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Mortality

259 free-to-read stories tagged “Mortality”

Douen

Suzan Palumbo The Dark 2022 ShortStory Horror 5,930 words ♪ audio

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionMortalityCaribbean

Content warnings 3

animal-harmchild-deathdeath

Sidewalks

Maureen F. McHugh Omni 2017 ShortStory SF 5,789 words ♪ audio

Dr. Rosni Gupta examines Malni, a woman who’s institutionalized because she speaks gibberish. She’s sure it’s just another language, but what could it be?

Time TravelRacismDefiant

The Difference Between Love and Time

Catherynne M. Valente Someone in Time 2022 Novelette 9,383 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Time TravelMortalityDarkly Comic

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onesubstance-use

The Metric

David Moles Asimov's 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 16,434 words

"The ship was a billion years old, and it was dying. The incalculable energies that had forced open the metric to permit its passage were all but spent, and now the relentless quintessence was taking over again: pulling the metric tighter, so that from...

Science FantasySisterhoodPost Apocalyptic

At the Fall

Alec Nevala-Lee Analog 2019 Novelette Robot Adventure 10,926 words

A little robot travels thousands of miles underwater trying to return information to her creator, whose project seems to have lost the funding to return to the site she and her “sisters” were studying.

AI FictionArtificial IntelligencePacific Northwest

A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair

Renan Bernardo Samovar 2023 Novelette 8,415 words ♪ audio

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Magical RealismMortalitySouth America

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

In the Stillness Between the Stars

Mercurio D. Rivera Asimov's 2019 Novelette SF Horror 8,813 words

En route to α Centauri, the ship AI awakens a psychotherapist to help a crew member who thinks she’s seeing monsters.

AI FictionFatherhoodAmbiguous Ending

Mother's Teeth

E.L. Chen The Dark 2023 ShortStory Horror 4,403 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

GothicMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Beginnings

Kristina Ten Fantasy 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 1,560 words

"In the beginning, June and Nat are best friends. June is not yet a swarm of honeybees and Nat is not yet a cloud of horseflies, and the king hasn’t yet decided that separating them into parts like this—June’s left pinky finger one bee, her left ring...

Social SatireMortalityFragmented

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

A Rocket for Dimitrios

Ray Nayler Asimov's 2021 Novella Alternate History 18,876 words

"Alvin was slumped in the passenger seat of the open-top Willys terraplane. Two thousand feet below us, the Black Sea lived up to its name: a sheet of ebony darker than the sky above, its featureless surface relieved only by the scattered flecks of night...

Alternate HistoryWarTense

Content warnings 1

violence

The Gorilla in a Tutu Principle or, Pecan Pie at Minnie and Earl's

Adam-Troy Castro Analog 2019 Novella Future Fantasy 20,795 words

A young man working on the moon during a construction boom keeps seeing two men doing crazy things in the middle of nowhere. Men who leave no trace and whom no one else can see.

First ContactMortalityNostalgic

Notes From a Pyre

Amal Singh The Deadlands 2023 ShortStory Horror 4,300 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

First ContactFaithSouth Asia

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Tunnels

Eleanor Arnason Asimov's 2020 Novelette Space Opera Thriller 17,343 words

Lydia’s visit to Innovation City on planet Grit is interrupted by an engineered virus that compels her to hide in the tunnels under the city.

Space OperaMortalityAdventurous

The Ocean Between The Leaves

Ray Nayler Asimov's 2019 Novelette SF Thriller 7,775 words ♪ audio

A young man spends all he has to care for his sister who lies in a coma. Or so it seems.

CyberpunkMortalityLiterary SF

Theories of Flight

Linda Nagata Asimov's 2018 ShortStory Fantasy Adventure 7,247 words

A gifted young man is obsessed with flying machines, not least because they’re outlawed.

Secondary WorldFaithSlow Burn

Highway 1, Past Hope

Maria Haskins The Deadlands 2025 ShortStory Horror 3,400 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Folk HorrorAbusePacific Northwest

Content warnings 3

abusesexual-violenceviolence

doorbell dot mov

Jennifer R. Donohue The Deadlands 2024 ShortStory Horror 1,500 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorMortalityAmbiguous Ending

All the Things I Know About Ghosts, By Ofelia, Age 10

Isabel Cañas The Deadlands 2023 ShortStory Horror 2,900 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Magical RealismFaithLyrical

Content warnings 2

child-deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Beneath the Surface, a Womb of Ice

Deborah L. Davitt Analog 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 7,347 words

"The point of Mars,” Serafina said over the radio as her rover crunched over the fine lacustrine surface of the Argyre Planitia, “is that it’s the opposite of a safe place. Why else would we be here, except to challenge ourselves, to challenge humanity?”...

Near FutureMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

Master of Ceremonies

Frances Ogamba The Dark 2022 ShortStory Horror 4,359 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionMortalityWest Africa

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

The Long Way Up

Alix E. Harrow The Deadlands 2022 ShortStory Horror 4,773 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionMortalityElegiac

Content warnings 3

deathmental-illnesssuicide

Huginn and Muninn—and What Came After

Michael Swanwick Asimov's 2021 ShortStory Dark Fantasy 5,848 words

"Her name was Alyssa, and nobody knew who she was. When she was a child, perhaps, her mother had known. But that was long ago, when she was somebody else. As a young woman she had sometimes dropped clues leading like a trail of breadcrumbs into the dark...

SlipstreamTrans IdentityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

Test 4 Echo

Peter Watts Made to Order 2020 ShortStory 6,149 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AI FictionAI PersonhoodPhilosophical

The Slipway

Greg Egan Analog 2019 Novelette Hard SF 12,308 words

Astronomers spot what appears to be a new cluster of stars, except that it’s growing hour by hour.

Near FutureSurveillance StateRestrained

Bury Me in the Rainbow

Bill Johnson Asimov's 2018 Novella Near-Future SF Adventure 34,075 words

As a new leader in an independent-minded community in the Dakotas, Tony gets the job of disposing of the body of an alien assassin. Between the locals and the aliens, things get complicated fast.

First ContactMortalityEarnest

Lab B-15

Nick Wolven Analog 2018 Novelette Hard SF 11,496 words ♪ audio

Jerry’s got enough problems with donors pressing him to make his project show results, so it really doesn’t help that some of his staff seem to be freaking about something in Lab B-15.

Literary SFHubrisAmerican Southwest

Because Flora Had Existed. And I Had Loved Her

Anna Martino Samovar 2024 ShortStory 4,265 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Time TravelFatherhoodSouth America

Death and the Gorgon

Greg Egan Asimov's 2024 Novella Science Fiction 17,867 words

"When the vault in the abandoned coal mine collapsed, it took four days for the engineers to complete their inspection and certify that it was safe for law enforcement personnel to enter the site. Beth drove out from town with her deputy, Ken Osgood, and...

Detective NoirHubrisSatirical

Content warnings 1

suicide

This Good Lesson Keep

James Van Pelt Asimov's 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 9,625 words

"Later, when she thought about how the semester ended, Ms. Milspaugh couldn’t decide whether the student teacher’s question about why the class would spend two weeks on one piece of literature started the story, or Andrew and his EyeCaps. It could have...

Literary SFFaithIntertextual

The Unpastured Sea

Gregory Feeley Asimov's 2023 Novelette Science Fiction 9,902 words

"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....

Diaspora SFAmbitionGeneration Ship

Aconie's Bees

Jessica Reisman Analog 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 2,471 words

"A worker of the Megachile pluto tribe—insecta, hymenoptera, leaf-cutter, resin bee— rumbled heavily through the air. Biome morning: light stretched thin as a veil of citreous bio-skin on the stone of Aconie’s cliffside cave. The M. pluto, large as...

BiopunkArtificial IntelligenceSlow Burn

How to Break Into a Hotel Room

Stephen Graham Jones Nightmare 2021 ShortStory Horror 5,404 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorRevengeVisceral

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Three Tales from the Blue Library

Sofia Samatar Conjunctions 2021 ShortStory 2,714 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionMortalityMetafictional

Content warnings 3

body-horrorchild-abusedeath

Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love

Usman T. Malik Wired 2020 ShortStory 2,980 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Diaspora SFMortalitySouth Asia

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

The Last Biker Gang

Wil McCarthy Analog 2018 Novella Near-Future SF 22,068 words

Technology has made Alan healthy and active for an 84-year-old, but it’s also made him unemployable. After his wife leaves him, he and some other seniors decide to start a biker gang.

Social SFMortalityDarkly Comic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Traces of Us

Vanessa Fogg GigaNotoSaurus 2018 ShortStory 6,470 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AI FictionMortalitySlow Burn

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic

Patient Was the Doctor

Victoria N. Shi Analog 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,790 words

"Licensed psychologists follow a set of ethical standards enforceable by law. Don’t fuck your patients, commit no felonies, refer out if you don’t know what to do, stuff like that. Then there are aspirational principles. More like ideals, inspiring better...

First ContactFatherhoodIntrospective

Prime Purpose

Steve Rasnic Tem Analog 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,264 words

"The plaque on the living room wall was dark cherry with a brass-plated steel rectangle at its center, lacquered. The engraving stated IN APPRECIATION OF HAROLD MOSS. On another line: 45 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE. Then at the bottom: WILSON TECHNOLOGIES,...

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceRestrained

Spare Parts for the Mind

Greg Egan Asimov's 2025 Novella Science Fiction 20,225 words

"He supposed he must have been daydreaming, but whatever pleasant distraction had occupied his thoughts a moment before, it was gone now. In fact, he could not recall the state of mind from which his mind had wandered, though he must have been paying...

Literary SFMortalityPhilosophical

The Nine Crashes of Flight Lieutenant Hilla Quinn

Louise Hughes Kaleidotrope 2025 ShortStory 3,217 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Space OperaRedemptionRestrained Prose

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel

Edward M. Lerner Analog 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,679 words

"2090 It’s true, my young friends. I was there as, one by one, the first stars began winking out. And again, the horrible night when one of the brightest of them all blazed brighter still—before disappearing forever. Serious? Yes, I’m serious. Moreover, if...

Literary SFMentorshipHopeful

The Midnight Commuter

Tammy Komoff Abyss & Apex 2024 ShortStory Horror 4,338 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Historical FantasyWarHistorical USA

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onewar

Turtles to the Sea

Sandra McDonald Asimov's 2024 Novelette Time Travel 10,537 words

"It’s a little awkward,” Major William Bristol said, after they’d been briefed. “That your ancestors owned my ancestors?” Captain Johnny Winstead raised an eyebrow and tilted his chair back from the conference table, which had been painted sea green. “I...

Time TravelRacismAmerican South

Blowout

Wole Talabi Analog 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,979 words

"Folake Adeyemi was slowly digging her index finger into the base of her afro and staring at the row of remote subsurface exploration monitoring screens when she heard the explosion. She’d let her mind wander for a few moments, subconsciously clenching her...

AfrofuturismSisterhoodEarnest

Content warnings 1

death

Upgrade Day

RJ Taylor Clarkesworld 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 2,080 words

"Today is upgrade day and Gabriel, a model 2098 post-human intelligence robotic service assistant, wears an appropriately festive hat. The perfect cone of polka-dotted purple paper slopes to one side of his head, his glossy plastic surface giving the weak...

AI FictionAI PersonhoodTender

Christopher Mills, Return to Sender

Isabel J. Kim Fantasy 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 5,987 words

"This is the dead thing becoming the body. This is the dead thing opening the body’s eyes. This is the dead thing rising from the grave. This is the dead thing saying “What the hell—I didn’t ask to be summoned. I was having a great time being dead and...

SlipstreamMortalitySardonic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Free Coffin

Corey Flintoff Fantasy 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 3,473 words

"The coffin lies at the curb, tilted aslant on the strip of grass next to the sidewalk. Old Mr. Byerly spies it on an evening walk through his suburban neighborhood. It’s been put out alongside a pile of other discards—an old-fashioned lawn mower, a...

GothicMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 2

child-abusedeath

Plum Century

Simo Srinivas Fantasy 2022 ShortStory Fairy Tale 900 words

"It takes the lieutenant one hundred years to climb the hill to Lao Po’s house. By then, the warlords have come and gone, the Republic has risen and fallen, and developers have been petitioning the ruling party to demolish Lao Po’s hilltop hut for decades."

Mythic FictionWarHistorical China

Sacred Cow

Larry Niven & Steven Barnes Analog 2022 ShortStory SF Mystery 7,359 words

"Taffy’s bedroom was a bit too warm, but I sensed that the chamber itself was cold. Couldn’t feel it of course. It was just a projection from Geneva. And it was probable that none of the people I faced were really at ARM’s Geneva facility at all. The...

Detective NoirHubrisDarkly Comic

Content warnings 2

animal-harmsuicide

The Ghost Eaters

Spencer Ellsworth Nightmare 2022 ShortStory Horror 4,061 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Contemporary FantasyMortalityTender

Content warnings 3

animal-harmbody-horrordeath

Toronto Isn't Real and Other Metropolitan Anomalies

A.D. Sui Augur 2022 ShortStory

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

SlipstreamMortalityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

mental-illnesssubstance-usesuicide

A Shot in the Dark

Deborah L. Davitt Analog 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 7,988 words

"Dominic Vadas hadn’t set out to break records. Hadn’t intended to become the furthest outpost of humanity in existence, or famous in any way. He’d simply wanted to slip away from the rest of humanity unnoticed. One billion miles from Earth, 2.5 hours of...

First ContactRedemptionEpistolary Adjacent

The 74th District

Wen-yi Lee Speculative City Spring 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 2,774 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Social SatireJusticeSatirical

The Ghost Birds

Karen Russell The New Yorker 2021 Novelette 7,709 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Climate FictionFatherhoodPacific Northwest

Uploading Angela

Lettie Prell Analog 2021 Novella Science Fiction 23,542 words

"The technician swallowed. “She’s in pieces. I was uploading her and I don’t know what happened, but it didn’t work.” Her face flushed. “I broke her.” ... “Okay, first thing is calm down. I got this. What’s the patient’s name?” “Angela Spelling.” His head...

AI FictionMortalityHopeful

Tea with the Earl of Twilight

Sonya Taaffe Nightmare 2020 ShortStory 5,108 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

GothicMortalityLyrical

Content warnings 3

deathhomophobiaviolence

The Conceptual Shark

Rich Larson Asimov's 2020 ShortStory Fantasy 3,760 words

"Adam is washing his hands when it happens again. First the water pouring out of the faucet becomes icy cold seafoam. Then the porcelain bottom of the sink dissolves, making him flinch backward. The bathroom’s tiled floor is intact; the mirrored medicine...

SlipstreamRevengeAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Long Iapetan Night

Julie Novakova Asimov's 2020 Novelette Science Fiction 13,021 words

"Heaven welcomed me with the smell of disinfectant and a strange strumming tune. Funny; I never believed there was an afterlife, let alone like this. I was cold, beyond shivering. My body was made of stone, and my mind trapped in it. Or was this Hell?"

AI FictionHubrisEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 1

suicide

After Life

Shari Paul The Dark 2019 ShortStory 4,697 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionSlaveryHistorical Egypt

Content warnings 3

deathslaveryviolence

Example

Adam-Troy Castro Nightmare 2019 ShortStory 5,801 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

DystopiaJusticeRestrained Prose

Content warnings 2

deathracism

Methods of Ascension

Dan Stintzi Nightmare 2019 ShortStory 5,708 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Cosmic HorrorMortalityMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathsubstance-use

SeeApp

James Van Pelt Asimov's 2019 Novelette Uncanny Horror 8,062 words

A janitor wonders if he should trust an app answers questions no one could know the answers to. Especially when that app suggests someone may be about to stage a school shooting.

Magical RealismSurveillance StateAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

mental-illnesssuicide

Barleycorn

C.A. Hawksmoor Abyss & Apex 2018 ShortStory 6,882 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionMortalityLyrical

Content warnings 3

self-harmsexual-contentsuicide

Ephemera

Ian R. MacLeod Asimov's 2018 Novelette Post-Apocalypse 12,313 words

1,000 years after the final war, the robot overseer of a repository of knowledge on an asteroid at the Earth-Moon L4 point finally gets a message from Earth.

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceIntertextual

The Falls: A Luna Story

Ian McDonald Meeting Infinity 2015 ShortStory Hard SF 6,800 words

Interspersed with the narrator's account of her work on an intelligent AI for a Saturn mission, she describes how her daughter fell three kilometers on the moon.

AI FictionArtificial IntelligencePhilosophical

The Great Silence

Ted Chiang e-flux Journal 2015 ShortStory SF 1,298 words

While human beings try to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligences, parrots wonder why we're not trying to talk to them.

Speculative FictionHubrisCaribbean

Lolo's Last Run

E.M. Kerkman Asimov's 2025 ShortStory Fantasy 6,062 words

"I know Jome Hill-Moses is in the crevasse before I look in it—and as soon as I do, I don’t need to reach the bottom to know he’s dead. In a way, that’s actually good for me. It’s infinitely easier to rescue a dead person than an injured one. Injured ones...

Alternate HistoryMortalityPost Apocalyptic

The Robot and the Winding Woods

Brenda Cooper Analog 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,046 words ♪ audio

"Grace had just tucked herself next to John on the wooden bench with her morning tea when she noticed a puff of dust rising from the access road. She stood and placed a hand on her husband’s arm. “John—someone is coming. Down by the bottom of the road.”...

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceRestrained Prose

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

A Gray Magic

Ray Nayler Asimov's 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,972 words

"Well, at least we’ll finally be able to get some hours.” “Ruthless.” “I’m serious. Maybe they’ll finally be forced to make one of us full time.” “It’ll never happen. They’ll just hire another part-timer.” The two workers were in the break room. In the...

DystopiaArtificial IntelligenceRestrained Prose

Fat Kids

Alex Jennings Bourbon Penn 2024 Novelette 7,893 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Southern GothicRacismAmerican South

Content warnings 2

fatphobiaillness-and-pandemic

Mere Flesh

James Maxey Asimov's 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,226 words ♪ audio

"Even with my Airpods in, I heard the kids yelling as they ran up from the dock. I bumped up the volume on my laptop and kept updating Arjun about my meeting with the FloriHealth team. I was happy my kids were feeling rambunctious on our Florida trip, but...

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceAmbiguous Ending

Sunsets

Lavie Tidhar Asimov's 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 2,590 words

"She left her heart in Paris, a kidney in Berlin. In Barcelona, blinking in the sunlight, she felt tiny new ears grow down one side of her face. The sound multiplied. Vale vale vale! Rapid-fire Spanish, Catalan, Asteroid Pidgin, a robotnik beggar shaking...

Space OperaMortalityWhimsical

Content warnings 1

body-horror

The Empty Ones

Vivian Shaw The Deadlands 2024 ShortStory Horror 4,700 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Folk HorrorMentorshipSecond Person

Content warnings 1

death

The Rerebirth of Slick

Stephen Kearse The Deadlands 2024 ShortStory Horror 3,500 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AfrofuturismRacismMidwest USA

Content warnings 1

racism

Blade and Bone

Paul McAuley Asimov's 2023 Novella Military SF 23,955 words

"Konstantinov’s Company found the hostages just a few hours after setting out on the trail of the True raiders who’d taken them. Leaving behind the tar sands mine, its extraction plant, and the smoldering ruin of its tank farm, the fresh graves and...

Weird WesternWarBleak

Content warnings 2

goreviolence

Collecting Ynes

Lisa M. Bradley Fantasy 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 940 words

"Ynes doesn’t remember the marigold, but she has a recurring dream in which she accidentally swallows an entire tangerine. She grows very warm and realizes it was not a tangerine at all but a small sun. She knows if she tells her mother what she swallowed,...

Historical FantasyMortalitySouth America

Markets: A Beginner's Guide

Shalini Srinivasan Fantasy 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 3,995 words

"In the folds of banyan trees, between the treeish world and ours, are markets. Real markets, not the pale human sort that happen every week, as if things that are worth buying happen every week. A banyan market occurs one day a year, which is as often as...

Mythic FictionMortalitySouth Asia

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one

The Pennyfeathers Ride Again

L. Chan The Dark 2022 ShortStory 4,144 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Contemporary FantasyMortalityAdventurous

Content warnings 2

body-horrorviolence

WE

Phoenix Alexander The Deadlands 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 851 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

BiopunkMortalityWhimsical

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic

And Now, A Preview of Coming Attractions

Adam-Troy Castro Lightspeed 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 9,090 words

"I have experienced some tastes of my afterlife as a crustacean. In it, I am one of many, on a beach with purple sand abutting a sea that could be water but might be some other liquid entirely, beneath stars that seem larger and brighter than any I see in...

SlipstreamMortalityPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

Billie the Kid

Rick Wilber Asimov's 2021 Novelette Alternate History 19,678 words

"Operation Cherry Blossoms will not change the final outcome, though there will be carnage, to be sure, when his three planes attack. Three planes, that is all. Two will defend the third, the one that carries the new superbomb the Germans call Das Biest....

Alternate HistoryWarNostalgic

Ghost Riders at Hutchinson's Two-Pump

Inez Schaechterle Fantasy 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 5,879 words

"Clouds rolled across the evening sky, dark and low, dragging rain behind them. Desert washes ran dirt-red, and rocky mesas shone wet when lightning flashed. Rainwater frothed down the narrow slot of Sheep Drop Ravine, a chasm with overgrown edges that had...

Weird WesternRedemptionAdventurous

Content warnings 2

substance-usesuicide

Immortal Coil

Ellen Kushner Uncanny 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 6,044 words

"Marlowe is going to outlive him. Of this, he is sure. He has seen him on the streets of Blackfriars, of Southwark, in Bladder Lane, near Aldgate… He can pretend to be anything, young Kit. Not so young Kit. The two men are of an age: born the same year...

Historical FantasyMortalityIntertextual

Preserved in Amber

Samantha Murray Clarkesworld 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 9,661 words

"The taxi from Guiyang Airport passed through long tunnels with curved white crescents every fifty or so meters along. It was simply some reflective material, but the bright curves leading her off into the distance through the darkness of the tunnel made...

First ContactMortalityLyrical

Content warnings 1

death

RE: Bubble 476

A.T. Greenblatt Asimov's 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,088 words

"Dear, patient Deni, The trip was fine, thanks for asking. We got to Bubble 476, right before dusk and right before I was about to lose my mind in the transit elevator (which I will now and always call the claustrophobic box of doom). My ride wasn’t even...

Time TravelMortalityAmbiguous Ending

Sample Return

C. Stuart Hardwick Analog 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 8,211 words

"Above the ship’s clearalloy cupola loomed Io, a pimpled canvas of desert camo so close Katy imagined she could smell its sulfurous plumes. Ahead, ocher bands slashed the sunlit limb of Jupiter like mud on a bloody scythe. Against this backdrop, gleaming...

Near FutureAmbitionAdventurous

The Hunger

Marco Frassetto Analog 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 12,398 words

"Madam Zieliński, we’d really appreciate it if you could embark for the Guyana Elevator at your earliest convenience. A helicopter has been sent to offer you passage.” You can tell I’m an old, respected engineer because when they give me orders, they’re...

First ContactAmbitionDeep Space

The Realms of Water

Robert Reed Asimov's 2021 Novella Science Fiction 19,733 words

"Three days into their journey, and the strangers—humans and one janusian couple—felt as if they had become respectable friends. A convincing illusion, and essential. The male janusian, rooted firmly into his wife’s broad back, was eager to outline the situation."

First ContactSlaveryIntertextual

Content warnings 1

war

We Are Not Phoenixes

John Wiswell Fireside 2021 ShortStory 817 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Magical RealismMentorshipRestrained

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

Egoli

T.L. Huchu Africanfuturism 2020 ShortStory 3,464 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AfrofuturismDiasporaSouthern Africa

Maelstrom

Kristine Kathryn Rusch Asimov's 2020 Novella Science Fiction 21,373 words

"One hundred and fifty years ago, before plans for the star port on Ius Prime were finalized, ships launched out of Ciudad Orilla on the northern-most edge of Yaguni. One of those ships, the Maria Segunda, took off on a Monday to explore the rim of the...

MetafictionalHubrisRestrained

Surfers at the End of Time

Rudy Rucker & Marc Laidlaw Asimov's 2019 Novella SF Surfer Humor 19,680 words

Zep invents a board that can surf through time, and he and Del have an excellent adventure.

Time TravelMortalityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

goreviolence

Taking Icarus Home

Suzanne Palmer Asimov's 2019 Novelette SF Adventure 7,756 words

You find a lifepod with a near-dead young man in it, and you decide to find out where he came from and why.

Space OperaMortalitySecond Person

The Methuselah Generation

Stanley Schmidt Analog 2019 ShortStory Alien Encounter 6,525 words

Emily is spending her last year alive visiting natural wonders of the Earth, but she’s intrigued to learn that an alien will be joining her tour group visiting the Monarch Butterfly sanctuary in Mexico.

First ContactMortalityTender

A Brief and Fearful Star

Carmen Maria Machado Slate 2018 ShortStory 4,056 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

SlipstreamMortalityMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

Pitcher Plant

Adam-Troy Castro Nightmare 2018 ShortStory 6,145 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

GothicHubrisSecond Person

Content warnings 3

body-horrorchild-deathgore

Red Rain

Adam-Troy Castro Nightmare 2018 ShortStory 3,464 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Cosmic HorrorMortalityNew York City

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

The Ghost In Angelica's Room

Maria Haskins Flash Fiction Online 2018 ShortStory 1,015 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Contemporary FantasyMortalityBleak

Content warnings 3

death-of-a-loved-oneself-harmsuicide

The Rescue of the Renegat

Kristine Kathryn Rusch Asimov's 2018 Novella SF Adventure 22,034 words

A badly-damaged Fleet ship of long-obsolete design appears out of foldspace. There seem to be 200 people on board, but they’re not trying to communicate. Captain Dauber has to try to rescue them, even though it may be a trap.

Space OperaMortalityHopeful

Content warnings 1

death

True Crime

M. Rickert Nightmare 2018 ShortStory 987 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

SlipstreamMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 3

misogynysexual-violenceviolence

The Ouroboros Bakery

Octavia Cade Kaleidotrope 2017 ShortStory 4,095 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Secondary World FantasyHubrisFragmented

Content warnings 1

death

Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse

Xia Jia Invisible Planets 2016 ShortStory Chinese Post-Apocalyptic Slipstream 5,170 words

Long after the fall of humanity, a dragon/horse robot wakes up and explores the ruins of Beijing.

Mythic FictionMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Descent

Carmen Maria Machado Nightmare 2015 ShortStory 3,513 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

SlipstreamMortalityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

child-deathdeathviolence

Tenth Contact

Bruce Sterling & Paul Di Filippo Asimov's 2025 Novelette Science Fiction 11,543 words

"Red roses over black ice. Harpone bounded across a crater. He’d tumbled, leapt, and skidded over more of Ganymede than any man alive. He would never match the service record of the dead kid, though. Harpone’s crewmates—Audax the intellectual and...

First ContactHubrisPhilosophical

In Thin Air

Phoenix Alexander The Dark 2024 ShortStory Horror 3,360 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorMortalityIntrospective

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Three Things That Happen the Night My Dad Dies

Isabel Cañas The Deadlands 2024 ShortStory Horror 800 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionFaithWhimsical

like blood on the mouths of death

Victor Forna Nightmare 2024 ShortStory Horror 1,846 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorMortalityWest Africa

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathillness-and-pandemic

The Succubus and the Store Clerk

A.D. Sui Baffling 2023 ShortStory 1,151 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Contemporary FantasyMortalityTender

Content warnings 2

deathillness-and-pandemic

2.3 Unname Me at the Altar by Ashaye Brown

Ashaye Brown khōréō 2022 ShortStory 2,800 words ♪ audio

Child, parent, and grandparent: each stands at a threshold in "Unname Me at the Altar" by Ashaye Brown, a tender and brutal story of unbreakable bonds and unspeakable loss. Copyright khōréō magazine 2022. Story by Ashaye Brown, edited by Kanika Agrawal....

Magical RealismMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Him Without Her and Her Within Him

Aimee Ogden Zooscape 2021 ShortStory 4,499 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Magical RealismMortalityMidwest USA

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic

They Call It Hipster Heaven

Lauren Ring The Deadlands 2021 ShortStory 1,294 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorMortalitySecond Person

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-onegore

Otto Hahn Speaks to the Dead

Octavia Cade The Dark 2020 ShortStory 3,538 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Historical FantasyWarHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

goresuicideviolence

Six Dreams About the Train

Maria Haskins Flash Fiction Online 2020 ShortStory 986 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Magical RealismMortalityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 1

suicide

The Night Princes

Megan Arkenberg Nightmare 2019 ShortStory 4,774 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Mythic FictionWarMetafictional

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

The Shadow We Cast Through Time

Indrapramit Das New Suns 2019 ShortStory Lost Colony 7,322 words

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.”

Diaspora SFFaithGeneration Ship

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeath-of-a-loved-onesexual-violence

The Bog Girl

Karen Russell The New Yorker 2016 ShortStory Slipstream Horror 7,215 words

Fifteen-year-old Cillian finds the love of his life buried in the peat of an old bog where she died long, long, ago.

Magical RealismMortalityWhimsical

6.1 In My Time of Dreaming by Megan Chee

khōréō 2026 ♪ audio

When the real world becomes unbearable, what would you sacrifice for the chance to live in a dream? Content warnings: Euthanasia, death and dying, implied eugenics Copyright © 2026 khōréō magazine. Story by Megan Chee, edited by Danai Christopoulou. Audio...

DystopiaMortalityDeep Space

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

6.1 Letters from Light's End by Phoenix Alexander

khōréō 2026 ♪ audio

An astronaut caught in the accretion disk of a black hole sends desperate messages to his lover and children back on Earth. But time is running out to escape — and there are forces in the universe far stronger, and stranger, than love. Content warnings:...

Cosmic HorrorFatherhoodUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrorhomophobiasuicide

A Concerning Lack of Rain in Ambawatte Estate by Moh Afdhaal

translunartravelerslounge Translunar Travelers Lounge 2026 ShortStory 2,772 words

“The rain isn’t working.” Kamal sighed. He traced the dive a hefty droplet as it swelled from a wispy microcloud high above and landed with a loud splash onto the yellow-tipped leaves of a tea bush. Moments later, a second oversized drop fell—missing the...

AI FictionMortalitySouth Asia

A Hundred Ways the Story Ends

Tara Sim Uncanny 2026

Ending 1 The world decays. It is your fault.   Ending 2 The world decays. It is only somewhat your fault.   Ending 3 Do I need to say it? Are you beginning to understand?   Ending 4 Clearly not.   Ending 5 You cannot save him. Every time you try it only...

Time TravelMortalityPhilosophical

Content warnings 3

deathself-harmviolence

A Nebraskan Choir

Steve Toase Nightmare 2026

The engines echo across the emptiness of the plain like a chorale, individual melodies weaving together to create a tune in the voiceless air. We hear them miles away, aeons in the distance, giving us time to prepare for their arrival. By the...

Folk HorrorRevengeMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

A Vintage Kind of Death by Alex T. Singer

Alex T. Singer Clarkesworld 2026

Cannon-D’s body was spun from a 3D printer. It compiled fiber by artificial fiber, a loving replica of the protein strands and carbons that would have made up the real, […]

AI FictionAbuseNew York City

Content warnings 1

suicide

A Vintage Kind of Death by Alex T. Singer (audio)

Alex T. Singer Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "A Vintage Kind of Death" written by Alex T. Singer. Published in the October 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/singer_10_26...

AI FictionAbuseNew York City

Content warnings 1

suicide

All the Things He Loved Beyond Him by Scott Edelman

translunartravelerslounge Translunar Travelers Lounge 2026 ShortStory 4,207 words

Ganz didn’t realize he’d died until he found himself looking down at his own body lit by the early morning light which streamed through his bedroom window. Their bedroom window. As he hovered up by the ceiling where he’d found himself suddenly returned to...

Psychological HorrorMortalityTender

Content warnings 1

death

Cliff's Girl by Fiona Moore (audio)

Fiona Moore 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

Concerto For Wartime

Sean Williams Lightspeed 2026

The magician raises his wand. Initially, this commission seemed simple. One large country invading a much smaller one, a clear case of aggressor and victim—but nothing is ever so straightforward.

Magical RealismWarFragmented

DP FICTION #133B: “Well Tester” by E.M. Faulds

Diabolical Plots Diabolical Plots 2026

Content note (click for details) Depictions of illness and vomiting, religious themes edited by Amanda Helms Sara collapsed into the folding chair in the rhomboid of shade by the camper pod, stared out at Terga’s vast red plains and tried to remember the...

Social SFMortalityBleak

Content warnings 2

deathillness-and-pandemic

DP FICTION #134B: “Davy Jones, Lobsterman” by Daire McNally

Diabolical Plots Diabolical Plots 2026

Content note (click for details) Drowning (non-graphic); brief use of homophobic language. edited by Ziv Wities The waves crested with foam as thick as fish eggs. Jim Walsh would have paid good money to stay indoors that evening with his feet up, tea in...

Mythic FictionMortalityWhimsical

DP FICTION #135B: “Afterimage” by Anna Zumbro

Diabolical Plots Diabolical Plots 2026

edited by David Steffen The bay air felt strange on Domenico’s skin. He’d been here every evening for weeks, but this was the first time in a while — years, really — that he’d taken his body with him. He’d forgotten the kiss of breeze on flesh. The rental...

Social SFMortalityTender

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

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 FictionMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathsexual-content

DP FICTION #138B: “We Burst Across the Theoretical Gore” by Sara S. Messenger and Simo Srinivas

Diabolical Plots Diabolical Plots 2026

Content note (click for details) Graphic depictions of violence, violence against animals edited by David Steffen We are killers in search of new hunting grounds. We fear only starvation and others of our kind. We are wolfish comrades, strong in our...

SlipstreamMortalityLyrical

Content warnings 3

animal-harmdeathgore

DP FICTION #139B: “One Heart” by Annika Browne

Diabolical Plots Diabolical Plots 2026

Content note (click for details) (non-graphic) depiction of animal death, mention of cancer, references to a mass death event. edited by Amanda Helms They kept telling her how lucky she was to be saved. Almost from the moment they walked her out of her...

First ContactMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic

Dragon Pearl

Emily Y. Teng Uncanny 2026

When the surgeon showed me my pearl, the pearl that was to be mine, I thought it was a joke. The dragon pearl was a pinkish, milky drop the size of my pinkie nail, made of some jelly-like substance somewhere between liquid and solid. It was contained in a...

Space OperaMortalitySlow Burn

Focus by Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez Clarkesworld 2026

—for Rory Cooney It’s July 23, 4:17 p.m., and I’m box-breathing like my life depends on it. My forehead is pressed against the door of the meeting room of the […]

BiopunkMortalityMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

Focus by Carlos Hernandez (audio)

Carlos Hernandez Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Focus" written by Carlos Hernandez. 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/hernandez_07_26 Support us on...

Science FantasyMortalityMidwest USA

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Guillotine

Max Franciscovich Strange Horizons 2026 Novelette 8,164 words

The guillotine was conceived as swifter, painless, more humane. You touch your throat. You wonder.

Time TravelTrans IdentityHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

self-harmsexual-contentsuicide

Her Dark Places

Adam-Troy Castro Nightmare 2026

My wife sometimes asked what had gone wrong with us. She had always been our bank of compassion, the caretaker of our marriage, the one who diagnosed what was needed to keep us on track, and made sure that it was provided. I evaded the question. How could...

GothicMortalityBleak

Content warnings 1

body-horror

Long Goodbyes

Anya Ow Lightspeed 2026

Sui grunted as she straightened her back, digging her shoulder up into Taxue’s belly. The Zheng’s hind legs dragged awkwardly on the sand, trembling as the paws knuckled, the sudden weight on Sui pushing the knee she’d braced into the dirt. Sui braced her...

Historical FantasyMentorshipHistorical China

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PodCastle 960: Kwong’s Bath

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Angela Liu Narrator : Pine Gonzalez Host : Raul Bimenyimana Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously published in khōréō issue 3.2 (August 2023) Content note for references to suicide Rated PG-13 Kwong’s Bath by Angela Liu The visits start a week...

DystopiaMortalityTender

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

PodCastle 961: A Thousand Finer Foldings

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Claire Jia-Wen Narrator : Rebecca Wei Hsieh Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 961: A Thousand Finer Foldings is a PodCastle original. Content note for terminal illness Rated PG A Thousand Finer Foldings By Claire Jia-Wen 1....

Magical RealismMortalityHopeful

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

Podcast: Because I Held His Name Like a Key

Aimee Ogden Strange Horizons 2026

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Aimee Ogden's 'Because I Held His Name Like a Key' read by Jenna Hanchey. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠

Mythic FictionArtificial IntelligenceIntertextual

Content warnings 3

deathhomophobiasuicide

PseudoPod 1033: Devil is Fine

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

“Devil Is Fine” was first published in Cosmic Horror Monthly, in January 2025 C/W: strong body horror, gun violence, animal harm Author notes: “I was still pretty drunk on the experience of playing Red Dead Redemption 2 when I wrote this story and wanted...

Weird WesternFaithAmerican Southwest

Content warnings 3

animal-harmbody-horrorviolence

PseudoPod 1034: Only In The Dark

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 1034: Only In The Dark is a PseudoPod original. The crackling sound of static fills the room as the screen lights up. We see a simple landscape with some rocks and trees. The outline of a bird appears, its wings flapping softly. The bird takes...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

body-horror

PseudoPod 1039: The Song of the Living

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

“The Song of the Living” was originally published in 2025 in an anthology Tonja edited titled, “If Fists Could Speak: A Black Speculative Fiction Anthology” CW: harm to animals Please see the host commentary below for notes from the author. When the trees...

AfrofuturismMortalityAmerican South

Content warnings 3

animal-harmbody-horrordeath

PseudoPod 1041: Graves Basin

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 1041: Graves Basin is a PseudoPod original. From the author: “I’ve heard many times, from people wiser than me, that a horror writer fares best when they don’t waste their time trying to figure out what scares other people, but instead write...

Southern GothicHubrisAmerican South

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreillness-and-pandemic

PseudoPod 1047: Growing Life

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 1047: Growing Life is a PseudoPod original. C/W: strong body horror, death of a parent Lucy didn’t immediately notice her dead Mama in the middle of the playground. She had been busy having fun for the first time since Mama’s funeral. Sprinting...

Psychological HorrorMortalityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeath-of-a-loved-onegore

PseudoPod 1050: This House of Hopes, This House of Bones

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 1050: This House of Hopes, This House of Bones is a PseudoPod original. C/W: domestic violence, murder My husband is home again. I cannot hear him well, not with the ringing in my ears and the throbbing headache making every movement agony, but...

GothicSisterhoodBleak

Content warnings 3

abusedeathviolence

PseudoPod 1051: The Ghost of a Flea

Pseudopod 2026 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 1051: The Ghost of a Flea is a PseudoPod original. C/W: explicit sexual content ‘Courtyard’ by Tol, taken using a 2002 Sony DSC-F717 bridge camera. “Of course, I haven’t exactly conducted a survey,” Robert was saying, “but I get the impression...

GothicMortalityHistorical USA

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onesexual-content

Roams the Planet of Our Grief by Natalia Theodoridou

Natalia Theodoridou Clarkesworld 2026

Do you remember how it started? A bright light in the sky, a brave new moon growing bigger and bigger. We called it Little Prince because we were romantic and […]

Literary SFTrans IdentityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

sexual-contentsuicideviolence

Scarcely Gone

Marissa Lingen Strange Horizons 2026 ShortStory 2,302 words

We'd only lived in Arizona four years—it was our retirement place. But I'd died there, and she'd dumped my ashes out in the desert without fanfare, without any poem or prayer, unless you considered, “Jesus, Marty, don't leave me. Why'd you leave me, you...

Magical RealismMortalityWarm

Shambling Groaning Brain-Dead Endocannibal on Exeter Street

Ferdison Cayetano Nightmare 2026

Damn Shackleton and damn Amundsen and damn Hillary. All that attention, just for tramping around in the snow? I will show you how a real surveyor finds his glory. I will show you the stink and the viscera of glory. It is bone dust in the air, from a...

Alternate HistoryAmbitionSatirical

Content warnings 3

cannibalismgoreviolence

Skin and Glass by R. P. Sand

R. P. Sand Clarkesworld 2026

I made eye contact today. I knew my life leaked, droplets of soul seeping from my pores, and I did not care. For those eyes were a pale sage glass, […]

Speculative FictionMortalityIntrospective

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onepregnancy-loss

Skin and Glass by R. P. Sand (audio)

R. P. Sand Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Skin and Glass" written by R. P. Sand. Published in the September 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sand_09_26 Support us on...

Speculative FictionMortalityIntrospective

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onepregnancy-loss

The Age of Cancer

Vajra Chandrasekera Lightspeed 2026

This is our struggle. We scuttle on the sand before the softly breathing salt-burdened sea with the lichen on the rocks a bright poison green and great white butterflies screaming under a red sky while we dream of justice and watch the ghost of a...

Cosmic HorrorHubrisIntertextual

The Cinema of Babel

Sam J. Miller Uncanny 2026 ♪ audio

Content note: suicidal ideation   “Please—turn it off!” A pained, painful wail from the room across the hall; soundtrack laughter dissolving into guttural thunder as a film projector slowed to a stop. “Well damn,” said the stranger who was entering the...

SlipstreamMortalityNew York City

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

The Dark Follows Me

Quincy Lee Nightmare 2026

CW: none. My friend and client Hana, before she passed away, used to tease me about my fear of the dark. Hana was DeafBlind, and when I’d come to her home to work with her in figuring out some new appliance, or going through the mail, or whatever errands...

GothicMortalityEpistolary Adjacent

The Doll Problem

Angela Liu Nightmare 2026

No one knows where the doll came from. With its blue glass eyes and ribboned hair, it looks like the ones you see at department stores and wonder who the hell buys them. “It’s gonna kill us in our sleep,” Kathy says, slapping Yuki’s hand away when he tries...

SlipstreamDiasporaNew York City

The Dragonfly

Luna Hou Uncanny 2026

Content note: mentions of suicide   June finds the dragonfly the summer after Miko dies. Has died, June’s mother might say, shadow tremoring in the doorway to June’s room. Has been dead for months, Junebug. But not you. God, not you. But time for June has...

Magical RealismMortalityIntrospective

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onesuicide

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 Job by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear Clarkesworld 2026

All the world was blue. Above, below, surrounding, within. The blue of the sky when Bethony broke the surface of an endless ocean to breathe in sweet, oxygen-rich, unpolluted air. […]

First ContactMortalityDeep Space

Content warnings 2

cannibalismdeath

The Life and Times of the Extraterrestrial Potoo by K. J. Khan

K. J. Khan Clarkesworld 2026

It was night on Endymion, and the pollen hovered, blue and luminescent, in the trees. Isaac’s camp lantern also burned blue. It was designed to interfere with the sensory systems […]

First ContactMortalityDeep Space

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

The Life and Times of the Extraterrestrial Potoo by K. J. Khan (audio)

K. J. Khan Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "The Life and Times of the Extraterrestrial Potoo" written by K. J. Khan. Published in the July 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at:...

First ContactMortalityDeep Space

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

The Pulse of Starlight by Sarah Grace Tuttle

translunartravelerslounge Translunar Travelers Lounge 2026 ShortStory 1,136 words

I was walking my dog when I saw my wife for the first time, dancing on the grass in the park like it was an ancient meadow. There was no music—just the clink of her dangling moon earrings as she spun. I think I fell in love with her then, when all I knew...

Mythic FictionMortalityDeep Space

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

To Walk This Distant Shore with You by A.D. Sui

A.D. Sui Clarkesworld 2026

We’re ten and watching what must be the last physical television in what must be the last laundromat in the world. Your mom is on her third load, jeans this […]

Speculative FictionMortalityEpistolary Adjacent

To Walk This Distant Shore with You by A.D. Sui (audio)

A.D. Sui Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "To Walk This Distant Shore with You" written by A.D. Sui. Published in the September 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at:...

Literary SFMortalityEpistolary Adjacent

Twelve Facts About the Dermestid Beetle

Marisca Pichette Nightmare 2026

1. There is no better friend than the dermestid . I found them first in the woods, adorning the staring sockets of a coyote skull. So small I could have crushed them, they accomplished more than my child hands could—crawling, chewing, cleaning better than...

Psychological HorrorMortalityVisceral

Content warnings 3

animal-harmbody-horrordeath

Uncanny Jack

Susan Palwick Lightspeed 2026

Everyone thinks the uncanny folk steal children, but they steal adults too, steal their minds and memories, put their own folk where ours used to be. The new folk don’t know their loved ones, don’t know what a toilet is, don’t know how to deposit a check....

Mythic FictionMortalityAmbiguous Ending

Until the Cure

Marissa Lingen Lightspeed 2026

The golem who cares for my mother is patient, as I am not patient. The golem who cares for my mother is kind. It is precise. I took everything I wanted to be as a daughter, and am not, and I put it into the golem. I’m still afraid I am failing her.

Secondary World FantasyArtificial IntelligenceRestrained

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

Useless Heart / Stopped Cold

A. Artemis Chen Nightmare 2026

Your heart stopped cold when you were walking to school in knee-high snow the morning after your parents separated. Maybe because you didn’t zip that padded snowsuit all the way up and your fur scarf was in the wash and the windchill of -10°F nipped your...

Psychological HorrorMortalitySecond Person

Content warnings 2

body-horrorcannibalism

Will the Last One to Leave Please Turn Out the Lights?

Gordon B. White Nightmare 2026

The Idiot looms like a tumorous moon in the morning sky as Morris County Animal Control Officer Bailey Butler passes Stantonsville’s last operating gas station and turns off onto Franklin Road. For a merciful half-mile, a run of white ash and pignut...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityAmerican South

Content warnings 3

animal-harmdeathgore

4.4 Kolumbo 1619: Choose Your Own Adventure by KÁNYIN Olorunnisola

khōréō 2025 ♪ audio

In an RPG game, a Black avatar repeatedly attempts to survive an encounter with the police. Content warnings: Violence, death, racism, hateful language, xenophobia Copyright khōréō magazine 2025. Story by KÁNYIN Olorunnisola, edited by Isabella Kestermann....

Social SatireJusticeSatirical

Content warnings 3

deathracismviolence

4.4 The Doll's Boy by Kawai Shen

khōréō 2025 ♪ audio

A boy walks into an art exhibit and steals a sex doll on display. It doesn't go anywhere the doll expects. Content warnings: Body horror described in detail Copyright khōréō magazine 2025. Story by Kawai Shen, edited by Kanika Agrawal. Audio edition read...

SlipstreamMortalityIntrospective

Content warnings 3

deathsexual-contentsexual-violence

4.4 The Secret by Fumio Takano

khōréō 2025 ♪ audio

In 2102, Michi goes undercover as a maid for a hacking job, while in 2030, Ryo sells his appearance to a tech company. Their lives intersect to expose the dirty laundry of neo-feudal futuristic Japanese elite society. Content warnings: Classism, injustice...

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceNostalgic

5.1 Sun's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Emanations by Shiwei Zhou

khōréō 2025 ♪ audio

Dr. Sun, the solo practitioner of an extraordinary medical specialty, is asked to save one last patient by the protege who abandoned her. Copyright khōréō magazine 2025. Story by Shiwei Zhou, edited by Isabella Kestermann. Audio edition read by Ishani...

Magical RealismMentorshipIntrospective

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic

5.2 Wax and Full Circles by Stefani Cox

khōréō 2025 ♪ audio

"Wax and Full Circles" is the quiet story of a couple navigating life where one of them is a werewolf. Content warnings: Death, animal death, grief Copyright © 2025 khōréō magazine. Story by Stefani Cox, edited by Isabella Kestermann. Audio edition read by...

Contemporary FantasyMortalityTender

Content warnings 3

animal-harmdeath-of-a-loved-onegore

5.3 Symbiote by T. Chiu-Chu

khōréō 2025 ♪ audio

It's about the things that become a part of you when you aren't paying attention, without your even realizing they're there. Copyright © 2025 khōréō magazine. Story by T. Chiu-Chu, edited by Kanika Agrawal. Audio edition read by D Casellian, with...

SlipstreamMortalityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 1

body-horror

A Recipe for Immortality (Serves 2)

Shreejita Majumder Tales & Feathers 2025 ShortStory 1,475 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Time TravelDiasporaSouth Asia

Coda

Arula Ratnakar Future Tense Fiction 2025 ShortStory 4,973 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

BiopunkMortalityPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

mental-illnesssubstance-use

Four Questions with Something Like God

Carlie St. George The Dark 2025 ShortStory Horror 2,100 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorMortalityMetafictional

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

his love's ashes on his tongue

Monte Lin The Deadlands 2025 ShortStory Horror 3,942 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Literary SFMortalityDeep Space

Content warnings 1

substance-use

3.4 Blue Cube by Prema Arasu

khōréō 2024 ♪ audio

In the near future, the corpse inside the abandoned deep-sea submersible Blue Cube becomes another landmark of the Challenger Deep. Content warning: Mentions of death Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by Prema Arasu, edited by Kanika Agrawal. Audio...

Social SatireAmbitionSardonic

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

3.4 Mad Studies by [sarah] Cavar

khōréō 2024 ♪ audio

Countryboy T loses their home after the deaths of their parents. Luckily, the cats have been in charge all along. Content warnings: Institutionalization, sanism, ableism, family death, animal death Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by [sarah] Cavar,...

SlipstreamTrans IdentityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-onemental-illness

3.4 Seven Recipes for the Crossing by Diana Dima

khōréō 2024 ♪ audio

A daughter living overseas visits her mother. Their time is counted in recipes, familiar yet growing ever stranger. Content warning: Death Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by Diana Dima, edited by Aleksandra Hill. Audio edition read by Rebecca Jensen...

GothicDiasporaSecond Person

Content warnings 3

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4.1 Intersected Sky by Andrew Najberg

khōréō 2024 ♪ audio

An endless beam of light arrives and splits the sky. In the turmoil following the resulting global EMP, aging immigrant Demetri's family collapses and he must grapple for a place in a shattered world. Content warnings: References to the death of a child...

DystopiaMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

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4.2 Ace of Knives by E. A. Xiong

khōréō 2024 ♪ audio

Someone has to be the best at something, and when a new technology begets a new sport, it may as well be her. Content warnings: Knife violence, blood, death Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by E. A. Xiong, edited by Isabella Kestermann. Audio edition...

BiopunkAmbitionIntertextual

Content warnings 3

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4.2 Human Trials by Madeleine Vigneron

khōréō 2024 ♪ audio

A young scientist struggles to find purpose in life after being left behind by those fleeing a post-apocalyptic Earth. Content warnings: Suicide and suicidal ideation, death, and animal death Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by Madeleine Vigneron,...

DystopiaMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 917: Henry

Pseudopod 2024 ♪ audio

“Henry” was originally published in the collection Strange Fruit in 1928 For four hours every morning and for twenty minutes before a large audience at night Fletcher was locked up with murder. It glared at him from twelve pairs of amber eyes ; it clawed...

Psychological HorrorHubrisHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

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Your Return to the Five Ruins of the Bog

Parker M. O'Neill Apex Magazine 2024

I’ll always wonder: did the Timeless come here for the Bog? Or did the Bog come here for them?

First ContactMortalityEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-onesuicide

2.4 This Is What You Came For by Phong Quan

khōréō 2023 ♪ audio

You've been in this club before, because you've been in a thousand like it. Each night a loop. Except this one is too familiar—and not quite right. Read about love and loss on the dance floor in "This Is What You Came For" by Phong Quan. Copyright khōréō...

SlipstreamDiasporaSoutheast Asia

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

3.1 In April, the Dead by Natalia Theodoridou

khōréō 2023 ♪ audio

In April, the dead return to spend brief moments with their loved ones. But what happens if the one you love doesn't come back? "In April, the Dead" by Natalia Theodoridou is a touching flash story about loss and family. Copyright khōréō magazine 2023....

Mythic FictionMortalityLyrical

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

PseudoPod 848: Browdean Farm

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Browdean Farm” originally appeared in the 1927 collection Some Ghost Stories Check out ll the amazing things W.J. Walton is working on at AWKWARD LABS (http://www.awkward-labs.com) ? Most people with limited vocabularies such as mine would describe the...

Psychological HorrorJusticeHistorical Europe

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

PseudoPod 849: Two Black Bottles

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Two Black Bottles” originally appeared in Weird Tales, August 1927 Not all of the few remaining inhabitants of Daalbergen, that dismal little village in the Ramapo Mountains, believe that my uncle, old Dominie Vanderhoof, is really dead. Some of them...

Cosmic HorrorFaithHistorical USA

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

PseudoPod 850: A Short Trip Home

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“A Short Trip Home” was published in 1927 and is in the public domain F. SCOTT FITZGERALD – “The Diamond As Big As The Ritz” (1922) BLACKWATER 2: MORE TALES OF THE FANTASTIC by Alberto Manguel Stefan Grabinski KRAFTWERK – Trans-Europe Express (1977) Pierre...

Psychological HorrorMortalityNostalgic

Content warnings 1

violence

PseudoPod 851: Flash on the Borderlands LXIV: Purification

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 851: Flash on the Borderlands LXIV: Purification is a PseudoPod original. Candlemas: “February 2, 2023 is Candlemas. I’ve always had a thing for microfiction -tiny, jewel-like figures, acting out their passion play to the chiming of a pocket...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityAmerican South

Content warnings 1

death

PseudoPod 857: Of Dark That Bites

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 857: Of Dark That Bites is a PseudoPod original. CW: Traumatic birth “Where do we go when we die?” asked Bea. She was in her car seat, a masterpiece of straps and safety standards that did less than nothing to assuage the mad patter of Lucy’s...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrormental-illnesssuicide

PseudoPod 862: The Curious Story of Susan Styles

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“The Curious Story of Susan Styles” was originally published in 1893 The Society for Psychical Research was formed in 1882, 11 years before this story was written “Susan Styles,” the name is not a romantic one, and yet it is associated in my mind with a...

Psychological HorrorJusticeRestrained

Content warnings 2

child-deathdeath

PseudoPod 863: Coincidence & The Dream

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

Both “Coincidence” and “The Dream” originally appeared in The London Magazine, April 1927 and June 1927 respectively This is the story of a coincidence. At any rate I call it a coincidence. The road where I live is very long and very straight. It’s paved...

SlipstreamMortalityHistorical Europe

Content warnings 1

death

PseudoPod 870: The Dancing Partner

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“The Dancing Partner” is excerpted from Jerome’s non-genre novel Novel Notes where it is the second half of Chapter 11. The serialization of that chapter first appeared in the March 1893 issue of The Idler. “This story,” commenced MacShaughnassy, “comes...

HorrorAmbitionHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PseudoPod 875: The Lodger – Part 1

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

This text was extracted from McClure’s Jan 1911, illustrated by Henry Raleigh. The short story was adapted by herself into a novel in 1913; and again adapted into an opera and numerous films (including one by Alfred Hitchcock) and radio plays. “THERE he is...

GothicFaithHistorical Europe

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

PseudoPod 876: The Lodger – Part 2

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

This text was extracted from McClure’s Jan 1911, illustrated by Henry Raleigh. The short story was adapted by herself into a novel in 1913; and again adapted into an opera and numerous films (including one by Alfred Hitchcock) and radio plays. “THERE he is...

GothicFaithHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

deathsuicideviolence

PseudoPod 877: Billy’s Garage

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 877: Billy’s Garage is a PseudoPod original. CW: Animal cruelty From the author: “This is my contribution to the “kids on bikes” subgenre of horror. It’s set back when I was a teen, and yes, we did have to dissect actual frogs.” Incidentally, the...

Psychological HorrorMortalityVisceral

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 878: The Son (El Hijo) and The Feather Pillow (El almohadón de plumas)

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 878: The Son (El Hijo) and The Feather Pillow (El almohadón de plumas) is a PseudoPod original. “El Hijo” was first published under the title “El padre” in La Nación, 15 January 1928. “El Almohadón de Plumas” was first published in the magazine...

Psychological HorrorMortalitySouth America

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 882: See That My Grave is Kept Clean

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 882: See That My Grave is Kept Clean is a PseudoPod original. CW for suicide Dig a hole, climb in, cover yourself in grave dirt. Not your face. You aren’t ready to join the dead, not yet. The bone men tend the graveyard, unaware they’re being...

Psychological HorrorMortalitySecond Person

Content warnings 3

child-deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide

PseudoPod 883: Ba’alat Ov

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Ba’alat Ov” originally appeared in The Jewish Book of Horror In the night, the spirits spoke with hisses and gurgles like serpents wrapped around my head. I awoke covered in sweat, barely able to breathe, so afraid of what they would ask me to do. They...

Mythic FictionFaithVisceral

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoresuicide

PseudoPod 885: The Grave of Angels

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“The Grave of Angels” first appeared in Vastarien Volume 4 Issue 1, June 2021. CW: intimate partner death From the author: “This story incorporates many of my recurrent themes–rituals, religion, the end of the world, and did not end up where I thought it...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic

PseudoPod 887: Midnight in the Southland

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Midnight in the Southland” was previously published in Liminal Spaces: An Anthology of Dark Speculative Fiction by Cemetery Gates Media in 2021. “From the grim Ohio Valley to the mists of the Appalachian Plateau, this is Midnight in the Southland with...

SlipstreamMortalityNostalgic

PseudoPod 888: Flash on the Borderlands LXVIII: Actualization

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Made of You” is a PseudoPod Original “Dancing With Etta” appeared first in Maudlin House (October, 2020) “A Well Polished Puppet” is a PseudoPod Original “Summer of George” is a PseudoPod Original I will be who I will be I was a blister clinging to the...

Psychological HorrorMortalitySardonic

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 890: The Halloween Parade and Twin Xolotls of Sorrow and Salt

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 890: The Halloween Parade and Twin Xolotls of Sorrow and Salt is a PseudoPod original. This year you pass through a stone arch to reach the Parade. The churro stand is to one side, the bouncer to the other. You can’t quite tell if the bouncer is...

Folk HorrorMortalityIntertextual

Content warnings 1

death

PseudoPod 896: Douen

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Douen” was originally published in The Dark Magazine and reprinted in the 2023 collection Skin Thief. From the author: “This story is set at my Grandmother’s house in Trinidad. The story itself is written in dialect the way I would have spoken it. It...

Mythic FictionMortalityCaribbean

Content warnings 3

animal-harmchild-deathdeath

PseudoPod 897: The Red Lady

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“The Red Lady” was originally published in the 2023 anthology Collage Macabre presented by the Future Dead Collective SHOW NOTES The Whoniverse The Full Lid ‘Art is never finished, only abandoned.’ – This week’s closing quote has a fascinating, and very...

Cosmic HorrorAmbitionHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 899: Arcanum Miskatonica

Pseudopod 2023 ♪ audio

“Arcanum Miskatonica” was originally published in Lovecraftiana Vol.3, No.1, April 2018 and reprinted in the 2023 anthology The Nameless Songs of Zadok Allen & Other Things that Should Not Be edited by Jessica Augustsson From the editors: The Nameless...

Cosmic HorrorAmbitionSlow Burn

Content warnings 3

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1.4 Review for Izakaya Tanuki by J.L. Akagi

khōréō 2022 ♪ audio

"Review for: Izakaya Tanuki" is a magical slice-of-life tale about yearning for that special dish from a home you can't return to, told in the form of a restaurant review. Copyright khōréō magazine 2022. Read by Rue Dickey, Produced and Edited by Lian Xia...

Contemporary FantasyMortalityNostalgic

1.4 Sorry We Missed You! by Aun-Juli Riddle

khōréō 2022 ♪ audio

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...

Diaspora SFMortalityNostalgic

Content warnings 1

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2.3 All Good Children, Come Out to Play by Karlo Yeager Rodríguez

khōréō 2022 ♪ audio

A moment of anger leaves nine-year-old Marta without her brother—but the bond between the twins has always been strong. "All Good Children, Come Out to Play" by Karlo Yeager Rodríguez is a haunting story about grief and guilt, death and moving on....

Mythic FictionMortalityCaribbean

Content warnings 1

child-death

PseudoPod 793: And No Bird Sings

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“And No Bird Sings” was first published in the magazine Woman, December 1926. “Birdsong & Elemental Slug” soundbed by Shawn M. Garrett, dedicated to Adi Newton & The Anti-Group (TAGC) The red chimneys of the house for which I was bound were visible from...

Folk HorrorMortalityHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

animal-harmbody-horrorviolence

PseudoPod 794: The Man Who Was Saved

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

‘The Man Who Was Saved’ was first published in Weird Tales, May 1926 ‘Only I escaped.’ The man whom they had found adrift in the dory hung his head. ‘The others—’ the listeners bent nearer to catch his throatily whispered words—‘the others—it got them—that...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 795: The Last Seance

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

‘The Last Seance’ was first published in Ghost Stories, November 1926 Raoul Daubreuil crossed the Seine humming a little tune to himself. He was a good-looking young Frenchman of about thirty-two, with a fresh-coloured face and a little black moustache. By...

Psychological HorrorMortalityHistorical Europe

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

PseudoPod 803: Them At Number Seventy-Four

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 803: Them At Number Seventy-Four is a PseudoPod original. When body number four is discovered, Mrs Patterson thinks that surely now she and her husband will be caught. Days creep past, then a week. Two. Three. Their excitement and relief begins...

Social SatireJusticeSardonic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

PseudoPod 812: The Old Switcheroo

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“The Old Switcheroo” first appeared in the anthology What One Wouldn’t Do from Scott J. Moses in autumn 2021. Calvin and I have been happy here, all told. With both of us orphaned early on, we were lucky to find each other, lucky to get out of the city and...

DystopiaMortalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

body-horrorcannibalismviolence

PseudoPod 817: Tommy’s Field

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“Tommy’s Field” was originally published in the anthology Georgia Gothic – The final line is a nod to the superstition against whistling in a graveyard lest ye summon the devil. From the author: “This story is loosely based on a real person, and when I...

Southern GothicJusticeAmerican South

Content warnings 3

deathillness-and-pandemicviolence

PseudoPod 821 Special Anniversary Episode: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT!

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 821 Special Anniversary Episode: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT! is a PseudoPod original. Towards the end of July 2022 we released a special episode to mark Alasdair Stuart’s 15 years as the voice of PseudoPod. It included the story Celestial Shores, written...

Cosmic HorrorRevengeDarkly Comic

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 821: Celestial Shores

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 821: Celestial Shores is a PseudoPod original. Britt drove silently while Ray gazed past her at the beauty of the rock-strewn ocean, beyond the sheer drop-offs and flimsy guardrails that separated the coast road from the end of the continent....

Cosmic HorrorRevengeDarkly Comic

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 822: The Experiment of Erich Weigert

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“The Experiment of Erich Weigert” was originally published in Weird Tales in 1926 The moment I gazed out over the audience I saw him. He was seated far back under the balcony that overhung the little auditorium, but even in the heavy shadow I could see his...

Psychological HorrorRevengeHistorical USA

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 826: Dream House

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“Dream House” originally appeared in the anthology Georgia Gothic Alice and Rick turned off the highway onto the twisting gravel road. Oaks arched overhead, a tunnel of green. “Haven’t I always said I wanted a long driveway,” Rick said. “A daily nature...

Southern GothicMortalityAmerican South

Content warnings 1

pregnancy-loss

PseudoPod 827: She Works in the Office Where They Died

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 827: She Works in the Office Where They Died is a PseudoPod original. Dezra works in an office where 1000 people died. Well, 1082. People round down. No one’s told the ones who died. “Good morning,” says Dezra, to Brenda the security guard who...

Social SatireMortalityBleak

Content warnings 3

deathmental-illnessviolence

PseudoPod 828: Taxiptómy

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 828: Taxiptómy is a PseudoPod original. Mulholland Drive trailer Mulholland Drive ‘No Hay Banda’ scene Taxiptómy [tak-si-toe-mee] From the Greek words Taxis meaning “arrangement” and Ptóma meaning “corpse”. Noun Taxiptómist [tak-si-toe-mist] Noun...

Social SatireMortalitySatirical

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 829: We’ve All Gone to the Magic Show

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“We’ve All Gone to the Magic Show” was previously published in Vastarien: Vol.3, Issue 1 by Grimscribe Press. Earlier this summer, word spread around our town that the Magic Show’s doors were open. Swollen and stained timbers that once barred the entrance...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityMetafictional

PseudoPod 830: The Honey Witch

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“The Honey Witch” originally appeared in SHARP AND SUGARTOOTH: WOMEN UP TO NO GOOD edited by Octavia Cade (Upper Rubber Boot Books 2019) The Honey Witch By Kathryn McMahon My hood and gloves are on the table next to the smoker that, for now, remains unlit....

Folk HorrorMortalityTender

Content warnings 3

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PseudoPod 831: Idomeneja

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 831: Idomeneja is a PseudoPod original. From the author: “The speculative elements from this story are based on the death masks found in the grave circles at the site at Mycenae. I have taken serious artistic liberties with the archaeology and...

Mythic FictionMortalitySecond Person

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PseudoPod 833: Cockcrow Inn

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“Cockcrow Inn” was first published in the collection Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales in 1926 Cockcrow Inn stands defiantly facing the sea. For countless years it has stood thus, holding at naught the greatest strength of wind and water,...

Historical FantasyRevengeNostalgic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

PseudoPod 835: Trickin’

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 835: Trickin’ is a PseudoPod original. It’s time. Nestled beneath the rolling peaks from the mountain ranges, honeycombs of caves spread out in their like swollen slugs providing shelter from the weeping clouds. Raoul emerged from one of those...

DystopiaFaithPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PseudoPod 838: Old Haunts

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“Old Haunts” originally appeared in the 2022 collection How to See Ghosts & Other Figments Kim Parks considered himself something of a connoisseur of the haunted attractions that sprang up every year around Halloween. While he was getting his masters, he...

Cosmic HorrorAmbitionRestrained Prose

Content warnings 1

body-horror

PseudoPod 840: No Hungry Generations

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“No Hungry Generations” was published originally in the October 2022 Anthology, Death In The Mouth. The bird looked like the last descendent of a prehistoric mishap. Fatter than a turkey and wild-eyed even after death, it had small feet and a golden beard...

Southern GothicMortalityAmerican South

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathgore

PseudoPod 844: Gothic Duo: The Oval Portrait & Not More Lovely than Full of Glee

Pseudopod 2022 ♪ audio

“The Oval Portrait” was published in the April 26, 1845 edition of the Broadway Journal. “Not More Lovely than Full of Glee” originally appeared in A Winter’s Tale: Horror Stories for the Yuletide The chateau into which my valet had ventured to make...

GothicRevengeHistorical Europe

Content warnings 1

death

A Pall of Moondust

Nick Wood Omenana 2021 ShortStory 2,057 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

AfrofuturismMortalitySouthern Africa

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

PseudoPod 741: Lukundoo

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“Lukundoo” was first published in Weird Tales, November 1925 Content warning: Spoiler Racial slurs, systemic racism, colonialism [collapse] “It stands to reason,” said Twombly, “that a man must accept the evidence of his own eyes, and when his eyes and...

Folk HorrorHubrisUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathracism

PseudoPod 742: The Sea Thing

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

This story was first published in Weird Tales, December 1925. JULY 16—We are caught in one of the great calms. There is water in the well, and our food is nearly gone. Everything is hid from view by the fog. I confess that I am a hopeless coward. The...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathgore

PseudoPod 743: Flash on the Borderlands LIV: Stage Three: The Bargain

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 743: Flash on the Borderlands LIV: Stage Three: The Bargain is a PseudoPod original. Content warning: Spoiler Racial slurs, systemic racism [collapse] “The Kid Learns” was first published in the New Orleans Times Picayune on May 31, 1925 “The...

Cosmic HorrorFaithAmerican South

Content warnings 3

deathracismviolence

PseudoPod 746: Rattlesnake Song

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“Rattlesnake Song” originally appeared in July 2019 in the the anthology Triangulation: Dark Skies. The Last Picture Show came to the movie house on the square in the fall of nineteen seventy-one. We snuck in with warm cans of Pearl and sat on the back row...

Southern GothicFaithAmerican Southwest

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathsuicide

PseudoPod 749: Notes on a Resurrection

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“Notes on a Resurrection” was originally published in Strange Horizons (July 2019). The Feast Day of Lazarus is March 17 for the Eastern Orthodox Church. the reporter I heard about the story from the friend of a friend of an acquaintance, and didn’t put...

Folk HorrorFaithHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

child-deathdeathviolence

PseudoPod 750: The Artist and the Door

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“The Artist and the Door” was first published in Weird Tales in November 1952 The advent of the artist and the door was almost simultaneous. I have always wondered if the one would have been as sinister without the other. Of course, the evil was in the...

Dark FantasyHubrisHistorical Europe

Content warnings 1

child-death

PseudoPod 752: It Rises From Between My Bones

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 752: It Rises From Between My Bones is a PseudoPod original. Cancer, Chemotherapy Sitting on the toilet for the first sleepy morning pee, I felt my ovaries twist as a little piece of me trying burst through in a micro-explosion of tissue, born...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityBleak

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathillness-and-pandemic

PseudoPod 754: Flash on the Borderlands LV: The Easily Digested Hurt

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 754: Flash on the Borderlands LV: The Easily Digested Hurt is a PseudoPod original. “Step Down, Step Down” is a PseudoPod original “Snip Snip Snip” is a PseudoPod original “My Guests” appeared in a slightly different form on the SFF Chronicles...

Folk HorrorMortalityAmerican South

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

PseudoPod 756: To Witness

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 756: To Witness is a PseudoPod original. Though the author is a professional photojournalist and has covered many car crashes, all characters, events, and organizations depicted in this story are fictional. Bad Samaritan (YouTube link) Don’t...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityPacific Northwest

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PseudoPod 757: Flash on the Borderlands LVI: The Heart’s Filthy Lesson

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“The Woman the Spiders Loved” first appeared in Penultimate Peanut and was reprinted in her 2020 collection I’ll Tell You a Love Story. “Edge of the Cliff” was first published in Weird Tales in March 1941 “The Memory of Love” originally published in...

Psychological HorrorMortalityRestrained Prose

Content warnings 3

abusedeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide

PseudoPod 762: The Thought Monster

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“The Thought Monster” originally appeared in Weird Tales in March 1930 Fiend Without A Face resources: Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTLRyLnqCH4 Wikipedia Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiend_Without_a_Face Fiend without a Face and it’s...

Cosmic HorrorHubrisHistorical USA

Content warnings 1

death

PseudoPod 766: Knock, Knock, Wolf

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“Knock, Knock, Wolf” was originally published in Flame Tree’s Gothic Fantasy anthology, Footsteps in the Dark, in October 2020 It was time to kill the sparrows. Every autumn, after the last leaves fell and the bare trees rattled their bone song to an empty...

Fairy Tale RetellingHubrisSecondary World

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PseudoPod 767: Death Has Red Hair

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“Death Has Red Hair” was originally published in Weird Tales in September of 1942. This story is surprising in being an early entry that is unabashedly feminist with multiple shades of “street harassment” on display. We three men were hugging the open fire...

Mythic FictionJusticeHistorical USA

Content warnings 3

deathmisogynyviolence

PseudoPod 770: The Garden of Adompha

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“The Garden of Adompha” originally appeared in Weird Tales, April 1938 Lord of the sultry, red parterres And orchards sunned by hell’s unsetting flame! Amid thy garden blooms the Tree which bears Unnumbered heads of demons for its fruit; And, like a...

Cosmic HorrorHubrisVisceral

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

PseudoPod 773: The Floor Above

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“The Floor Above” was originally published in the May 1923 issue of Weird Tales SEPTEMBER 17, 1922. — I sat down to breakfast this morning with a good appetite. The heat seemed over, and a cool wind blew in from my garden, where chrysanthemums were already...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityHistorical USA

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

PseudoPod 778: Live From The End Of The World

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 778: Live From The End Of The World is a PseudoPod original. Highway 28 vanished and reappeared as the windshield wipers fought a losing battle against Hurricane Francis. This storm was Harriet’s big chance. She only hoped she’d live through it....

Cosmic HorrorAmbitionAmerican South

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

PseudoPod 782: The Halloween Parade

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 782: The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. That’s what the parade is for. The cowboys with no faces are first this year. Men with bone white paint and matte black hats. Men whose eyes are filled with the combination of terror and rage...

MetafictionalMortalityNostalgic

PseudoPod 783: Sleep Hygiene

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“Sleep Hygiene” was first published in Nightmare’s Realm: New Tales of the Weird and Fantastic and reprinted this year in the collection In That Endlessness, Our End Audio Production & DreamBed, assembled from various field recordings, by Shawn M. Garrett...

Cosmic HorrorMortalityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 1

mental-illness

PseudoPod 786: Licking Roadkill

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 786: Licking Roadkill is a PseudoPod original. Cole was licking the highway when the cops picked him up the night before Thanksgiving. Reckless endangerment, they said, and obstructing traffic, and whatever else they could come up with to get him...

Contemporary FantasyMortalityRestrained

Content warnings 3

deathsubstance-useviolence

PseudoPod 787: On Seas of Blood and Salt

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

“On Seas of Blood and Salt” originally appeared in The Jewish Book of Horror This is what Reb Palache does when he finds a ship crewed by the dead. He does not know it is crewed by the dead, not at first. He is in his cabin, discoursing with the nameless...

Historical FantasyFaithHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

PseudoPod 790: The Humbug

Pseudopod 2021 ♪ audio

PseudoPod 790: The Humbug is a PseudoPod original. Joshua caught it in a glass jar with holes poked in the lid. He came running up to the cabin with it, shouting, “I found a bug! I found a bug!” “There aren’t any bugs in winter,” Amanda said crossly,...

Historical FantasyMortalityHistorical Europe

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Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

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Content warnings 3

death-of-a-loved-onegoreviolence

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Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorFatherhoodAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

death-of-a-loved-onemental-illnesssuicide