Fictional Worlds

Ada's holiday trip to meet her girlfriend's family becomes a bit more fraught than usual when she discovers the family’s unusual Christmas Eve tradition...

Phosphorescence by Ben Berman Ghan

Nine Beauties and the Entangled Threads by D.A. Xiaolin Spires

Rugg was ready to turn back and try to make Ganvill when a bright dot of light appeared through the churning murk of the storm: a campfire. Never trust a light too bright in a dark hole, the speaking goes, but then he smelled roasting meat. And then he heard the flute. A sweet, sad little song, a flutter of music. Bone flutes had a tone distinct from those carved of wood or reed; lonelier, somehow. A sweet breath of music sighing out to the wild.

History was being made. It was being made in the cold and lively city of Glasgow: dug out of archives, translated from handwriting, combed out of the cloud of digitised court records. It was being hammered out in study-bedrooms with Freecycled task chairs. It was refined in pubs whenever Ali Wishaw bought a friend a […]

The dose hits, blindsiding me with a gentle, warm light, and at once each of my trembled breaths is filled with a sweet taste like water ice. I will float over every ache and smooth over every edge until I indulge in the deliberate, ponderous, redshifted joy of living. And indulge it is. Even though […]

I To learn the craft of witches, one must cultivate the pillars of magical living: curiosity, attentiveness, and perseverance. Those who are curious desire to understand the mysteries of the world; those who are attentive observe and apply their focus to achieving that understanding; those who persevere embrace the challenges inherent in the unending pursuit […]

The thirty-third annual convention for the Lefthand Metro Worm Cosplayers Club was, not surprisingly, ruined by drama. Helk, the convention committee chair, was a micromanager, which meant that they weren’t allowing anyone else to do anything. And that meant nothing got done. Including arrangements with the venue they’d been working with for the past twenty […]

The country was at just over ten thousand deaths the morning that the door appeared. On Kosmo’s phone NPR was interviewing a doctor with a nasal voice about the need for social distancing, while Kosmo himself collected empty cans from around his home office. They were everywhere. Walls of recyclable cans dominated his room. Just […]

Thuận Lộc stared at the cup.  It was dark, and mottled with the characteristic patterning of silver-eye fungus. The tea inside was trembling—the faint vibrations from the Mausoleum, the dead ships’ atrophied motors that would never again allow them to hang, weightless, among the stars. Even now—even standing far away from it in that small […]

“Ambition!” Trevor emphasized, rapping knuckles hard on the wood table. “That is what makes the great men!” He took a satisfied swallow from his mug. Across from him, Barnaby put down the daily he’d been reading and sipped from his own beer. Pulling out a handkerchief to dab froth from his lips, he scratched thoughtfully […]

But the ferns have turned Papa's thoughts to slow, ponderous things, moving the way a fighter does just before they hit the ground. Fresh fiddleheads unfurl from his skin each night, bobbing merrily with his breath each morning.

Author: Rick Tobin Her lips were soft as marshmallows fresh out of the bag—tender yet unyielding to Aaron’s hard press against them. They’d been torn apart from their love for years, but now, suddenly renewed, he could not hold back tears as they kissed. His strong hands held her thick dark hair as he pulled […]

His grip tightens, turning the picnic into murder.

Author: Alastair Millar If you’re a trillionaire, you can get powerful people to turn up when you call an informal meeting. It’s one of the perks. As the Industrialist’s guests finished their excellent meal, the Diplomat put down his glass and said, “This is all very pleasant, but why are we here?” “I’ve decided to […]

Author: James Flanagan From Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II this storm has raged unabated. Wars and plagues have scoured the Earth while eras of enlightenment and eras of disgrace have risen and slipped away, and always the mother of all storms has boiled and churned — the Big Red Eye of Jupiter. Annie Edson Taylor […]

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The room is greener than my natural dermal shade in springtime, and the air conditioning is more noisy than effective. Both of which are features of another day on Earth, the quirkiest destination in Cluster 644984, catchily known as ‘The Milky Way’ among the locals. “I hate humans.” I turn […]

We’ve travelled for weeks to find something like this—not the planet, but its ring, swirling iridescent with icy blues and silver. A bounty of water.

AntipodeanSF publishes the best speculative flash fiction (SF, F, H) on the web.

The Portmeirion Road by Fiona Moore

The Weight of Your Own Ashes by Carlie St. George

Continued from Part 1) Kite was still curled into a bundle of blankets in front of the stove when Setti woke. The old woman sniffed, torn between surprise and annoyance. She’d have figured him for a…

Setti knew the woman for a ghost the moment she appeared. It was the pink hair that gave her away, short and spiky. Real people didn’t have hair like that. Also, you couldn’t see the scratchmarks on…

Read short story The Jewel in the Toad Queen's Crown by Jane Yolen from Queen Victoria's Book of Spells

In this provocative and rich retelling of the Greek myth, Orpheus, the musician son of Apollo and Calliope, successfully rescues his wife Eurydice from Hades after her untimely death.     First Step   Orpheus puts a plate of eggs down in front of her. The eggs are perfect; after everything, he finally got it […]

In a sea of long grass and tiny yellow blueberry flowers some ways off of Route 1, just about halfway between Cobscook Bay and Passamaquoddy Bay, the town of Sauve-Majeure puts up its back against the Bald Moose Mountains.

Fade to White by Catherynne M. Valente

The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild (Part 2) by Catherynne M. Valente

The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild (Part 1) by Catherynne M. Valente