Taterra had not been left on this world. She had not been banished, or forgotten. She had not been sent away in disgrace or in punishment, or as some form of cosmic torture conducted by a childlike…

I am a scumbag of a runner for Death, and not just because I snagged Saint Mary’s Nursing Home in downtown Philadelphia as my territory (all runners scoff at us who choose nursing homes; it’s cheat…

Eleanor held the little monster’s paw as they walked through the park, ignoring the stares and laughter from passersby. This was their day, their last day, and she would not let anyone ruin it. The…

I was very old when I first learned to walk. In the long quiet years since my birth, my legs have atrophied. They have grown thin and warped, the dark skin overrun with purple veins. I have lain in…

SUMMER San Francisco, July 1967 I see Persephone coming out of a psychedelic crowd of red and yellows melting together like flames coming to life. “You really outdid yourself this time,” she laughs…

Kyana woke groggy. Her nose felt dry. A film of old sweat and dead skin cells covered her skin. She took a sharp breath and moved sluggishly. Her body, reluctant to wake, was not her own. Her hands…

All the best hexes are specific, ya float me? And she gives the best. She can fill your ears with every scream ever sucked, unheard, into the void. She can leave your filters completely spic-n-span…

Max needs a ride. She says it’s from work, but you can smell the whiskey on her breath. Makes no difference to you. You’re happy to be her chauffeur, even if she never pays for gas and it’s 2am on …

The ship listed to the side as they tacked, the crew busy yelling and pulling ropes and cursing every swell of wind, until they managed to make the turn. The overcast sky sagged overhead like a sai…

In the lakebed by the mountains slept stones full of secrets. Waiting memories. Dissipating memories. Rachel could feel the hum of them, their longing for closeness, pressing against her as the sun…

Umam Preth was preparing a deadly concoction of 3 parts jaffiger and 2 parts sillin when the robot slammed through the window. “Hey, Professor,” the Vee3 said. Its manipulator field rolled it uprig…

The shadows are thicker than they should be. They fill up the corners of the room, pool under the crate that serves as a TV stand, nestle into the discarded clothing and wadded up fast food wrapper…

“Is the ghol coming back tonight, Mama?” Violet asked anxiously. Miranda continued pouring her daughter a drink. “Probably, Violet. But don’t worry: we still have lots of Papa’s poems left.” Violet…

The dog did not know he was famous. But he knew people stopped to look at him, and once a photographer came and took his picture for a newspaper. He whistled and called and tried to get the dog to …

Nora tugged her gloves down further over her freckled wrists. Every other couple in line had linked arms, but John Reidy had not so much as inched his elbow towards her. She wasn’t sure what pained…

The queen hoarded the barrels of seed, keeping them locked within her coffers among the diamonds and gold and strings of perfect pearls, remnants of the former days of prosperity and excess. The se…

“Remember when I first came to Montreal to see you?” My body aches. Something’s not right. “Hmm?” “You were living on St-Denis. You came to pick me up at the bus terminal.” He smiles. “We made out …

I’d said barely a word to anyone all the way from New York to Santa Fe, but the cowboy’s toothy grin disarmed me. “Where you from, miss?” “New York,” I murmured. He squinted and shook his head. He …

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Tape 1 It used to rain a lot out here. Not as much as some places, but enough that we kinda earned a reputation for it. They would joke that summer didn’t officially start until the Fourth of July …

Ever since I was a child I’d been to Mildred for anything you can name—drops for toothache, herbs to ward off hoof-and-mouth (you fasten them on the off hind leg with a special knot), and readings,…

For each season there is a story. Some are more popular than others; Markos points out with a sly chuckle my expression of long-suffering when it is lambing time once more and someone begs for the …

It’s late in the afternoon when mipaati skulks in, her eyes still carrying the gunk from yesterday and her face sunken with a fidgety anxiousness for tomorrow. Her appearance—bedraggled and nervous…

Twenty steps from the bedroom to the kitchen. Fifteen, if she moved quickly enough, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Josiah was sleeping heavily by the time that Tuppy had gathered the will to inch he…

She was cradled in the crook of my arm to support her rounded back. We’d left her little motorized chair in the car, and despite its being summer she was dressed in one of her high-necked lace blou…

I saw it after Jerry gave Mom a black eye. I had to get out, coward that I was, and I let the screen door bang behind me, knowing it would make him even madder. I crossed the street and followed th…

The pounding of a mallet against a wood join drowned out the knocking on the door for quite some time. It wasn’t until her rhythm broke that Regine stopped and listened to be sure it was not her ow…

Before the insects died, people at large did not care what I did for a living, and in many ways, I did not care what they did, so long as they left me alone. After the insects died, people might h…

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The penny was gone again. Caro huffed and dropped her grocery bags in the hall. She reached in, took a penny from the change bowl by the door, and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger, said N…