Fictional Worlds

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

Planet Lion by Catherynne M. Valente in Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy Issue Four.

War is a dinner party. My ladies and I have spent the dregs of summer making ready. We have hung garlands of pennyroyal and snowberries in the snug, familiar halls of Laburnum Castle, strained cheese as pure as ice for weeks in the caves and the kitchens, covered any gloomy stone with tapestries or stags’ heads with mistletoe braided through their antlers. We sent away south to the great markets of Mother-of-Millions for new silks and velvets and furs.

There are big curse words and little curse words in anybody’s language. A little cursing isn’t hardly cursing at all. A child could do it and everyone round the supper table would laugh, turn red, and stick a bun in that sour young mouth while secretly making a note to…

22. Tea for Three Published 1934, Harem House Press, 128 pages Gudrun hated her name, her mother, and bad art. She loved her house, a wild turkey called Murray who had decided to live out his sunset years in her garden, and Cold Palace Brand No. 1 Silver Needle Tea, which, by the time the […]

On International Women’s Day, several of the best writers in SF/F today reveal new stories inspired by the phrase “Nevertheless, she persisted”, raising their voice in response to a phrase originally meant to silence. The stories publish on Tor.com all throughout the day of March 8th. They are collected here. The Ordinary Woman and the Read More »

The difficulties of transporting wine over interstellar distances are manifold. Wine is, after all, like a child. It can bruise. It can suffer trauma—sometimes the poor creature can recover; sometimes it must be locked up in a cellar until it learns to behave itself. Sometimes it is irredeemable. I ask that you greet the seven glasses before you tonight not as simple fermented grapes, but as the living creatures they are, well-brought up, indulged but not coddled, punished when necessary, shyly seeking your approval with clasped hands and slicked hair.

In these stories, you’re invited to savour the beauty of quiet storytelling. Stay a moment here—in the land of dreams and magic.

The Somnambulant by Sam W. Pisciotta   The moon sits plump within a windowpane as if plucked from the sky and framed for safekeeping. Bound by forces beyond our control, the moon and I share a yearning to pull free. I touch my finger on the icy glass and dream of leaving this place. But […]

Author: Allie Nava They say your life flashes before you as you fold into the arms of death, and perhaps that is what happened to me when I lost those eight minutes and twenty seconds. I was a child peddling gleeful “whee’s” on a red bicycle, over a calming ocean of green hillocks. I was […]

Author: Paul Schmidt Joshua burst awake, a dislocated memory of laughter and candlelight tapering into the ether. That same synthetic voice buzzed in his ear. His contact companion, installed at his ocular barrier, always had a habit of waking him abruptly. “Rise and shine, Joshua! It’s a fantastic day.” Joshua gritted his teeth, groggily slipping […]

“Valley. Can you still hear me?” Julian’s voice filtered through her dying radio. The Prince of Cats was a speck of light, dimming through the gold-grey film that, atom by atom…

Author: Bill Cox I’m making this recording standing on the cliffs at Troup Head on the Moray coast of Scotland. This used to be one of my favourite places. It’s famous for the seabird colonies that nest here, Gannets, Guillemots and Razorbills creating raucous seasonal cities on sheer faces of rock. I especially liked coming […]

Author: Jaime K Devine How long has it been November 15th? I’ve pulled this same picture of a hamster on a running wheel off the One-A-Day Cute Animals calendar for at least a week now. I feel like I’m losing it, so I call my sister. “Yesterday was November 15th, right?” “No, today is November […]

When the clerk at the convenience store takes my twenty for the frozen mac and cheese and the cheap wine, I barely notice the fractal pattern of cracks running across his face. They are unique yet…

Author: Caley Schneider ‘Ha. Not if you were the last man on Earth.’ That’s what she’d said to smirking Cole Hamilton when he, not so subtly, suggested an intimate rendezvous in their bustling Interlaken hostel. He thought them both being American was enough to push her into his gym-bro, I-never-forget-my-protein arms. How the times have […]

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The radiation levels following the Great Holy War of the twenty third century made living on the surface of the Earth impossible. Consequently, humanity moved underground. After millennia of self-sufficient, artificial environments, humanity lost all ties to the surface. Eventually, the sum on the “known universe” consisted of 50,000 […]

Author: Alastair Millar I was between cons and heading down towards Damascus, Arkansas, when I heard the Word. It being Sunday, the holoscreens in the corners of the diner were showing a syndicated broadcast from one of the Texan megachurches. “Welcome, friends! Welcome all, whatever your age, sex, gender, ethnicity or degree of cybernetization! The […]

Author: Majoki So not painterly. Not even close. Too pixelated. Too blurred at the edges of reality. Not a good start in your first soloverse. Always so much to learn. Tamp down the expectations, go back and study the masters. Phidias. Caravaggio. Kurosawa. Leibovitz. Marquez. Einstein. Know their mediums. Stone. Canvas. Film. Page. Chalkboard. Seek […]

Author: Thomas Desrochers It is one of the great mysteries of the late 21st century that the land of Alaska remains as nearly untrammeled as it was a hundred years before. Though its harsh climate was well-preserved by the collapse of the Atlantic Gyre, the exodus from Europe caused by that same calamity created a […]

Punk Voyager was built by punks. They made it from beer cans, razors, safety pins, and a surfboard some D-bag had left on the beach. Also plutonium. Where did they get plutonium? Around. f*** you.

Bloodsoaked and grinning, the Soldier climbs to the summit of the ruins. The wind is mountain-top fast. It grabs the strands of her hair that have escaped her ponytail and sticks them to her ecstatic mouth: the slick surface of teeth, the gloss-wet of lipstain. She stands up straight and the wind lights her up. […]

Answer 1: Your mother was right. I get pissed off upset too easily, and I can’t be trusted with money. I can make a lot of excuses but the clearest answer is she’s always been right about our fights everything. She thinks your best chances are by her raising you with her folks. The mines aren’t […]

Hollywood’s highest-paid actress for the last two years breaks up with me thirty seconds before I jump out a window. Secrets have never been Adelle Tremaine’s style. She lives for drama even off the stage. So when she storms onto the set, makeup smeared and heels dangling from one white-knuckled fist, I know there’s a […]