LT is ten when the alien seeds fall, and he spends the rest of his life studying them as they take over more and more of the planet.
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Nostalgic
40 free-to-read stories tagged “Nostalgic”
"On the island of Manhattan, there’s a building out of time. I can’t tell you where it is, exactly. It has an address, of course, as all buildings do, but that wouldn’t mean anything to you. What I can tell you is that the building is called The Oakmont."
Content warnings 1
war
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.
"Jacqueline theorized how to build a private video connection for the three of us from broken baby monitors, trashed cell phones, and digital displays; I collected her shopping list from Dad’s junkyard, and Selena took Jacqueline’s scribbled plans,...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
abusedeathsubstance-use
In an alternate 1950s with robots, spaceships, and flying cars, the US Army sends a robot father to the son of a dead soldier.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"Lara is a summer witch born with fruit rich on her tongue, a monkey god’s chittering beneath her skin, and a full July sun’s worth of love for love. Her ba claims to have read Pasternak, but she knows it was Julie Christie’s face he traced when he named...
Content warnings 2
illness-and-pandemicsexual-content
"I heard this story from my late friend Shelby Weinberg. Like myself, Shel was a science fiction writer. If his byline doesn’t ring any bells, though, don’t feel ignorant; not many SF fans knew him by that name. Even the pseudonym he used, Hamilton Yale,...
"My name is Alfred Kramer, known for the better part of my life as “Lefty.” I was born April 13, 1920, in Owatonna, Minnesota. Today is my birthday in 2020, meaning that I’ve reached the unlikely age of one century. I currently live in a geriatric facility...
In his old age, a TV writer reflects on a show he worked on fifty years ago--the only work he's really proud of--and the almost supernatural way it came to an end.
Content warnings 2
abusesubstance-use
"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....
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"There could not have been a better time to be alive. Every nation on the planet had evolved into a democracy, we hadn’t been tangled in a war for over a hundred years, and technology had removed virtually every possibility of poverty. Work if you like, go...
Michael has done so much recreational time travel that he’s jaded. He’s resentful of the tourists who don’t try hard enough to blend in, and he wants to take his new girlfriend someplace special and authentic.
Content warnings 1
substance-use
A young man fleeing the ruin of his career returns to his home village seeking the first girl he ever loved and a resolution to a mystery that has haunted him.
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
“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...
When I worked at Disneyland in the summer of ’65, it was strange enough even without what I found in the dumpster. This was the sixties, and the Magic Kingdom, no matter how many long-haired hippies it denied admission to, couldn’t escape the decade.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
edited by Amanda Helms He’s the last independent optician working in my zone. Two or three years ago, there was a second one, but she worked part time and by appointment only. Who could make appointments for the future even then? The last optician doesn’t...
In the screen glow of the witching hours you see a silhouette flit in and out of the doorway. Your first meme and your first violation.
Content warnings 3
child-abusesexual-contentsuicide
Author : Erin Keating Narrator : Heather Thomas Host : Kaitlyn Zivanovich Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie PodCastle 954: The Grief Eaters is a PodCastle original. Rated PG The Grief Eaters By Erin Keating There was a time when grave dirt could summon grief...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Author : Claire Humphrey Narrator : Samantha Loney Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously published by Pulp Literature, Issue 39, Summer 2023 Rated PG-13 THE DRINK WE SPILL OUT ON THE GROUND by Claire Humphrey The perfect day looks...
Content warnings 2
sexual-contentsubstance-use
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...
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
The Wolf is Piroska's sister, and they play with bombs in the backyard of their new home. Is Piroska wolf enough to survive? Content warnings: Threat of violence, imagined bodily injury Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by Varju Izzy, edited by Kanika...
Content warnings 1
war
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...
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...
“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...
Content warnings 1
violence
“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...
"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...
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
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...
“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,...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
PseudoPod 836: The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. The parade this year feels brittle. At least at first. It reminds you of that first step into a swimming pool, wondering if it will be too hot or too cold. You brace yourself for sharp contrast,...
Skelly's grandmother is teaching her to bake challah, an old recipe from Earth. But is preserving tradition enough when a portal to her grandmother's world beckons? Copyright khōréō magazine 2021. Story by Jennifer Hudak, edited by Lian Xia Rose. Audio...
"Love at the End" by Deborah Germaine Augustin Sometimes, you meet the right person at the wrong time… and sometimes, the right time is the end of the world. A cli-fi story about love and courage. Copyright khōréō magazine 2021. Read by Su Ling Chan,...
Content warnings 1
violence
Open 27 Hours By L.P. Kindred “It had pops of habanero-like spice immediately calmed by the subdued dulce of roast sweet potato. You got lemony shots of citric acid alongside amandine crunches. The dish was studded with cubes of meat I was too young to...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
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...