apex Magazine
via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io
Fugue State | Apex Magazine
via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “Shit,” Charlotte Berry whispered as the fog of sleep began to clear. She heard Arthur fumbling in the bathroom cabinet and saw his reflection in the mirror, salt-and-pepper hair and a small bald spot as he hunched over, a medicine bottle close to h… Fugue State | Apex Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JWuf85
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ | Apex Magazine
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ | Apex Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2ul7GB6 In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written, all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts. You maintain a menu of a half dozen Experiences on your digital blackboard, but Vision Quest is the one th…
Master Brahms | Apex Magazine
In memory of Bob Yano Sr. As the house A.I., she always projected her voice as if just around a corner or down a hall, and it gave the illusion that a real person waited barely out of sight. via Pocket Master Brahms | Apex Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2S6FOvZ via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io
Riding the Signal | Apex Magazine
Alec Chu traveled the high road, swinging his bot through the trees. The wet branches shook with the storm’s convulsions but penetrating the kidnapper’s camp perimeter was easy from up here, and the rain and wind didn’t touch him. Not in the Hole. v… Riding the Signal | Apex Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2BBnxRS via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies | Apex Magazine
You’d think it would make us happy when a kid checks out the same book a zillion times in a row, but actually it just keeps us up at night. The Runaway Prince is one of those low-budget young adult fantasies from the mid-nineties, before J.K. via Po… A Witch’s Guide to Escape A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies | Apex Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2C1ax4Y
On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog | Apex Magazine
When the dog dies, she doesn’t know she is dying. You shouldn’t feel sorry for her. To her, life lasts forever. Infants and dogs recognize the flow of time, but not their presence in it. via Pocket