The Magician Takes a Bow How many people can say they were there the night the trick went wrong and the Magician died on stage? Certainly, that first morning on the strip—dazed gamblers blinking in the rising light, the ambulance come and gone, with…

Before I begin, I feel that I should mention the people who made it possible for me to stand before you now. Unfortunately neither my mother nor my father can be here with me today, but my Uncle Matthew and Aunt Bess are, and I thank them both for a…

Ordinary fathers lead ordinary lives. They go to work, they raise the kid, they open their homes for the weekly mahjong and meal that rotates from one family to the next in their circle of Chinese immigrants. When they text their daughters, the cell phone vibrates discreetly. If the phone is buried in a backpack, …

chatting with each other about the dark weather, stuttering in their time loops

Every marriage is a marriage of many different people, Justine said. We all change over time.

The woman was in her face now, dress billowing, a white cumulus of afro contrasting with the blue-black of her skin.

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The party was going swimmingly. Adé stood in a corner of her sitting room, presently doubling as an exhibition space, and took cautious sips from the glass in her hand, eyes following Nkem’s butterfly movements around the room. via Pocket

“You must not tell anyone,” she said. “I am one of those that cannot die, the Bakirshi.”

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io First, the egusi seeds were roasted and ground in a paste. Gherek worked slivers of onions sliced into half moons and pepper seeds into the paste then pounded it some more. The dried white hibiscus flowers boiled in water with a little bit of salt, …

The Masters file into the high-vaulted chamber with its ceiling of clear, faceted crystal. The rainbow light cast by the sun finds its echo in their robes, fine silks in all the shades of their titles: sky-blue, steel-grey, rose-red, blood-red. The thrones upon which they seat themselves are carved from impossibly large blocks of the …

His condition was quickly deteriorating and thus it was deemed best that he journey to Saltwater House. The ocean air, the murmur of the waves, they would soothe him. Balthazar had a fortune and a name. Judith had neither. Her father had been a friend to Balthazar’s father. She was now an orphan, though she …

The lakeside painter is lying, but no one seems to care. It’s a beautiful lie, even Elodie will admit that. There are two lovers on the pier with the painter, sitting for their portrait, and she’s honest about the way the light of the setting sun catches their hair, the way the breeze ripples their …

Smaran lingers here in this old home, gnawing on names and the stories that go with them. She is as I left her, which is more than I can say about myself. Her long dark hair coiled around her in sw…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Where I’m from, it bodes ill to announce that you’re going somewhere. It’s a nuance of the language I was born into, where the word ‘go’ is swept under, reserved for foes and fiends while ‘return’ is extolled as a treasure. via Pocket Strange Horizons - Tessellations, In A Greater Hand By Artyv K via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2D5zyPV

Eyes, eyes, eyes. So many eyes on my long arms. If someone gave me these eyes to punish me, they made a huge mistake.

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io This story is part of our 2015 fund drive bonus issue! Read more about Strange Horizons' funding model, or donate, here. Eyes, eyes, eyes. So many eyes on my long arms. via Pocket Strange Horizons - Hundred Eye By Yukimi Ogawa via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Uh15rz

A skeleton woman was supposed to look beautiful only to those whom she had enchanted. Scaring people was only a recreation at best. What we wanted was a human's strength, and a little money to make…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io When the bomb hit, I was almost inside the ladies' clothing store where I work. If I hadn't paused to check out a cute bicycle courier I would have been safe. The bomb detonated silently, coating the street with a brief yellow burst like the mother … Samovar - The Knack Bomb | De foefbom By Bo Balder, Translated by Bo Balder via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JTtC2s

Toen de bom ontplofte, was ik bijna binnen in de dameskledingwinkel waar ik werk. Als ik die leuke jongen op zijn scooter niet had nagekeken was ik al veilig geweest. De bom ging in stilte af. Hij bedekte de P.C. via Pocket Samovar - De foefbom | The Knack Bomb By Bo Balder via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Unf7b0

Cesária Escobar was sixteen when she walked down the aisle, arm in arm with a man she had only met once. Her seven brothers and sisters watched in dismay, but her widowed mother wished her well. Th…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Cesária Escobar was sixteen when she walked down the aisle, arm in arm with a man she had only met once. Her seven brothers and sisters watched in dismay, but her widowed mother wished her well. via Pocket Samovar - Saligia | English Translation By H. Pueyo, Translated by H. Pueyo via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JVdk97

For five years in the city I worked as a receptionist at an English language school, where I had to deal with countless, groundless complaints and had developed a Noh-mask on my face devoid of any …

"Little Brother™ isn't like your other toys, Peter," Mommy said. "You have to be extra careful with him, as if he were a real baby."

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Peter had wanted a Little Brother™ for three Christmases in a row. His favorite TV commercials were the ones that showed just how much fun he would have teaching Little Brother™ to do all the things that he could already do himself. via Pocket

She came up out of the ground even more beautiful than when she had gone down into it. Her face was as white as snow, and her hair as black as ink, and her lips as red as the blood on her graveston…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io They said that she was poisoned. People always talk. Doc knew that it was the illness, though—the one that comes with the snow and leads people away behind it into the thaw. He said that it wouldn't be long before her husband visited us. via Pocket