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 […]

“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 […]

What does wanderlust mean when you’re a ghost? Find out by joining Darcie Little Badger’s wonderfully intrepid Corey and Jimena on the road. ~ Julian and Fran, April 2, 2023 Those Hitchhiking Kids By Darcie Little Badger They hadn’t died while hitchhiking, and ghosts couldn’t own a car, but Corey and Jimena shared the condition of wanderlust, so something had to be done. In high school, they’d ditch class to bus-hop through Houston, losing themselves in mazes of hot streets. Death hadn’t extinguished the urge to travel without aim, although it made the process trickier, more frustrating.

“Darling,” Hades says one evening as the two of them are curled up on the couch, “I love you, but we can’t live like this.” “Hmm?” Persephone glances up from her Macbook. At her feet, Perennial Gra…

People have no idea how much of themselves they can slough off. Every night, I clean oodles of ttae—exfoliated skin cells, rolled up into crescent doughs. They lap about in the Hot Springs; merge into foamy scums. I skim them with my net; run new water through the pools. When the baths brim again with […]

The planet of the worms is a cold, barren, sunless place. The worms do not think. They feel nothing but hunger, and so they eat. They eat through the planet’s surface. They eat through the planet’s molten core. Over time, the planet grows speckled and spongelike, riddled with tunnels and holes. But the worms don’t […]

Aden had never once forgotten his gear for bulk trash day, but he found it touching that Nura still taped a monthly reminder note on the door from the kitchen to the garage. Sweet of her to remember, given how exhausted med school had her these days. He ducked out to the garage to toss […]

Content Note: All Possible Warnings Apply click here for full note Warnings: violence, incest, cannibalism, fratricide, attempted infanticide just as in the original…   Children don’t generally assume their father will abandon them to die in the snow. But under certain circumstances, they might get an inkling. If their mother had died the year before, […]

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The first contestant worth mentioning wore manticore fur. The fibers, a deep shade of gunmetal, tapered to points of polished basalt. Ruffs of black cockatrice feathers bounced at his collar and cuffs as he swaggered down an aisle lined with twisted… Strange Horizons - The Skinwalkers Ball By Hammond Diehl, Art by Helen Mask via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2ITWze9

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io By Divine providence, we captured the mermaid with neither loss of life nor injury to any seaman, nor any harm done to the specimen. So easily we might have passed her by without even noticing her; but the sharp young eyes of Small Jack espied her a… Strange Horizons - A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, D.Phil, MSc.; or, A Lullaby (Part 1 of 2) By H… https://ift.tt/2UyjfSg

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons has had many faces since we began in 2000, and those faces are always changing. I often refer to us as the collective—or composite, Yoon Ha Lee style—which at any given time involves 50+ creative volunteers, committed to voices new,… Strange Horizons - Fond Farewells By Vanessa Rose Phin via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2HwR0kc

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Her father said at breakfast, "Drowned men can't have kids." He said it as if teaching Katy a lesson, or maybe as if she had asked. He kept looking at her, his fingers twitching on the Sunday newspaper like dropped lizards' tails. via Pocket

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

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

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

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

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

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

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, …

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

I heard about the story from the friend of a friend of an acquaintance, and didn’t put any stock in it at first. In my profession, you hear things like this with some frequency. You’d be a fool if you went running every time you heard someone cry fi… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Notes on a Resurrection By Natalia Theodoridou via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2J24rId