SHORT FICTION: When the security alarm rang out, Zhang Dong was at the very peak of the village, thinking about family.A Different Kind of Place

SHORT FICTION: Erika’s fingers tense on the steering wheel as she approaches the Kansas-Colorado state line. Endless fields of wheat, waiting to be harvested, sit on both sides of the interstate, t…All Clear

The Whipping Girls

SHORT FICTION: My board was dwindling quickly, and my anger at such a one-sided defeat was increased whenever I looked up into Brahms’ smug, synth face—my face.Boy A, Girl A, Slender Man

SHORT FICTION: The little girl reached up and tugged on her mother’s sleeve. “Mommy. That man’s here again!”Master Brahms

SHORT FICTION: I waste a hard-earned chit for public access to chase a clue that turns out to be poetry.Godzilla vs Buster Keaton, Or: I Didn’t Even Need a Map

SHORT FICTION: My granddad used to tell me that there were only two things he was afraid of: sharks and somehow finding himself in Iraq.Toward a New Lexicon of Augury

SHORT FICTION: Every night, the devil sits himself on the lip of her bed and every night, she sighs and whispers the same word over and again. “Yes.”The Standard of Ur

SHORT FICTION: My brothers imagined themselves the first to speak without mouths…Bargains by the Slant-Light

SHORT FICTION: My first memory is of orderly rows of human skulls placed on glass shelves.With Lips Sewn Shut

SHORT FICTION: Meanwhile, I’m checking out Coyote. Seriously, the dude’s not even trying to hide. To me, he looks like an actual dog dressed in an Armani suit.A Siren’s Cry Is a Song of Sorrow

SHORT FICTION: River Street’s never hard to find; in fact, you’re likely to stumble into it while looking for somewhere else entirely.Coyote Now Wears a Suit

SHORT FICTION: When Amelia turned fourteen, everyone assured her that she’d find her fairy soon.River Street

SHORT FICTION: Monday. “Pisces. You started showing your hidden skills and people are noticing! Accept the changes that are coming.”Field Biology of the Wee Fairies

SHORT FICTION: I watched my love die in the claw of a Scorpion Man.The Barnum Effect

SHORT FICTION: When he learn he couldn’t have one, he did find a child in the water.Jewel of the Vashwa

SHORT FICTION: Have you lost me yet? The trick question, as if I am something to be found and kept, locked in your chest of bones.Gasping

SHORT FICTION: First it’s in my toes, like they’re being suckled on by a mouth full of battery acid; then my feet buzz, pins and needles in my soles before a bigger, more insistent spasm shoots up …La Ciguapa, For the Reeds, For Herself

Prism

For Southern Girls When the Zodiac Ain’t Near Enough

SHORT FICTION: I ascend during the church picnic. My thighs peel off the plastic bench with a crisp smack, and I’m two feet into the air before I understand what is happening.Kerouac’s Renascence

In the morning, when the fog lies thick and heavy on the water, I sit at my workbench and seed the next simulant. It takes fourteen double-C commands to move the digital embryo into the simulation …The Chariots, the Horsemen

When You’re Ready

Suzie Q

The voices begin three days before someone is to die. The coffin-maker wakes up covered in sweat. He has been talking in his sleep again, his wife says, in the language of the dead.Three Meetings of the Pregnant Man Support Group

SHORT FICTION: You wake up to your phone crawling across your face, buzzing hard against your cheekbone. Snatch it up on muscle memory and the little plastic cilia retract. The screen is achingly b…Cherry Wood Coffin

SHORT FICTION: Not everything that’s missing was taken, but once it’s gone, it’s gone, ain’t it? There’s nothing to be done about it now. What isn’t dead is burned to the ground. What isn’t mourned…Fifteen Minutes Hate

SHORT FICTION: “Thank you for accepting me into your life, Mr. Sonata.” I started explaining my functions and maintenance requirements. He put a finger to his lips, so I lapsed into silence.Mother Jones and the Nasty Eclipse

SHORT FICTION: The war was fought in twelve minutes between twenty-four people on thirty-six sides.Cold Blue Sky

Stars so Sharp They Break the Skin