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Climate Fiction

23 free-to-read stories tagged “Climate Fiction”

The Martian Obelisk

Linda Nagata Tor.com 2017 ShortStory Apocalypse 5,908 words

As civilization is dying on Earth, a woman building a monument on Mars by remote control gets a message from a Mars colony long thought to be dead.

Climate FictionMotherhoodPacific Northwest

Content warnings 4

child-deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemicwar

ZeroS

Peter Watts Infinity Wars 2017 Novelette Military SF 13,764 words

Technically dead after a terrorist attack, Asante gets a new body and second chance at life, provided he serves 5 years as an experimental supersoldier.

Climate FictionWarPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

child-deathviolencewar

Seven Birthdays

Ken Liu Bridging Infinity 2016 ShortStory Far Future SF 5,864 words

Mia marks her birthdays as powers of 7, which gives her lots of time to work out her issues with her mother.

Climate FictionAmbitionPhilosophical

Last Gods

Sam J. Miller Drowned Worlds 2016 ShortStory Climate Change 6,200 words

On the edge of the ruined land, village people worship Orcas as gods. Unbeliever Kelb is up to something, and Adze tries to help him because she loves him.

Climate FictionDisabilityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

animal-harmdeathviolence

Queen of the Andes

Ruth Joffre Lightspeed 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,744 words

"Every morning before work, I measure the Queen of the Andes. I’ve nicknamed her Nova because her trunk is a ball of spikes that reminds me of a supernova in slow motion, an explosion of leaves pointing in two hundred and three directions from the core of...

Climate FictionDiasporaPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

The Job at the End of the World

Ray Nayler Tor.com 2023 ShortStory Apocalyptic 3,570 words

A weary resilience worker should know better than anyone: no one is safe when the world is always ending…

Climate FictionClass InequalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

death

The River and the World Remade

E. Lily Yu Tor.com 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,061 words

When the waters rose, the people who stayed on the River learned they weathered the storms best together, but what happens when one of their own becomes curious about the Land?

Climate FictionFriendshipPost Apocalyptic

Ancestries

Sheree Renée Thomas Nine Bar Blues 2020 ShortStory 4,288 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AfrofuturismDisabilityWest Africa

Content warnings 3

ableismabuseviolence

Cold Comfort

Pat Murphy & Paul Doherty Bridging Infinity 2016 Novelette Climate Change 7,956 words

Maggie has a plan to reverse climate change by capturing methane up in the arctic and selling the carbon.

Climate FictionAmbitionPost Apocalyptic

A Tiny™ Concert for the No-Name King

Crowe Powell Strange Horizons 2026 ShortStory 1,021 words

Building this setlist had been terrifying. Of course we’d debated our Tiny™ Concert set over the years, but never pictured this.

Climate FictionArt And CreationAmbiguous Ending

Cliff's Girl by Fiona Moore

Fiona Moore Clarkesworld 2026

When Cliff came back home for Casey’s wake, he brought his robot Will, and he also brought a girl. A woman, Morag corrected herself. Just as she shouldn’t think of […]

Climate FictionAI PersonhoodPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

death

Cliff's Girl by Fiona Moore (audio)

Clarkesworld Magazine Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Cliff's Girl" written by Fiona Moore. Published in the July 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/moore_07_26 Support us on...

Climate FictionMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

death

DP FICTION #137B: “Euthanasia Influx” by Rowan Hill

Diabolical Plots Diabolical Plots 2026

edited by Ziv Wities Content note (click for details) Body horror; extended description of assisted suicide with dubious consent The attractive blonde technician responsible for your death smiles lovingly, and a smooth plastic pen slides into your gnarled...

Climate FictionFamilyPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathsexual-content

Escape Pod 1057: Riftwork (Part 1 of 2)

C. W. Maurer Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : C. W. Maurer Narrator : Nicola Chapman Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Riftwork originally appeared in Brave New Girls: Tales of Girls Who Invent and Imagine anthology in July 2025. Includes tight, underground spaces. Riftwork...

Climate FictionFriendshipPost Apocalyptic

Escape Pod 1058: Riftwork (Part 2 of 2)

C. W. Maurer Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : C. W. Maurer Narrator : Nicola Chapman Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Riftwork originally appeared in Brave New Girls: Tales of Girls Who Invent and Imagine anthology in July 2025. Includes tight, underground spaces. Riftwork...

Climate FictionFriendshipPost Apocalyptic

If a Discarded God Can Change, So Can I

V.M. Ayala Lightspeed 2026

Green Plumed Orbital Line A; viridis metamorphos A Common sighting; Flies along the forty-fifth latitude every 12 minutes Traveler’s addendum: Last functional line along a northern latitude; southern latitudes TBD My crawler runs out of energy as I reach...

Climate FictionRedemptionPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

abuse

Nesting Behavior of Imported Species Troglodytes aedon on Planet Americearth by R.L. Meza

R.L. Meza Clarkesworld 2026

The other animals in my territory keep disappearing; it’s perfect. The yard is safer without the cats, so I’m free to search the bushes for unwanted guests while I consider […]

Climate FictionRevengeUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals by Jordan Alexander (audio)

Clarkesworld Magazine Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals" written by Jordan Alexander. Published in the August 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at:...

Climate FictionRacismPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

racismviolence

PseudoPod 1036: A Greater Dark

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 1036: A Greater Dark is a PseudoPod original. C/W: Xenophobia, gun violence, harm to animals Gray sheets of rain as the door bangs in, Willard and his men materializing in that opaque haze and shaking the wet from their long coats. They assess...

Climate FictionFound FamilyPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

animal-harmgoreviolence

The Goddess of Not Enough

Susan Palwick Lightspeed 2026

You’re eighteen. Your fairy godmother just fired you, because after three balls, the prince has grown bored with you. Tonight you stepped on his foot during a gavotte. “If you’d been cleverer,” the fairy godmother says—her words silver chimes girded with...

Climate FictionFaithHistorical Europe

The Punishing Animal

B. Pladek Lightspeed 2026

He hates the birds. There are two, a breeding pair. Their eyes are red as devils’. On land they’re stupid, little feet pushed so far back on their bodies that they can’t escape by running. Yet they glide over the water, glossy mottled boats. Their chicks...

Climate FictionWarPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

animal-harmviolencewar

PseudoPod 891: The Evaluator

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“The Evaluator” was originally published in “A Breath from the Sky” in 2017 and is included in the 2023 collection “No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories.” It is the first of Premee’s stories to appear on Ellen Datlow’s annual ‘Honorable Mentions’...

Climate FictionFamilyBleak

Content warnings 3

animal-harmbody-horrorviolence

PseudoPod 819: Balloon Season

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“Balloon Season” has previously been featured in Fusion Fragment and Dark Matter Magazine. I’ve never gotten used to the sense of urgency of summer afternoons, that feeling of being drenched in the thickness of that still, blanketed heat, and trying to...

Climate FictionFamilyBleak

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence