Quasar

Keep up with new short speculative fiction. About

Fran Wilde

7 free-to-read stories indexed on Quasar

A Catalog of Storms

Fran Wilde Uncanny 2019 ShortStory Future Fantasy 4,081 words

The town barely survives the vicious weather because of the young people who turn into “weathermen,” leaving their families behind.

SlipstreamTraumaFragmented

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.

Fran Wilde Uncanny 2021 Novelette Fairy Tale 8,628 words

"A week before the Season began, as Mrs. Vanessa Saunders held brunch court at the Empire Hotel, a photo appeared on her phone: a large oak door beneath a pale green sign with silver lettering. Impossible, she thought, flipping the infernal device over...

Fairy Tale RetellingCorporate PowerNew York City

Content warnings 1

death

The Jewel And Her Lapidary

Fran Wilde Tor Novella 2016 Novelette High Fantasy 16,850 words

Two teenage girls, Lin, the last Jewel, and Sima, the last Lapidary, struggle to fight the invaders who've taken the kingdom by treachery.

The Rain Remembers What the Sky Forgets

Fran Wilde Uncanny 2023 ShortStory Fantasy 6,710 words

"The following documents have been uncovered by the Bromley Independent with regards to recent events at the local cemetery: the unofficial statements of Mr. Cyril Harris, city councilman; the recently discovered journals of Miss Celia Smith; letters from...

Fairy Tale RetellingPolitical ResistanceHistorical USA

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands

Fran Wilde Tor.com 2020 ShortStory Exploration 3,611 words

A generation ship arrives at its target planet only to discover a civilization has arisen in the centuries since it was launched. The captain sends the navigator out to explore the planet and see if there’s a place for them there.

Generation ShipColonialismSecond Person

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Only Their Shining Beauty Was Left

Fran Wilde Shimmer 2016 ShortStory Slipstream Apocalypse 4,068 words

About the time botany student Arminae Ganit daydreams about how nice it would be to be a tree, people around the world start turning into trees for real.

Ruby, Singing

Fran Wilde BCS 2018 ShortStory Dark Fantasy 7,471 words

Young Mira has a gift: gemstones sing to her. She wants to use it to help her family, so she leaps at the chance to join a young man who’s hunting for a long-lost ruby mine.

Secondary World FantasyRevengeEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence