A key scientist in the Dai Viet interstellar empire has died, and three people who were close to her mourn her passing in different ways.
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Diaspora SF
21 free-to-read stories tagged “Diaspora SF”
"This is a story that Iya, the eldest and given to such fancies, told the younger children when all of them, even those from Kehinde (whose people live pressed against the ceiling, although to them it seems the floor), could gather and be made to listen....
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Exile’s End is a complex, sometimes uncomfortable examination of artifact repatriation and cultural appropriation. An artifact of indescribable and irreplaceable beauty created by an “extinct” culture has been the basis of another culture’s origin stories....
"He told me his mother was a spacecraft. We had just made love, and our bodies were spent and sweat-slicked, the scent of our seed mingling in the stables with the sweet musk of the drowsing horses. Our lids were heavy, but his muscles grew tense in my...
Content warnings 1
death
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
deathsuicideviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
racism
"Disaster, betrayal, and the ship already blasting its horn. The family clusters around the packing crates, destitute, stunned. We must go regardless, says their father, this is the last ship, what else can we do? Their mother nods, frowning so as not to...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
deathsuicideviolence
When the portal collapse isolated the colony, the colonists struggled to survive on a world where the dark forests lured people to their deaths, turning them into “demons.”
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeath-of-a-loved-onesexual-violence
Asha is eight pages into the book before the words disappear. There are still hundreds of pages before the end of the book, so they must have had a record of the length of the volume, but lost the text. It’s a common experience in this library, to...
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
Before you open your eyes, you know you're not home. The weighted blanket gave it away, wrapped around your body like a tortilla, turning you into a breakfast fucking burrito on that cold, cold early morning. The weather — that was the next sign. You know,...
Content warnings 1
suicide
In Japanese-occupied Malaya, an older Chinese immigrant reflects on his arrival to this land in his youth and embarks on a daring rescue. Content warnings: Blood Copyright © 2025 khōréō magazine. Story by Joshua Lim, edited by Zhui Ning Chang. Audio...
Content warnings 3
deathviolencewar
An unnamed narrator takes an unusual journey home. "Homeland in Verse" by Naomi Day explores loss both, individual and diasporic, and what it means to arrive home when home is a concept you've forgotten. Content warning: Intensive body modification...
Content warnings 1
death
"Trees Can Have My Soul; In Return, Let Me Have My Grief" asks what a mother tongue is when survival requires assimilation. Content warnings: Mild body horror, grief, death of a parental figure, racism Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by Rukman Ragas,...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Tina's life is a series of dominos falling toward the creation of the ultimate invention—with unforeseen consequences. Allison King's "Tina Yu and the Karaoke Time Machine" is a meditation on the power and fragility of music, memory, and family. Content...
How do you communicate in a foreign land, when the only language those living speak is one of happiness? What of the days you feel lonely, or sad, or—something else? "The Land of Happiness" by Laura Wang is an exploration of immigration and finding both...
When you follow your dreams into the stars, there are places—and people—you must leave behind. "Sorry We Missed You!" is a touching meditation on family, identity, and dreams set aboard our favourite spaceship in the universe: The Flying Potato. Copyright...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
A young woman visits her mother's homeland for the first time, which has since been ravaged by war. "Hiraeth Heart" by Lulu Kadhim is a touching meditation on generational memory and home. Copyright khōréō magazine 2022. Story by Lulu Kadhim, edited by...
Content warnings 1
war
Esther and Chaviva are best friends who never expected to be each other's direct competition for an arranged match with an off-world boy whose family will pick the victor based on her baking skills. No matter which of them wins, the other will lose: can...
Bex chose a university parsecs away from family and friends. Alone and overwhelmed, she finds comfort and history in an unlikely place. "This Excessive Use of Pickled Foods" by Leora Spitzer is a warm story about sharing pasts and building futures...