Strange Horizons - Variations on a Theme from Turandot By Ada Hoffmann
No one will sleep until the Princess learns the Stranger’s name. Liù the slave girl, who has loved the Stranger since before his exile, when he was a Prince, when he smiled at her—Liù alone knows who he really is. via Pocket
Strange Horizons - The Trees of My Youth Grew Tall By Mimi Mondal
I believe that every child in the city should learn to climb trees. City folk train their children to swim and to dance, to run and play games, to cross the horizontal plane in every possible motion, but they always ignore the vertical. via Pocket
Pamela swallowed a cactus and grew spines. They shot up through her pores, inches long and thick and stiff. They lay flat with the hair on her head. Everywhere she had hair, she grew spines instead. She enjoyed it, that first day, feeling them push …
This story was first published in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination (Nov/Dec 2016) and was shortlisted for the inaugural Nommo Award for best African SF short story. via Pocket
Wanda knew better than the mesmerism that swept the spacestation. She had seen plenty of it in her long life. Wanda knew what close proximity did to one another, and their ideas. see them, wanda? they would all whisper look how they all float around…
Strange Horizons - What Man Knoweth By Russell Nichols
Yellow caution tape around the crucifix says: DO NOT CROSS. The irony’s not lost on me. Neither is the stench—a nauseous mix of worn hymnals, wooden pews, and the dried blood of a slain deacon. via Pocket
Strange Horizons - Tamales in Space, and Other Phrases For the Beginning Speaker By Gabriela Santiago, Art by Kali Gregan
Strange Horizons - Tamales in Space, and Other Phrases For the Beginning Speaker By Gabriela Santiago, Art by Kali Gregan via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2PGIoYj
Strange Horizons - The Fortunate Death of Jonathan Sandelson By Margaret Killjoy
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
Strange Horizons - De MotherJumpers By Celeste Rita Baker
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…
Nur remembered a paragraph from one of Tirosh's poems, from the single book he published, two years before the twentieth century came to an end: "The morning rises: another train station…"
Samovar - The Gates of Balawat | Balawats portar By Maria Haskins, Translated by Maria Haskins
He turned his gaze to the sculpted figures above the building’s entrance—mutilated and broken segments of human bodies—but no matter where he looked the dream was still inside him, he couldn’t get …
Samovar - The Person You Are Trying To Reach Is Not Available | La persona que busca no está disponible By Andrea Chapela, Translated by Andrea Chapela
I haven’t even taken off my heels when my mother’s call comes in. I wonder if I should answer. The door hasn’t closed yet, and Gary is still reporting the house conditions: no milk in the fridge, s…
Samovar - A Mortal Legend | Leyenda mortal By Marcelo Cohen, Translated by Kit Maude
The girl’s name is Lina and she works in an ice cream parlour at an airport. One morning, seeing that they’ve almost run out of pistachio flavour, she decides to open a new container and in that co…