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Political Resistance

266 free-to-read stories tagged “Political Resistance”

Rabbit Test

Samantha Mills Uncanny 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 7,067 words

"It is 2091, and Grace is staring at the rabbit in the corner of her visual overlay. It is an Angora rabbit, fluffy and white, and when Grace picked the icon out, she did not realize how much she would come to dread the sight of it. She moves, and the...

SlipstreamMotherhoodBleak

Content warnings 6

abusedeathmental-illnesspregnancy-losssexual-violencesuicide

The Sound of Children Screaming

Rachael K. Jones Nightmare 2023 ShortStory Horror 4,607 words ♪ audio

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorMotherhoodSardonic

Content warnings 4

body-horrorchild-deathdeathviolence

Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super

A.T. Greenblatt Uncanny 2020 Novelette Superhero 9,691 words

Sam’s ability is modest, but he’s still excited to be accepted into the Super Team. Now he just has to figure out how he can make the biggest difference—assuming he can do more good than harm.

Superhero FictionFriendshipIntrospective

Content warnings 1

violence

Things With Beards

Sam J. Miller Clarkesworld 2016 ShortStory Horror 4,712 words

Following a disaster in Antarctica, MacReady spends summer 1983 in New York and starts to wonder what he might have brought back with him.

Psychological HorrorQueer IdentityNew York City

Content warnings 5

body-horrordeathillness-and-pandemicsubstance-useviolence

How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub

P. Djèlí Clark Uncanny 2023 ShortStory Historical Fantasy 7,159 words

"Ambition!” Trevor emphasized, rapping knuckles hard on the wood table. “That is what makes the great men!” He took a satisfied swallow from his mug. Across from him, Barnaby put down the daily he’d been reading and sipped from his own beer. Pulling out a...

Social SatireColonialismSatirical

Content warnings 3

deathracismviolence

If the Martians Have Magic

P. Djèlí Clark Uncanny 2021 ShortStory Science Fantasy 7,099 words

"The first Martian War was won not by man, but microbes. The second we fought with Martian weapons that nearly broke the world. The third invasion we stopped by our own hands, using magic.” —Wei-Yin Sun, Imperial Historian in the Court of the Empress...

First ContactColonialismPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathwar

Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts By Ida Countess Rathangan

Ian McDonald Old Venus 2015 Novelette 13,400 words

Lady Ida's visit to Venus was memorialized by the beautiful floral papercuts she made there, but this sensational story reveals the secret of the real purpose of her visit.

Historical FantasyColonialismRestrained

Content warnings 4

deathsubstance-useviolencewar

The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections

Tina Connolly Tor.com 2018 Novelette High Fantasy Dystopia 7,845 words ♪ audio

The Regent rules as a tyrant, and he has separated Saffron from her husband to force him to bake the amazing confections that let you relive bits of the past.

Historical FantasyRevengeSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneviolence

D.I.Y

John Wiswell Tor.com 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 4,886 words ♪ audio

When the the elitist institution of Ozymandias Academy and its headmaster, Vamon Kinctuarin, can't find a solution to the city's worsening drought, 2 self-taught magicians, Noah and his partner Manny, take it upon themselves to find a solution to the crisis.

Social SatireFriendshipHopeful

The Court Magician

Sarah Pinsker Lightspeed 2018 ShortStory High Fantasy 3,148 words

In which we learn how the new court magician was recruited and find out how even a “market rat” can qualify. We learn that there is real magic, but it comes with a price.

Dark FantasyPolitical ResistanceAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies

Brooke Bolander Uncanny 2016 ShortStory Horror 1,105 words

The girl he killed was much more than merely human, and there will be consequences.

SlipstreamRevengeSardonic

Content warnings 4

deathmisogynysexual-violenceviolence

The City Born Great

N.K. Jemisin Tor.com 2016 ShortStory Modern Fantasy 6,286 words

A young hustler discovers that he's supposed to play a big role in transforming New York from a city to a City. If he can survive it.

Contemporary FantasyColonialismNew York City

Content warnings 3

deathracismviolence

The Future Is Blue

Catherynne M. Valente Drowned Worlds 2016 Novelette Post Apocalypse 8,800 words

Teenage Tetley lives in a human settlement (one of the last) built on a miles-wide floating garbage dump. She explains why everyone hates her now.

Speculative FictionPolitical ResistanceUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 4

deathsexual-violencesubstance-useviolence

And Now His Lordship Is Laughing

Shiv Ramdas Strange Horizons 2019 ShortStory Historical Fantasy Horror 6,843 words

In 1943 India, during the Bengal Famine, the Governor of Bengal tries to force an old woman to make a doll for his wife.

Historical FantasyColonialismVisceral

Content warnings 5

child-deathdeathracismviolencewar

Never Eaten Vegetables

H.H. Pak Clarkesworld 2025 Novelette Science Fiction 15,170 words

"A ship glides through the night, behemoth mother, swollen with ten thousand human lives. Her path is a single shining vector. There has been no stopping, no rest for the decades she has traveled, and there will be nothing but void for the two years to...

BiopunkArtificial IntelligenceGeneration Ship

Content warnings 3

child-deathpregnancy-lossviolence

Five Views of the Planet Tartarus

Rachael K. Jones Lightspeed 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 549 words

"Once a decade, a titanium-nosed shuttle plows through the rings of the planet Tartarus with a new batch of prisoners destined for the Orpheus Factory. The debris that makes up the rings is so thick that it thunders like a hailstorm, deafening the...

Space OperaPolitical ResistanceBleak

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video

Thomas Ha Clarkesworld 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 8,370 words

"At first I thought something had broken in my book. I didn’t notice until the afternoon light from the windows began to recede. I tried to increase the brightness settings of the page, but no matter how I thumbed the margins, they would not change. For...

Social SatireCorporate PowerNew York City

Content warnings 3

death-of-a-loved-onesubstance-useviolence

Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being

A.W. Prihandita Clarkesworld 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 8,730 words

"Doc, there’s a ... hole growing in me,” the alien said through the spherical interpreting machine hovering over them. Semau barely registered the word “hole,” so taken was she by the sight of the alien. If she were just a tad less caring about propriety,...

First ContactColonialismAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Three Faces of a Beheading

Arkady Martine Uncanny 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,139 words

"Bloodsoaked and grinning, the Soldier climbs to the summit of the ruins. The wind is mountain-top fast. It grabs the strands of her hair that have escaped her ponytail and sticks them to her ecstatic mouth: the slick surface of teeth, the gloss-wet of...

SlipstreamColonialismMetafictional

Content warnings 1

violence

O2 Arena

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Galaxy's Edge 2021 Novelette 8,227 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

DystopiaClass InequalityWest Africa

Content warnings 6

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemicmisogynysexual-violenceviolence

Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island

Nibedita Sen Nightmare 2019 ShortStory 1,421 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Folk HorrorRevengeMetafictional

Content warnings 7

abusebody-horrordeathgoreracismsexual-violenceviolence

Extracurricular Activities

Yoon Ha Lee Tor.com 2017 Novelette Space Opera 14,259 words

A Heptarchate undercover mission lead by one of Jedao’s friends has gone missing, so Jedao goes undercover to try and rescue them.

Space OperaFriendshipDeep Space

Content warnings 3

deathsexual-contentviolence

We Built This City

Marie Vibbert Clarkesworld 2022 Novelette Science Fiction 8,510 words

"Every sunset, Julia climbs the city her mother built. It feels enormous, on the outside. Inside, it’s cramped, a human anthill. It didn’t used to be, but Julia doesn’t remember what it felt like when there was room enough for everyone. In the locker room,...

Near FutureCorporate PowerEarnest

Blood Is Another Word for Hunger

Rivers Solomon Tor.com 2019 ShortStory Folk Tale 6,968 words

When her master dies in the American Civil War, a teen-age slave girl murders the rest of his family to gain her freedom, but she unwittingly opens a door to the spirit world, and she has to deal with the thing that comes through.

Historical FantasyRevengeHistorical USA

Content warnings 5

body-horrordeathgoreslaveryviolence

The Painter of Trees

Suzanne Palmer Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory Colony SF 4,258 words

The human terraformers didn’t realize there was native intelligence until it was too late to save them. Now it’s just a question of what to do with the time that remains.

First ContactColonialismAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home

Genevieve Valentine Clarkesworld 2016 Novelette SF 9,267 words

The crew of the Themis colony write home about their struggles with a mission and a world that seems to be more than a little off.

DystopiaCorporate PowerRestrained

Content warnings 2

mental-illnesssubstance-use

As the Last I May Know

S.L. Huang Tor.com 2019 ShortStory Alternate Reality 5,863 words

Only one nation has nuclear weapons, but their rules against using them require that things be so desperate that the President be willing to kill a child to get the launch codes.

DystopiaPolitical ResistanceSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Lamentation of Their Women

Kai Ashante Wilson Tor.com 2017 Novelette Horror 9,141 words ♪ audio

‘Nisha only has five hours to get across New York to her dead aunt’s apartment before the city comes to throw away all her stuff. She’s not even sure it’s worth it, but they said her aunt was a witch…

Contemporary FantasyRacismNew York City

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Termination Stories for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Protagonist

Isabel J. Kim Clarkesworld 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,960 words

"Cool and Sexy Asian Girl stands outside the convenience store under the striped awning and waits for the rain to stop. The rain is never going to stop. Cool and Sexy Asian Girl would need to go to a different city for the rain to stop, a city not built on...

CyberpunkClass InequalitySardonic

Mulberry and Owl

Aliette de Bodard Uncanny 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 7,942 words

"Thuỷ stood in her cabin in The Goby in the Well, her bots arrayed on her shoulders and clinging to her wrists, and watched the heart of the nebula. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about it: the Great Mulberry Nebula was large, sparsely dotted with...

Space OperaColonialismSlow Burn

Content warnings 4

child-deathdeathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

A Stick of Clay, in the Hands of God, is Infinite Potential

JY Yang Clarkesworld 2020 Novelette Military SF 10,682 words

Stick was made to pilot Phoenix in the war against the apostates. Stick never feels entirely human, but the final battle approaches, and Stick looks forward to it.

Science FantasyTrans IdentityIntrospective

Content warnings 4

abusedeathviolencewar

The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power

Karen Osborne Uncanny 2019 ShortStory Generation Ship 5,642 words

Whenever the captain dies, the new captain inherits his/her memories back to the start of the mission, but only the good ones; the sin eater gets the bad ones.

Generation ShipClass InequalityIntrospective

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

The Persistence of Blood

Juliette Wade Clarkesworld 2018 Novella SFF 26,506 words

Selemei’s push for a law to allow women to stop having children when it risks their health upends the complex caste-based society she lives in.

Speculative FictionMotherhoodSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

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

The War of Light and Shadow, in Five Dishes

Siobhan Carroll BCS 2018 ShortStory High Fantasy 6,929 words

In which we learn how an over-enthusiastic chef inadvertently brought about the end of the war.

Historical FantasyPolitical ResistanceSecond Person

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

The Apologists

Tade Thompson Clarkesworld 2025 Novella Science Fiction 21,060 words

"A dual-carriage road descends from a flyover bridge in Thamesmead, bearing sluggish traffic on both sides. From inside bus number 229, a woman looks out of the large windows and thinks the other vehicles look like toy cars. For all she knows, the 229...

Psychological HorrorPolitical ResistanceSlow Burn

Content warnings 5

child-deathdeathdeath-of-a-loved-onemental-illnessviolence

One Man's Treasure

Sarah Pinsker Uncanny 2023 Novelette Fantasy 8,566 words

"Aden had never once forgotten his gear for bulk trash day, but he found it touching that Nura still taped a monthly reminder note on the door from the kitchen to the garage. Sweet of her to remember, given how exhausted med school had her these days."

Contemporary FantasyClass InequalityWarm

Content warnings 1

death

Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma

R.S.A. Garcia Clarkesworld 2021 Novella Science Fiction 21,036 words

"Brother-Adita paused at the top of the ridge and rotated one eye to take in the shells climbing the path behind them. They gestured beyond them with a limb, a habit picked up from their young, excitable sibling. “Quarter-march, west-north-west,” came...

Space OperaAI PersonhoodPhilosophical

Content warnings 3

deathslaveryviolence

Field Biology of the Wee Fairies

Naomi Kritzer Apex 2018 ShortStory Modern Fantasy 4,700 words ♪ audio

When other girls catch fairies, they wish for beauty, but Amelia just wants to do well on her science project.

Social SatireFriendshipHistorical USA

The Anchorite Wakes

R.S.A. Garcia Clarkesworld 2018 ShortStory SFF 4,395 words

Sister Nadine sits in her cell at the church and offers wisdom to any of the townspeople who come by. But she’s starting to see things that suggest the world isn’t quite what it seems to be.

Science FantasyPolitical ResistanceHistorical Europe

The Rain Remembers What the Sky Forgets

Fran Wilde Uncanny 2023 ShortStory Fantasy 6,710 words

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

Fairy Tale RetellingPolitical ResistanceHistorical USA

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

The Cold Calculations

Aimee Ogden Clarkesworld 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,540 words

"Once upon a time, a little girl had to die. It’s just math. Wrong place, wrong time. Bad luck; too bad, so sad. We’ve all heard such stories, told them, shared them, collected them. Not in the way that we collect trinkets; more like how a sock collects...

Space OperaCorporate PowerIntertextual

Content warnings 1

death

The Demon Sage's Daughter

Varsha Dinesh Strange Horizons 2021 Novelette Fantasy 7,828 words

"In one version of the story, nobody dies, and you get to keep the princess as your maid. She chafes against this, longing for her silks and jewels. You scoff, tugging her after you, a tangle of jasmine wound around her arms. She’s tried to break free many...

Fairy Tale RetellingRevengeMetafictional

Content warnings 4

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

The Future Library

Peng Shepherd Tor.com 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 11,195 words

More than a hundred years from now, an arborist fighting to save the last remaining forest on Earth discovers a secret about the trees—one that changes not only her life, but also the fate of our world. Inspired by the real-life “Future Library,” a...

Near FutureMentorshipEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 2

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

The Translator, at Low Tide

Vajra Chandrasekera Clarkesworld 2020 ShortStory Climate SF 3,981 words

In a sad, future Sri Lanka, the narrator watches his/her city die from the effects of sea-level rise and abandonment.

DystopiaDiasporaPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

A Bird, a Song, a Revolution

Brooke Bolander Lightspeed 2019 ShortStory Fantasy 5,208 words

An ice-age girl who learns to play the flute has an unusual connection with a future girl starving in a flooded city.

SlipstreamPolitical ResistancePost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Such Thoughts Are Unproductive

Rebecca Campbell Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory Dystopia 6,584 words

In a future Canada, a woman talks to her political-prisoner mother but wonders if it’s just an AI simulation of her.

DystopiaArtificial IntelligenceRestrained

Content warnings 2

illness-and-pandemicmental-illness

Asphalt, River, Mother, Child

Isabel Yap Strange Horizons 2018 ShortStory Afterlife 7,016 words

Mebuyen doesn’t get many lost souls anymore—modern Filipinos have moved on—so when a bunch of young people start showing up whom she can’t send along, it’s time to visit the Earth and learn what’s going on.

Contemporary FantasyTrans IdentityElegiac

Content warnings 3

child-deathdeathviolence

Breakwater

Simon Bestwick Tor.com 2018 Novelette SF Thriller 15,242 words

Humanity is under attack from intelligent creatures we never knew about from the abyss of our own oceans. Cally is a researcher trying to communicate with them when the underwater facility she’s on is attacked and she has to escape before it disintegrates entirely.

First ContactPolitical ResistanceSlow Burn

Content warnings 3

deathsexual-contentviolence

The Heart of Owl Abbas

Kathleen Jennings Tor.com 2018 ShortStory Steampunk Fantasy 6,943 words

Excelsior lives to write songs, and Nightingale was made to sing them. But the decadent city of Owl Abbas does not deserve either one.

Secondary World FantasyArt And CreationWhimsical

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

The Mocking Tower

Daniel Abraham The Book of Swords 2017 Novelette Fantasy Adventure 9,944 words

Somewhere near the every-changing Mocking Tower the Imagi Vert has hidden a sword that holds the soul of the late emperor, and a thief has come to try to steal it.

FantasyPolitical ResistancePhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Red As Blood And White As Bone

Theodora Goss Tor.com 2016 Novelette Historical Fantasy 9,484 words

In Eastern Europe between the wars, Klara works as a kitchen maid. One night she admits a woman she thinks is a lost fairy-tale princesses into the castle.

Fairy Tale RetellingFriendshipHistorical Europe

Autogas Ferryman

Champ Wongsatayanont Nightmare 2025 ShortStory Horror 6,728 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorClass InequalityDarkly Comic

Content warnings 5

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-onegoreviolence

Barnacle

Kate Elliott Reactor 2025 Novelette Dystopian 9,900 words

An older medic with scant resources fights to support her community as they survive life behind the company wall.

DystopiaClass InequalityRestrained

Content warnings 2

sexual-violenceviolence

Escape Pod 994: Magical Girl Antifa War Machine

Esther Alter Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Magical Girl Antifa War Machine By Esther Alter XYLIA We were at the bottom of a hole, a new construction site that went deep into the bedrock. I was the first to touch the artifact, a thing that didn’t quite have shape or color. I grabbed it. My new...

Superhero FictionTrans IdentityEarnest

Content warnings 5

deathgoresexual-contentviolencewar

Reconstructing "The Goldenrod Conspiracy," Edina Room, Saturday 2:30-3:30

Gabriela Santiago Lightspeed 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,622 words

"Can someone get the doors? Thanks. Please remember we’re on an honor system for chairs—if you’ve eaten today, please leave them for someone who hasn’t. We don’t need another fainting incident. First of all, if you’re looking for a technical look at...

MetafictionalColonialismSecond Person

Spread the Word

Delilah S. Dawson Apex 2024 ShortStory Horror 7,198 words

"I was kinda worried about being the new kid, but apparently new kids are cool here. This guy named Scott Marsh who seems pretty popular and has a good jump shot was really nice to me, so the other guys were nice to me, too. I think maybe because me and...

Folk HorrorPolitical ResistanceHistorical USA

Content warnings 3

abusechild-abuseviolence

Waystation City

A.T. Greenblatt Uncanny 2023 ShortStory Fantasy 4,468 words ♪ audio

"I was finishing the last of my nightly coffee when the nineteen-seventies twins approached my table and asked me to bear witness to their disappearance. This was not an unusual request at Cafe Liminalité, being the locale of patrons that dreamed too much...

SlipstreamTrans IdentityWarm

Content warnings 1

death

Bonsai Starships

Yoon Ha Lee BCS 2022 ShortStory Science Fantasy 4,146 words

"At the center of every starship was a bonsai starship. It rested in the starship’s command garden and provided the magic that propelled it. Novice Kei had known this longer than she had known her own name, especially since she was the eighth Kei who...

Science FantasyPolitical ResistanceFar Future

Nobody Ever Goes Home to Zhenzhu

Grace Chan Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,591 words

"I’d always known Calam would run. He had all the signs. A taut restlessness, body brittle as an overstretched lute string, when we stayed too long in one place. A gloom in his eyes, as we drifted through stretches of dead space. A sullen crease between...

Space OperaDiasporaDefiant

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Yesterday's Wolf

Ray Nayler Clarkesworld 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,870 words

"They found the torn lamb in the gold spring grass, beside the gravel road. The flies had found it first. But the flies were still lazy and slow. Later in the season, when they found a feast like this, you would be able to hear them buzzing from a distance."

Near FuturePolitical ResistanceIntrospective

Content warnings 2

sexual-violenceviolence

Lest We Forget

Elizabeth Bear Uncanny 2019 ShortStory Military SF 2,195 words

A soldier wracked with guilt about his actions in the war leaps at a chance to do something to end war forever.

BiopunkPolitical ResistancePhilosophical

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

The Migration Suite: A Study in C Sharp Minor

Maurice Broaddus Uncanny 2019 ShortStory SF Epic 5,654 words

We follow this history of black people from prehistoric Ghana all the way to a lunar colony.

SlipstreamDiasporaWest Africa

Content warnings 5

abuseracismslaveryviolencewar

Fleeing Oslyge

Sally Gwylan Clarkesworld 2018 Novelette Military SF 9,216 words

After 700 years of isolation, the colony faces invasion from fellow humans. Fleeing from the destruction of her home town, Senne hooks up with four soldiers trying to find what’s left of their unit.

Space OperaColonialismBleak

Content warnings 4

body-horrordeathsexual-violenceviolence

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good

LaShawn M. Wanak FIYAH 2018 Novelette 14,843 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Historical FantasyRacismHistorical USA

Content warnings 4

deathracismsexual-violenceviolence

Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics

Jess Barber & Sara Saab Clarkesworld 2017 Novelette Climate SF 12,087 words

This story follows Amir and Mani’s careers starting when they’re teenagers in water-starved Beirut.

Near FuturePolitical ResistanceTender

Content warnings 1

sexual-content

The Hidden Girl

Ken Liu The Book of Swords 2017 Novelette Chinese Fantasy Adventure 9,551 words

She was only ten when they kidnapped her to train as an assassin, but now she’s sixteen and she needs to prove herself.

Historical FantasyPolitical ResistanceHistorical China

Content warnings 1

violence

The Last Boat-Builder in Ballyvoloon

Finbarr O'Reilly Clarkesworld 2017 ShortStory SF Horror 5,875 words

Meant to clear plastic from the sea, the artificial “squids” have put the oceans off-limits to humanity. Not everyone takes that lying down.

BiopunkColonialismHistorical Europe

Content warnings 1

death

When Your Child Strays From God

Sam J. Miller Clarkesworld 2015 ShortStory 5,875 words

Fundamentalist mom takes networking drug so she can track down her missing teenage boy.

Speculative FictionMotherhoodDarkly Comic

Content warnings 3

abusechild-abusesubstance-use

10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days

Samantha Mills Uncanny 2025 ShortStory Fantasy 2,048 words

"There is a future in which a hellgate opens off the coast of California. It happens at midnight on the first day of the new year, which is sooner than anyone expected. The waters rise and we are forced to abandon our home, but one of the neighbors has a...

SlipstreamPolitical ResistanceEarnest

Content warnings 4

deathillness-and-pandemicmental-illnessviolence

Four People I Need You to Kill Before the Dance Begins

Louis Inglis Hall Clarkesworld 2025 Novelette Science Fiction 12,590 words

"Do you remember being born? I expect that you do. After all, it happened only a very few minutes ago. Sensation comes first. Perhaps it was my voice you noticed—a ragged voice, new-carved. These are your first sounds. Sandpaper words, and the even temper...

BiopunkColonialismSecond Person

Content warnings 1

death

And She Had Been So Reasonable

Rachel Bolton Apex Magazine 2024 ShortStory Horror 2,600 words

There is a woman, and she is a man’s wife. Please give her name. Call her whatever you’d like.

Social SatirePolitical ResistanceMetafictional

Content warnings 3

abusebody-horrorviolence

Shadow Films

Ben Peek Lightspeed 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 9,148 words

"Alvin’s scripts arrived in yellow envelopes. They were hand delivered, placed inside his letter box as if part of the regular mail, but with no address or stamps on it. The scripts were typed on unlined paper. They were short, never longer than a page,...

Near FutureArt And CreationRestrained

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Ghost Tenders of Chornobyl

Nika Murphy Apex 2024 ShortStory Fantasy 3,904 words

"Not all the ghosts of Chornobyl died in 1986. Some died years—decades—later, bodies ravaged by mutated cells. They were a hundred kilometers away, not realizing their favorite mug was doused with irradiated atoms from the destroyed reactor. I died in...

SlipstreamWarDefiant

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-onewar

The Lark Ascending

Eleanna Castroianni Clarkesworld 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 2,380 words

"They even took the violins. Every last one of them: Amadeus, Josephine, Mulberry, Nestor. They came into the house through the front door, guests without a host, a peculiar band of invited thieves. Plugged into my power station as a seemingly...

DystopiaAI PersonhoodIntrospective

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

Such Is My Idea Of Happiness

David Goodman Clarkesworld 2023 Novelette Cyberpunk 9,550 words

"I hear them howling long before I see them. Never been sure why they do that, after a few drinks. Like a troop of howler monkeys, whooping to each other. Or wolves, running as a pack. I’m used to it, after six years in the City. Still hate when they’re...

DystopiaCorporate PowerIntrospective

The Spoil Heap

Fiona Moore Clarkesworld 2023 ShortStory Post-Collapse 6,640 words

"Up on the spoil heap Morag found a robot. This wasn’t that unusual in and of itself. She was always finding them, or parts of them anyway, frozen in contorted attitudes like dinosaur fossils, plastic housing cracked and aluminum limbs splayed. What was...

Social SFAI PersonhoodRestrained

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Your Great Mother Across the Salt Sea

Kelsey Hutton BCS 2023 Novelette Fantasy 8,695 words

"Kwayask nātohta. Listen carefully. There once was a woman who sewed clothes so powerful they made you become the person you needed to be. Children’s feet wrapped in her flower-beaded moccasins never stumbled. Otipēyimisowak orators, backs held straight by...

Historical FantasyDiasporaHistorical Europe

Last Stand of the E. 12th St. Pirates

L.D. Lewis Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,075 words

"There was only one freight car down the wall into the Flood District, and it was shared by all bulk service providers who came bearing gifts: maintenance workers, solar installers, grocery and package delivery, and the like. A bing-bong meant another...

Near FutureCorporate PowerNew York City

The Coward Who Stole God's Name

John Wiswell Uncanny 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 4,459 words

"Who is the most beloved person alive? Is it one of those actors who plays superheroes? Is it a political leader? Maybe you’re a galaxy brain and say Beyoncé? No matter who you pick, you know you’re wrong. There’s always that better person who we love so...

Social SatireArt And CreationSatirical

Content warnings 2

self-harmviolence

Barefoot and Midnight

Sheree Renée Thomas Apex 2021 ShortStory Horror 2,044 words

"You ready?” asked the first man, his face pockmarked, lips leering, eyes sullen. “Light’em up,” replied the second. The third nodded his head and produced the gasoline. They knew the children slept inside. No one had to tell them. The Freedmen’s School in...

Southern GothicRacismHistorical USA

Content warnings 3

child-deathracismviolence

Bathymetry

Lorraine Wilson Strange Horizons 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 3,223 words

Fear was already on the street waiting for her. Tulaya had seen this purge-and-nightmare Manifest before in Fatih, tagging the footsteps of an old man in the spice market with its shadow like claws.

SlipstreamDiasporaDefiant

Content warnings 1

death

Before Whom Evil Trembles

Nham Anathema 2021 ShortStory 2,975 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Contemporary FantasyRacismNew York City

Content warnings 3

death-of-a-loved-oneracismviolence

How We Burn

Brenda Peynado Lightspeed 2020 Novelette Dystopia 10,386 words

Sequoia and her friends hate their overcontrolled world, where four generations have only been allowed a single child, making teens rare and coddled.

DystopiaPolitical ResistanceVisceral

Content warnings 3

death-of-a-loved-onesubstance-useviolence

Seven Dreams of a Valley

Prashanth Srivatsa BCS 2020 ShortStory Indian Fantasy 3,501 words

The night watchman was warned not to look at the imprisoned witch, Kalmashi, but it was hard not to, and now he’s having strange dreams.

Historical FantasyArt And CreationElegiac

Content warnings 2

deathwar

The Hummingbird Temple

C.C. Finlay BCS 2020 Novelette Silkpunk 14,968 words

When the Dynast dies, his daughter Lin flees before her older siblings can kill her. She has a place of safety in mind, but she’s never been there herself and needs help to get in.

Secondary World FantasyPolitical ResistanceHopeful

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

A Handful of Sky

Elly Bangs BCS 2019 Novelette Dark Fantasy 8,299 words

Jorren gets a dangerous commission for magical clothes. One that might let her recover much of what she lost when she fell out of favor decades ago, but only if she can figure it out. And survive it.

Secondary World FantasyArt And CreationDefiant

Dune Song

Suyi Davies Okungbowa Apex 2019 ShortStory Post Apocalypse 4,600 words ♪ audio

Isiuwa survived the apocalypse, and its people live on in the middle of a desert. The chief says leaving means certain death, but Nata thinks he’s lying.

DystopiaColonialismWest Africa

Content warnings 1

violence

Knowledgeable Creatures

Christopher Rowe Tor.com 2019 ShortStory Alternate Reality Fantasy 5,870 words

Detective Connolly is a dog in a world where some animals are “knowledgeable” and can talk like humans. A human professor hires him to help cover up a murder . . .

Social SatireColonialismDarkly Comic

Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart

Sam J. Miller Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory King Kong Pastiche 3,792 words

On the eve of World War II, five years after King Kong’s death, a young New York taxi driver meets Ann Darrow and learns they have something in common.

SlipstreamQueer IdentityNew York City

Content warnings 1

racism

The Sun from Both Sides

R.S.A. Garcia Clarkesworld 2019 Novelette Space Opera 16,497 words

Eva and Didecus lived together happily in exile on an obscure planet, but they were important people once, and the universe has a way of coming looking for important people—even when they thought they were retired.

Space OperaQueer IdentitySlow Burn

Content warnings 2

deathslavery

An Aria for the Bloodlords

Hannah Strom-Martin BCS 2018 Novelette High Fantasy 10,063 words

As a composer, D’Isle knows that the Bloodlords tightly control music because it can attract demons from the forest. He’s alarmed when his new prima donna starts improvising illegally.

Historical FantasyRevengeDefiant

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Shadowdrop

Chris Willrich BCS 2018 Novella Fantasy Adventure 23,550 words

Action, Adventure, Tragedy, Victory—with Lots of Cats.

Secondary World FantasyFriendshipTense

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Glow-in-the-Dark Girls

Senaa Ahmad Strange Horizons 2018 ShortStory Surreal 4,199 words

A group of women have been chemically altered to set cities on fire from a distance. Not everyone thinks this is a good idea—including the women themselves.

Speculative FictionClass InequalityDefiant

Content warnings 4

child-deathdeathillness-and-pandemicviolence

The Sweetness of Honey and Rot

A. Merc Rustad BCS 2018 Novelette High Fantasy Horror 8,915 words

The Life Tree protects the villagers, at the price of human sacrifices. When it takes Jiteh’s brother, she starts looking for ways to escape.

Secondary World FantasyMotherhoodDefiant

Content warnings 3

body-horrorchild-deathdeath

The Old Dispensation

Lavie Tidhar Tor.com 2017 ShortStory Space Opera 6,642 words

Shemesh returns from his mission on planet Kadesh to face inquisition by the Exiliarch. What really happened when he met the heretic there?

Space OperaDiasporaIntertextual

Content warnings 1

violence

Afrofuturist 419

Nnedi Okorafor Clarkesworld 2016 ShortStory SF Humor 1,616 words

Nigerian astronaut Abacha Tunde has been abandoned in space since 1990 and he would appreciate some help getting home.

MetafictionalRacismSatirical

Angel, Monster, Man

Sam J. Miller Nightmare 2016 Novelette 11,367 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorQueer IdentityNew York City

Content warnings 8

abusedeathgoreillness-and-pandemicsexual-contentsubstance-usesuicideviolence

I Was a Teenage Werewolf

Dale Bailey Nightmare 2016 ShortStory 6,520 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Psychological HorrorPolitical ResistanceMidwest USA

Content warnings 5

body-horrorcannibalismdeathgoreviolence

Something Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What It Was

Paul McAuley Tor.com 2016 ShortStory Hard SF 6,013 words

On the planet First Foot, the small town of Joe's Corner faces conflict over building a radio telescope close to local alien artifacts.

First ContactArtificial IntelligenceRestrained

Unauthorized Access

An Owomoyela Lightspeed 2016 Novelette Hacker SF 10,213 words

Fresh out of prison for hacking, Aedo gets a request to do an even bigger hack. But why does Energy Davison want to hack its own systems?

CyberpunkCorporate PowerDefiant

The Empress in Her Glory

Robert Reed Clarkesworld 2015 ShortStory 6,996 words

Aliens decide to rule the Earth indirectly, picking a middle-aged woman from an insurance company to be their intermediary.

First ContactMotherhoodRestrained

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

Abstraction Is When I Design Giant Death Creatures and Attraction Is When I Do It for You

Claire Jia-Wen Clarkesworld 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,830 words

"When I was little, I drew dragons and leviathans in my room, stomach down on my bed or tipping my chair back and staring at the ceiling like the lines would rearrange into inspiration. Now I swipe my fingerprint through three levels of security and...

DystopiaArt And CreationSardonic

Content warnings 1

death

Imperfect Simulations

Michelle Z. Jin Clarkesworld 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,430 words

"The kids like Luzhanqi because it’s a non-perfect strategy game: a bridge as they make their way onto bigger, more serious things, like chess and Go. It’s something that even the most incompetent of them could hope to win. Sometimes you just get lucky....

Social SFColonialismRestrained

Liecraft

Anita Moskát Apex 2025 Novelette Dark Fantasy 8,788 words

"For a long time now I’d been practicing liecraft five or six times before breakfast. I’d roll over to Khao’s side of the bed and murmur through the curls of hair winding around his ear: “Go back to sleep, it’s only just daybreak.” Other times I’d hide his...

Secondary World FantasyGuiltUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

body-horrorchild-abuseviolence

Numismatic Archetypes in the Year of Five Regents

Louis Inglis Hall Clarkesworld 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,560 words

"They cut off Auréle’s head and they put it on a pike above the city’s third best bridge. To me, that seemed a shame. I had only just got his nose right. It had a crook in it, Auréle’s nose. A sporting accident, from his days at the Academy. He’d been...

MetafictionalArt And CreationRestrained

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneviolence

On an Unusual Kind of Spatially Distributed Haunting

Bogi Takács Lightspeed 2025 ShortStory Fantasy 1,000 words

"Dear Dr. Erzsébet Krajcsik-Nagy, I am contacting you as a member of the general public, and not as a fellow scholar, though I must say my chosen field of art history does have certain similarities to yours. I read the interview with you in the online...

Psychological HorrorDiasporaRestrained

Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection

Sharang Biswas Strange Horizons 2025 ShortStory Fantasy 2,988 words

"The Alamgir Dynasty has been guiding the Kingdom of Hindustan through centuries of peace, prosperity, and stability. Yet, credit does not rest solely on the wisdom of our modern kings; from the earliest days of what was then called the Alamgiri Empire,...

MetafictionalFriendshipAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

With Only a Razor Between

Martin Cahill Reactor 2025 Novelette Dark Fantasy 8,600 words

Barber Gio Monsargo has learned to stay quiet and keep his head down, offering shaves and haircuts, not political opinions. But when a high-ranking military official of the Empire begins visiting his shop, Gio finds himself tested in ways he could never imagine.

Secondary World FantasyColonialismDefiant

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

A Brief Oral History of the El Zopilote Dock

Alaya Dawn Johnson Clarkesworld 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 8,450 words

"The oldest members of the asamblea all agree that the idea for El Zopilote came out of the Plantation in Texas, back when it was still one more state in the old US. The Plantation is what they called the Sysco-Bush Memorial Carceral Center and it had...

DystopiaRacismAmerican Southwest

Content warnings 3

deathsexual-violenceviolence

Broken

Laura Williams McCaffrey Clarkesworld 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,860 words

"Flyer 247-3 hasn’t flown in five days. In these five days, she has become accustomed to the hum and whine of the air filtration system cranked to its highest setting. She has become accustomed to her cell, four paces long, four paces wide. Its lack of...

Near FutureClass InequalityPost Apocalyptic

The Alice Run

Nancy Kress Reactor 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 7,255 words

A comatose patient undergoes an experimental procedure that uses favorite childhood stories to pull the patient back into consciousness—but the experiment doesn’t go quite as planned…

SlipstreamPolitical ResistanceIntertextual

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

An Ode to Stardust

R.P. Sand Clarkesworld 2023 Novelette Science Fiction 15,100 words

"My cat hops up to his favorite spot by the window to observe the nebula, the pitter-patter of his paws and the low hum-rumble of the engine the only sounds in the room. Misty tendrils amble past, glimmering and cloudlike, carrying an entire medley of warm...

First ContactColonialismDeep Space

Content warnings 1

death

Gim of P

Benjamin DeHaan Apex 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 993 words

"I’m licking mala algae off a thin yellow and blue P sheet that says Nutterfinger when I notice the walls in my home are vibrating. Nothing ever happens in our world surrounded by P. P is what we call the material that makes up our world, and it’s what we...

Social SatirePolitical ResistanceAmbiguous Ending

Our Grandmother's Words

M.H. Ayinde BCS 2023 ShortStory Fantasy 5,711 words

"Our storytellers sing that the Great River Gimamu brought life to the world when the gods first stepped out of it. But when I saw the ships that morning, I knew that it also brought death. As I sat at my stall, weaving the final threads of a new basket, I...

Historical FantasyColonialismDefiant

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

Something That Has Never Touched the Ground

Marilyn Hope BCS 2023 ShortStory Fantasy 1,017 words

"His Majesty plights his troth to the boy by the failing light of the waxing Luster Moon, an auspicious night for waterfowl, prayer, and paladins. Wrong, all of it. Child-groom Softwind Sunder is hellebore and winter sun, plantcraft and rage. When he spits...

Secondary World FantasyQueer IdentityAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 3

child-deathdeathdeath-of-a-loved-one

A Sword Has One Purpose

Phoebe Barton Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,395 words

"I had enough time to light a fresh cigarette before my office door told the client to come in. Smoke in the air didn’t make it any easier to oil a cutlass, but it made me look badass. Same with my leather jacket, tailored to fit comfortably over my...

Space OperaFriendshipDefiant

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Company Town

Aimee Ogden Clarkesworld 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,930 words

"The company alarm sends Cass flailing out of bed with its first chime. If she lingers under the blankets, she’ll disturb Maya: if she doesn’t get up before the second alarm, the volume ratchets up to eighty decibels, and the smart thermostat will crank up...

SlipstreamCorporate PowerSlow Burn

Gamma

Oskar Källner Clarkesworld 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 7,180 words

"Gamma stretched out through the quantum foam. Virtual photons and electrons tickled her subtime body. If she were to reduce her mass to pure quanta then, hypothetically speaking, she would be able to touch the entire universe at once. Practically...

AI FictionAI PersonhoodPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Miraculous Account of Khaja Bairaq, Pennant-Saint of Zabel

Tanvir Ahmed Strange Horizons 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 5,419 words

"The narrators of histories and tellers of tales relate that, in the God-guarded town of Qalati Zabel, there was once a holy woman with a mind to rebel. Her name was Bibi Siti, and she had come to Zabel from her native country to the west. Some believe she...

Historical FantasyColonialismIntertextual

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Pigeon Keeper's Daughter

Su-Yee Lin Strange Horizons 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 6,907 words

"It is in the summer, during the monsoon season in Taipei, when the pigeon keeper’s daughter moves into the apartment on the top floor of a building on an alleyway in Wenshan District. From her window, she sees not only Taipei 101 in the distance with...

Contemporary FantasyPolitical ResistanceSlow Burn

#Spring Love, #Pichal Pairi

Usman T. Malik Tor.com 2021 ShortStory Contemporary Fantasy 7,386 words

A series of interviews between a young, clean-cut journalist and an alternative, independent pichal pairi turns into an unexpected romance. But their relationship is tested when the entire world around them shuts down.

Contemporary FantasyDiasporaLyrical

68:Hazard:Cold

Janelle C. Shane Strange Horizons 2020 ShortStory First Contact 6,016 words

An escaped droid with a downloaded human mind crashes on a hostile planet, where she finds an alien artifact and desperately tries to convince it to help her.

First ContactPolitical ResistanceHopeful

Every Tiny Tooth and Claw (or: Letters from the First Month of the New Directorate)

Marissa Lingen BCS 2020 ShortStory High Fantasy 3,508 words

Two lovers in academia exchange letters ostensibly about newly discovered rodents, but it quickly becomes clear there’s more than meets the eye.

Secondary World FantasyMentorshipEpistolary Adjacent

The Garden Where No One Ever Goes

P.H. Lee BCS 2020 ShortStory Fantasy 1,519 words

"Now, dry and dead, the gardens sulk in the center of the city; not our pride, but our shame. Now the beds and planters are dry with dust, the carvings are chipped away for lime, the paths are run only by rats and ragged dogs. Now it is a place where no...

Historical FantasyQueer IdentitySecond Person

Content warnings 2

death-of-a-loved-oneviolence

Tower of Mud and Straw

Yaroslav Barsukov Metaphorosis 2020 Novella 37,079 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Science FantasyColonialismEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 2

violencewar

Fugue State

Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due Apex 2019 ShortStory Horror 5,501 words

As Charlotte’s husband sinks into early Alzheimer’s, he becomes more and more obsessed with a cult religious figure known only as The Reverend.

Psychological HorrorRacismDread

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Professor Strong and the Brass Boys

Amal Singh Apex 2019 ShortStory Robot SF 5,167 words ♪ audio

A robot music performance aims to teach human beings that robots deserve to be treated as people.

AI FictionAI PersonhoodHopeful

Content warnings 1

death

Said of Angels

Eric Del Carlo Clarkesworld 2019 Novelette Space Opera 13,394 words

The Arch Hierophant of the Cooperation needs to handle the question of a dead prophet’s divinity, so he doesn’t need the distraction of dealing with an illegal civilization in a distant star system.

Space OperaFaithPhilosophical

The Crafter at the Web's Heart

Izzy Wasserstein Apex 2019 ShortStory Fantasy Thriller 6,100 words

Danae’s mom has turned into a plant, and she’s hard up for cash, so she takes a risky delivery job from a guy who’s turning into a book.

Secondary World FantasyArt And CreationDefiant

Content warnings 1

violence

The Forge

Andrew Dykstal BCS 2019 Novelette Flintlock Fantasy Thriller 11,697 words

In the aftermath of the king’s assassination, the guard commander and high mage struggle to discover who was behind it and what to do about it.

Secondary World FantasyMentorshipSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

A World to Die For

Tobias S. Buckell Clarkesworld 2018 Novelette Multiverse 9,729 words

Chenra is a gunner for a Mad Max-like cluster of fighters in a world devastated by climate change. She’s surprised when strangers come looking for her. Strangers driving equipment that looks like it was made recently—not decades ago.

DystopiaClass InequalityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Bringing Down the Sky

Alan Bao Clarkesworld 2018 Novelette Climate Dystopia 11,692 words

Two American men come to a town on the Tibetan plateau to see how they extract clean air from the high slopes that they can sell to the public.

DystopiaCorporate PowerSardonic

Harry and Marlowe and the Secret of Ahomana

Carrie Vaughn Lightspeed 2018 Novelette Steampunk Adventure 9,971 words

In a storm, in an alternate 1890s South Pacific, their airship crashes on a Pacific Island occupied by surprisingly high-tech natives.

Science FantasyColonialismHistorical Europe

The Tragedy of Zayred the Splendid

Grace Seybold BCS 2018 Novelette Epic Fantasy 8,877 words

Zayred and Meiri used to be close friends and powerful magicians who could win battles through singing, but now they’re devoted to destroying each other’s reputation.

Secondary World FantasyFriendshipPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathwar

Toward a New Lexicon of Augury

Sabrina Vourvoulias Apex 2018 ShortStory Modern Fantasy Dystopia 6,924 words

The government wants to build affordable housing for the homeless, but it wants them to agree to quit using magic first.

DystopiaColonialismIntertextual

The Ways Out

Sam J. Miller Clarkesworld 2017 ShortStory Mutants 5,889 words

A government agent secretly watches Ryx (age 10) and Hector (age 19) because they both have dangerous “variant” abilities.

DystopiaQueer IdentityEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 2

deathsubstance-use

Waiting on a Bright Moon

JY Yang Tor.com 2017 Novelette Space Opera 9,957 words

Xin’s orderly life on Eighth Colony changes forever when she ushers a mutilated body through the portal.

Space OperaColonialismSecond Person

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

A Dead Djinn In Cairo

P. Djèlí Clark Tor.com 2016 Novelette Historical Fantasy 12,557 words

In 1912 Cairo, the police investigate the apparent murder of an immortal Djinn.

Historical FantasyColonialismHistorical Egypt

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Checkerboard Planet

Eleanor Arnason Clarkesworld 2016 Novelette SF 11,916 words

The AIs contract Lydia to check out an unusual planet and the secretive corporation that's supposed to be developing it.

First ContactArtificial IntelligencePhilosophical

Jonas And The Fox

Rich Larson Clarkesworld 2016 Novelette SF 8,593 words

Disguised in the body of a dead little boy, Fox needs to escape from the colony before the revolutionary leaders find him. But the boy's brother may be a problem.

Near FutureGuiltTense

Content warnings 1

death

The Smog Society

Chen Qiufan Lightspeed 2015 ShortStory 4,618 words

A lonely old Chinese man gets involved in the fight against smog--without government approval.

Near FutureArt And CreationRestrained

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

Espie Droger Dreams of War

Matthew Kressel Lightspeed 2026 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,299 words

Espie Droger dreams of war. What else can he dream of? There is nothing left. He has dreamed of world travel and expensive Scotch and lithe young women and sudden uncontrollable laughter. But his vitality has seeped from him like fluid from a dying tree....

DystopiaGuiltBleak

Content warnings 3

deathillness-and-pandemicwar

Where the Dream Train Goes

Jason Sanford BCS 2026 Novella Science Fantasy 34,436 words

"I was so excited to be working on the locomotives I’d loved since childhood. I’d been given an opportunity no one else in the valley had ever received. But suddenly I understood the conflicting emotions of pride and worry I’d seen in my parents. I trusted...

Science FantasyColonialismDread

Content warnings 2

child-deathviolence

A Charm to Keep the Evil Eye Away From Your Campervan; or, Roamin' Rights

Christopher R. Muscato Strange Horizons 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,522 words

"Carlo checked his rearview mirror, gravel flying as he tore over the road. He didn’t know why the Cappelli Verdi were after the woman in the back of his van, clutching a hemp blanket around her shoulders. All he knew was that he needed to get out of town,...

DystopiaCorporate PowerHopeful

Bloody Muddy Water

Jonathan Louis Duckworth BCS 2025 Novelette Fantasy 11,958 words

"Blackheel Lysha put down a fine table of grub for breakfast: pinky beans, cornbread, boiled shellbird eggs, roast marsh hen legs, and a gooey gumbo of okra and sweetcrab. And what a nice longhouse too, with rare glass windows to keep all the nasty sooty...

Southern GothicCorporate PowerSardonic

Content warnings 3

deathillness-and-pandemicviolence

Compass Rose, Running

Julie Reeser BCS 2025 ShortStory Fantasy 4,414 words

"You ever love a place more than people? Mama Patch’s house held me and all my running and snooping without ever forcing me to slow down or stay put. I could run from the rafters down the bang-bang spiral case, then sideways through the six rooms of...

Social SatireQueer IdentityIntrospective

Content warnings 3

homophobiasexual-violenceviolence

In Luck's Panoply Clad, I Stand

Phoebe Barton Clarkesworld 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,090 words

"Seven months since the war and two since winter should’ve ended, and Lake Erie is still frozen thick enough for me to walk out and gather care packages dropped from orbit. Soon enough, those metal husks will spill out harvests from Luna, Titan, Mirabilis;...

Space OperaGuiltBleak

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-onewar

O Mechfighter, O Starsinger

Osahon Ize-Iyamu Lightspeed 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,058 words

"The Starsinger, the Starsinger, the Starsinger, he sings. His histories have long been recorded—in every pit stop he has visited. In every station he has stayed. It may be just a minute of the traffickers slapping the Bini out of his mouth, or them...

Science FantasyColonialismVisceral

Content warnings 3

child-abuseslaverysuicide

The Job Interview

Carrie Vaughn Clarkesworld 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,300 words

"Hi Lisle. Hope you’ve had some coffee. The topside comms array is still glitching, and engineering hasn’t lifted a finger to run diagnostics. They say the work order has to come from your end. Shouldn’t take long once they get it. Happy simulated morning to you!"

Social SatireCorporate PowerSatirical

Yesterday

A.M. Barrie Strange Horizons 2025 Novelette Fantasy 9,606 words

"Yesterday, I didn’t care much about much. Back then, there hadn’t been any cars in the parking lot. We didn’t see any muddy footprints stamped into the dirt. Not even the hoofprint exclamations of deer. The weather was partly to blame, but really people...

Southern GothicRacismHistorical USA

Content warnings 3

deathracismviolence

A Cure for Solastalgia

E.M. Linden Strange Horizons 2024 ShortStory Fantasy 2,426 words ♪ audio

"When I leave home at seventeen, my mother tells me three things. Not to care too much. To keep my gift a secret. And to get used to being alone. “You’ll see what it’s like,” she says. “Out there in the real world.” None of this is good advice."

Contemporary FantasyPolitical ResistanceHopeful

Antyesti For a Dead Ganesa

Ashok K. Banker Lightspeed 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 16,000 words

"Two hours out of deadsleep is too soon to be staring at the butchered corpse of a dead god. Neel looks down as the kalipeeli begins its descent to Chowpatty Beach and feels his stomach flip."

CyberpunkColonialismPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathgore

Phosphorescence

Ben Berman Ghan Clarkesworld 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 6,190 words

"In the belly of the ship, the Machinist toiled. Beyond the walls of her workshop, ships of dark metal pursued her across the Atlantic, their hulls unaffected by the gnashing teeth of thunderstorms. Lightning flashed horizontally across the bay. Those dark...

BiopunkQueer IdentityPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Enceladus South Pole Base Named after V.I. Lenin

Zohar Jacobs Clarkesworld 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 7,110 words

"The sketch showed a young woman, her face a perfect oval, holding our base in her cupped hands. Behind her head, Saturn hung golden within its halo of rings. That was the first sign that religion had come with us to Enceladus. I had risen early in the...

Social SFGuiltPhilosophical

Content warnings 1

death

The Heist for the Soul of Humanity

Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko Lightspeed 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 10,045 words

"The simulation blossomed around Nadja Gavrić like a hypercube unpacking itself into three dimensions. The plain metal floors of the Roses’ cargo bay turned the shiny white of faux marble. The walls closed in, became a circular chamber. Display cases...

Space OperaCorporate PowerSardonic

The Slide

Oliver Stifel Clarkesworld 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 7,940 words

"Rally is a dance on wet gravel to the roar of six cylinders and the flutter of turbochargers but I say again, Rally is a dance. I remembered when I discovered this truth, when I stopped jogging in place and began to ice skate on narrow back trails, not so...

Social SatireCorporate PowerBleak

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

Travelers' Tales from the Ends of the World

Vandana Singh Lightspeed 2024 Novelette Fantasy 10,976 words

"Welcome, Stranger! This is a story for you, you who wait for my words to fall into your ear, so that we can share being and become more than we are alone. The tales I have to tell today are woven into this fabric that unrolls before you as I work my Loom....

DystopiaColonialismSouth Asia

Content warnings 3

child-deathracismsexual-violence

Death Is Better

Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe Lightspeed 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 1,471 words

"Six minutes and a behemoth. That is all that stands between us and freedom. I glance at Abiola’s face. The helmet she wears prevents me from seeing her expression, but I catch the steely determination in her dark eyes. She’s ready. There’s no backing out...

Space OperaPolitical ResistanceVisceral

Content warnings 3

deathslaveryviolence

Going Time

Amal Singh Clarkesworld 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,780 words

"It’s six weeks ’til Going Time. I never really got used to that naming convention. The phrase has “Going” and “Time” in it, the latter carrying the entire weight of the definition. The former is vague. Going where? Beneath the crusty morass of our...

DystopiaColonialismUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 1

death

How to Cook and Eat the Rich

Sunyi Dean Tor.com 2023 ShortStory Horror 3,038 words

A man is offered the opportunity to partake in an exclusive, subscription-based eating club for those who wish to dine on human flesh. But he may have bitten off a little more than he can chew.

Social SatireRevengeSatirical

Content warnings 3

cannibalismgoreviolence

Light Speed Is Not a Speed

Andy Dudak Clarkesworld 2023 Novelette Science Fiction 8,910 words

"The young rag-smasher halts on a terrace. He chases his breath, gazing down on the waterfront. Even from this distance, the bustle lends him an odd calm. Brisk trade means things are running. No one’s starving, not even beggars. Down there, people...

Secondary WorldArt And CreationPhilosophical

Content warnings 1

violence

Subject: More Monsters Will Not Make Us Safer

Paul Crenshaw Lightspeed 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 757 words

"Dear Senator: I am writing with concern about the recent legislative decision (SB-AR-15) to place monsters outside our schools. As a lifelong resident of Arkansas and these United States, I certainly understand the need to protect our children from active...

Social SatirePolitical ResistanceSatirical

The Three O'Clock Dragon

John Wiswell Tor.com 2023 ShortStory Urban Fantasy 4,615 words

Prosperity City’s corrupt mayor never guessed his greatest opponent would be a fire-breathing dragon and her unconventional platform…

Social SatireFriendshipWhimsical

Content warnings 1

violence

12 Things A Trini Should Know Before Travelling To A Back In Times Fete™

R.S.A. Garcia Strange Horizons 2022 ShortStory Time Travel 1,821 words

"By now, you've received your Portal Ticket confirmations and ForeverFete™ Mas Pack, which should include essentials such as several period correct costumes; one-dose capsules for various ailments common amongst the British West Indies population during...

Social SatireDiasporaCaribbean

Content warnings 3

deathracismviolence

Civilian Assumptions

Dominique Dickey Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 1,346 words

"Like their battleship, Maddox was born for war. They emerged from the nursery with one purpose alone: to expand the Consortium’s borders, a bloody mission that had lasted generations, and would last generations to come. Any civilian raised in the...

Space OperaAI PersonhoodTender

Clockwork Bayani

EK Gonzales Strange Horizons 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 4,375 words

"There was a small store in Manila, inside the walls of Intramuros, accessible to the wealthy and powerful, between a clothing store and a jewelry store. Children in clean crisp clothes, usually with parents or carers, stood before the store window,...

Science FantasyAI PersonhoodTender

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Have Mercy, My Love, While We Wait for the Thaw

Iori Kusano Apex 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,657 words

"The Grieving House rises like a lighthouse from the artificial snowdrifts, its windows blazing honeyed gold. The clean lines of it look too much like a grave marker. The House was built to give the bereaved some sense of togetherness and let them guide...

Space OperaColonialismRestrained

Content warnings 2

violencewar

Polly and (Not) Charles Conquer the Solar System

Carrie Vaughn Clarkesworld 2022 Novella Science Fiction 20,040 words

"This is Chapter Thirty or so in a whole ongoing saga that I don’t have time to get into right now. I’m jumping in at the point when my Machiavellian twin brother Charles decided to take over Mars, and I decided to help. My big failing is I never figure...

Space OperaFriendshipEarnest

The CRISPR Cookbook: A Guide to Biohacking Your Own Abortion in a Post-Roe World

MKRNYILGL Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction 2,380 words

"If you’re reading this—on some godforsaken imageboard, or dog-eared book page, or in encrypted base pairs sequenced off 3D-printed oligos—you’re probably grappling with a pretty tough decision right now. Breathe. I’m not judging you. I know how it goes....

BiopunkMotherhoodSardonic

Content warnings 1

pregnancy-loss

The Day When the Last War is Over

Sergey Gerasimov Apex 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 3,713 words

"It’s the day when the last war is over, and skeletons of swallows are already starting to return. They don’t have beaks, and their white, hard-boiled eyes fly three inches ahead of their semi-transparent faces, or sometimes on their side. Skeletons of...

SlipstreamPolitical ResistanceAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

deathwar

The Turnip, or, How the Whole World Was Brought to Peace

P.H. Lee Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Fantasy 6,845 words

"I have heard it on the rumors that when the tale-spinner’s guild gathers in their secret places, a full half of them are sworn to never tell the truth, and the other half to never tell a lie, even if it mean their life. Being one of that trade myself, I...

Fairy Tale RetellingFriendshipHistorical Europe

Content warnings 1

violence

To Embody a Wildfire Starting

Iona Datt Sharma BCS 2022 Novelette Fantasy 11,473 words

"During the unbearable years of tyranny, the political prisoners of the Anchorite Hegemony made a solemn covenant: when the time came, they would cross the last miles to freedom on their feet. For reasons of youth and idiocy, Tishrel thought he would have...

Secondary World FantasyJusticeIntrospective

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

A Day in the Life of Anmar 20X1

Abdulla Moaswes Strange Horizons 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,378 words

"It was 10 a.m., and Anmar clapped his hands to silence the screeching wake-up alarm he had set for himself. He didn’t actually need the alarm, since he had already been awake for twelve minutes before it went off, but Anmar enjoyed using technology...

Social SatireColonialismSatirical

A Heist in Fifteen Products from the Orion Spur's Longest-Running Catalog

Andrea M. Pawley Clarkesworld 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 3,797 words

"Mom always insisted everyone is family at Tollnacher Stimmacher, but I’m the only one she ever adopted. Twenty-five years ago, I was an orphan on the Earth colony, Lulularia. Mom raised me as her own despite my being human and her being a robot. Ever...

Social SatireCorporate PowerMetafictional

A House Is Not a Home

L. Chan Clarkesworld 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 1,050 words

"Home brews coffee; black, no sugar. She maintains the temperature of the coffee at precisely sixty degrees Celsius. Most of the coffee sloshes over the jagged edges of the half-shattered mug. Rough holes have been torn through the matte plastic back of...

DystopiaSurveillance StateRestrained

A Thousand Tiny Gods

Nadia Afifi Clarkesworld 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,980 words

"The minister’s wife arrives at the Bahrain Ministry of Nanotechnology in a black limousine with dark, tinted windows. She normally eschews the hijab, but today, she’s wrapped in a black abaya with a full face covering, a useful method of concealing her...

BiopunkAmbitionHopeful

Content warnings 2

deathillness-and-pandemic

Bast and Her Young

Tegan Moore BCS 2021 Novelette Historical Fantasy 10,515 words

"She was different. She was distinguished by the oracles. She spoke to the gods, who descended on her in disorienting, frightening fits that made her vision blank out and caused her to fall down. As God’s Wife of Amun she had been closer to the gods than...

Historical FantasyMotherhoodHistorical Egypt

Memoranda from the End of the World

Gene Doucette Lightspeed 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,400 words

"Attached, please find your personal company-issued Breathing Apparatus, for immediate use within all corporate campus unfiltered air locations! This includes all outdoor locations, such as: the parking lots; the parking garage; the smoker’s hut; the paths...

First ContactCorporate PowerSardonic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Rock-Adda's World

Chloe Smith Metaphorosis 2021 ShortStory 5,930 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

First ContactColonialismEarnest

Vanishing Point

Robert V.S. Redick Clarkesworld 2021 Novelette Science Fiction 11,569 words

"Disaster, betrayal, and the ship already blasting its horn. The family clusters around the packing crates, destitute, stunned. We must go regardless, says their father, this is the last ship, what else can we do? Their mother nods, frowning so as not to...

Diaspora SFDiasporaSlow Burn

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

A Voyage to Queensthroat

Anya Johanna DeNiro Strange Horizons 2020 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,390 words

"Let me tell you how I first met Seax-of-Peony, Empress of the Known Moons."

Space OperaTrans IdentityIntrospective

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Fire and Falling

Andrew Dykstal BCS 2020 Novelette Steampunk Thriller 15,229 words

Mir’s mission to deliver codebooks gets complicated when she realizes she’s being followed—and followed by more than one person at that.

Science FantasyMentorshipIntrospective

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Girls with Needles and Frost

Jenny Rae Rappaport BCS 2020 Novelette Fantasy 8,265 words

"We learn to live without sweet berry jam, cabbage cooked with apples, and wine. We train ourselves not to miss the flowers, and we toe the line. We always toe the line. When the soldiers ransack our homes, collecting any purple item of clothing, we hand...

Historical FantasyFriendshipHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

Refuge

Ben Peek Lightspeed 2020 ShortStory Dark Fantasy Adventure 6,568 words

The story of how Aned Heast, having lost a leg and his entire army, reclaimed his honor in a drought-ridden town whose adults mysteriously vanished.

Secondary World FantasyJusticeRestrained

Content warnings 3

deathslaveryviolence

Songs of Activation

Andy Dudak Clarkesworld 2020 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,851 words

"Pinander has been reciting “Song of Manifold Suns”all morning, in overgrown, forgotten garden nooks or neglected library aisles, far from the mutterings of other desperate students. Ancient knowledge comes to life within him."

Space OperaClass InequalityPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

The Past, Like a River In Flood

Marissa Lingen BCS 2020 ShortStory Fantasy 4,463 words

"They’d built a new Vault of Potions after the flood—of course they’d had to, with the thaumatically cursed mess that had become of the old one. Still, it made me twitch and reach for my wand, walking along the familiar tree-lined quad and hearing the...

Historical FantasyGuiltSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Pride of Salinkari

Elizabeth Crowe Strange Horizons 2020 ShortStory Colony SF 6,745 words

In a culture that teaches that you should commit suicide when you’re at your peak, a young man kills himself after winning a prize and his parents prosecute his teacher.

Secondary World FantasyGuiltRestrained

Content warnings 2

deathsuicide

The Transubstantiation

Evan Dicken BCS 2020 Novelette Fantasy Adventure 11,386 words

Deff and his team hunt the countryside for illegal Heroes, whom they kill and then sell the body parts. Something truly terrible happened with these “Heroes” in the recent past, and it’s not entirely done.

Historical FantasyGuiltPhilosophical

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Where the World Ends Without Us

Jason Sanford BCS 2020 Novelette Post Apocalypse 16,573 words

Six years ago, after the slaughter of anchors by Frere-Jones, Alexnya was made the new anchor, but now the grains have decided to try her for Frere-Jones’s actions—even though she had nothing to do with it.

Science FantasyPolitical ResistancePost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Abacus of Ether

Stephen Case BCS 2019 Novelette High Fantasy 9,150 words

Madam Grey sells life insurance to the young men recruited by the Empire to fight in the Grass War. The war goes badly, but she has a chance to end it—at great cost.

Historical FantasyMentorshipRestrained

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Field Mice

Andy Dudak Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory Post Apocalypse 5,803 words

In the ruins of the American Midwest, two countries struggle over the question of whether brain uploads are still the same person, and a secret agent finds his loyalties have changed.

DystopiaGuiltAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Fire in the Bone

Ray Nayler Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory SF Colony 5,635 words

On an agricultural planet, on the night they celebrate the harvest, a young man plans a secret rendezvous with his forbidden lover.

Secondary WorldColonialismUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Malinche

Gabriela Santiago Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory Meso-American Alternate History Fantasy 6,888 words

Cortez invades a Mexico that has electricity, and he gets help from an unhappy slave girl.

Historical FantasyRevengeIntertextual

Content warnings 3

deathslaveryviolence

N-Coin

Tobias S. Buckell Apex 2019 ShortStory Mainstream Thriller 3,238 words ♪ audio

A young Wall Street investment banker tells how he lost a billion dollars in a Bitcoin for black people.

Social SatireRacismNew York City

Content warnings 1

suicide

Signal

L.D. Lewis Fireside 2019 ShortStory 2,107 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

DystopiaPolitical ResistancePost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

abuseviolence

The Blanched Bones, the Tyrant Wind

Karen Osborne Fireside 2019 ShortStory 835 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Secondary World FantasyPolitical ResistanceHopeful

The Blighted Godling of Company Town H

Beth Cato BCS 2019 ShortStory Future-Fantasy Steampunk 5,300 words

The godling of Town H sits in her office, depressed because with the bankruptcy of the company, her town is almost dead. But she has to rouse herself because something is attacking the town, and her people need her.

Social SatireCorporate PowerHopeful

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

The Flowering

Soyeon Jeong Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory Cyberpunk Dystopia 5,336 words

A future Korea requires government proof of identity before you can access the Internet, and the narrator tells about her sister, who was a subversive trying to enable an uncensored, anonymous system.

BiopunkGuiltEpistolary Adjacent

The Valley of Wounded Deer

E. Lily Yu Lightspeed 2019 ShortStory Fairy Tale 3,479 words

In distant Ruyastan a single prince survives her mother’s efforts to hold power by slaying all descendants of her sons.

Fairy Tale RetellingPolitical ResistanceElegiac

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

A House by the Sea

P.H. Lee Uncanny 2018 ShortStory Pastiche 1,394 words

We know about the ones who walked away from Omelas, but what the heck happened to the kid in the basement?

SlipstreamGuiltSecond Person

Content warnings 2

child-abusedeath

Cold Blue Sky

JE Bates Apex 2018 ShortStory SF Mystery 3,997 words ♪ audio

Cyber-terrorists used Aki, a humanoid robot, for their attack on Sentionics Corp, and now the police need to figure out what they did and how they did it.

CyberpunkArtificial IntelligenceBleak

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Greetings, Humanity! Welcome To Your Choice Of Species!

Adam-Troy Castro Lightspeed 2018 ShortStory SF Humor 2,528 words

The galactic government has decided to evict humanity from Earth, but we’ve got a choice of different species that are willing to accept us—provided we convert to their forms.

First ContactColonialismSatirical

I Sing Against the Silent Sun

A. Merc Rustad & Ada Hoffmann Lightspeed 2018 Novelette Future Fantasy 8,854 words

A few years ago, the Gray Sun killed millions to silence the subversion of Li Sin’s revolutionary poetry. Li Sin faked their own death to escape, but somehow the Gray Sun learned the truth, and now it hunts again.

Space OperaArt And CreationHopeful

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

The Miracle Lambs of Minane

Finbarr O'Reilly Clarkesworld 2018 ShortStory Post-Ecological Apocalypse 7,173 words

In an Ireland recovering from the great famine of the 2030s, a young woman gets a job with an older doctor who’s growing odd things in her garden.

Speculative FictionMotherhoodWry

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Unplaces: An Atlas of Non-existence

Izzy Wasserstein Clarkesworld 2018 ShortStory Apocalypse 1,750 words

Hand-written notes in a book about imaginary places tell a woman’s story of her attempt to survive a fascist takeover of the United States.

MetafictionalQueer IdentityPost Apocalyptic

Paradox

Naomi Kritzer Uncanny 2017 ShortStory Time Travel 1,637 words

In which a chorus of time travelers give us advice, in the paradoxical way of time travelers.

MetafictionalPolitical ResistanceSardonic

Say, She Toy

Chesya Burke Apex 2017 ShortStory Horror 2,600 words

Cloe is a black android built to let white people act out their aggressions.

AI FictionRacismVisceral

Content warnings 3

racismsexual-violenceviolence

Crisis Actors

Maddison Stoff & Corey J. White Strange Horizons 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,232 words

"Michael sips his coffee, watching the screen automatically cycle through vidfeeds coming in from across the country, lingering just long enough to hit the relevant button. He knows the dominionist rhetoric, had heard it in the media, read it when he...

DystopiaRevengeMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Escape Pod 1007: 35 / F / Lane’s Creek, Oklahoma

Hans Ege Wenger Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

35 / F / Lane's Creek, Oklahoma By Hans Ege Wenger Sandra loaded. Boxes and pallets, mostly. Full of avocados, computer chips, plastic toys, etc. All carefully placed by her rubber-faced grippers into the trucks that darted in and out of the warehouse...

Near FutureFriendshipMidwest USA

Udo Gehler and the Virgin Bitch of the Resistance

Andrea Kriz Lightspeed 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 9,308 words

"Udo Gehler saw his next opponent was the Virgin Bitch of the Resistance and didn’t even blink. He’d been curled up in his personal ARMOR lounge, holo-projecting the replay of his last match frame by frame, noting every instance he’d lost momentum or ceded...

Science FantasyPolitical ResistancePost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

sexual-violenceviolencewar

Thin Ice

Kemi Ashing-Giwa Clarkesworld 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 2,110 words

"You are no poet. The rest of your clan were. But that was before Half-Brilliant came and began eating them. Before Half-Brilliant began chewing up your people and their minds and spitting the bloody remains over snow-white canvases. Now It is the only...

HorrorArt And CreationBleak

Content warnings 3

body-horrorslaveryviolence

Stronger

K.J. Parker BCS 2021 Novelette Fantasy 11,287 words

"Right,” I said. “Well, it’s a letter to the parents of the girl I love with all my heart and soul, telling them how I’ve just watched their daughter being dragged away screaming by soldiers and loaded on a ship to be taken as a sacrifice to the Black...

Historical FantasyRevengeHistorical Europe

Content warnings 1

violence

The Revolution Will Not Be Served with Fries

Meg Elison Lightspeed 2021 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,686 words

"At least when I tell the fucking machine I don’t want pickles, it remembers that I don’t want pickles. Now, what goes on behind the counter is another story. They hire people who can barely read. But at least I’m trusting my order to something...

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceDefiant

The Ceremony

Mari Ness Fireside 2018 ShortStory 1,099 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Fairy Tale RetellingClass InequalitySardonic

The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom

Max Gladstone Tor.com 2017 ShortStory Space Opera 6,743 words

The Scholast fell to earth in the Low Waters Kingdom and called on them to prepare to defend themselves from an invasion from another world.

Science FantasyColonialismUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

Coming Home

Dhiyanah Hassan Strange Horizons 2026 ShortStory 5,165 words

If only Serthe'P had been able to fit in, maybe she could have protected —. No. This thought was dangerous. Mnth’R had helped her understand that their isolation had more to do with the Raja’s exploitation of their cast’s fears than any shortcomings of...

Science FantasyDisabilityVisceral

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Escape Pod 1028: What Any Dead Thing Wants (Part 3 of 3)

Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Aimee Ogden Narrator : Isaac Harwood Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Copious helpings of harsh language descriptors found here. Don’t miss Parts 1 and 2: Escape Pod 1026: What Any Dead Thing Wants (Part 1 of 3), Escape Pod...

Science FantasyColonialismDefiant

Content warnings 1

death

Escape Pod 1030: The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On

Rodrigo Culagovski Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Rodrigo Culagovski Narrator : Julia Rios Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1030: The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On is an Escape Pod original. The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On By Rodrigo Culagovski There are two...

Social SatireCorporate PowerSardonic

Content warnings 2

deathwar

Escape Pod 1045: The Graduates of Formost 891c

Frank Baird Hughes Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Frank Baird Hughes Narrator : Jairus Durnett Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1045: The Graduates of Formost 891c is an Escape Pod original. Contains examples of animal surgical modification. The Graduates of Formost...

Social SatireMentorshipWhimsical

Content warnings 2

animal-harmdeath

How the Waters Returned to Apicuya

editor GigaNotoSaurus 2026 ShortStory 5,528 words

Bring your sister and I will tell you the story of how the waters returned to Apicuya. No, bring all the children. This is important. Don’t splash. If you cannot hear the thrum of the skymill, you are being too loud. Sit in the shallow pool, otherwise your...

Secondary World FantasyColonialismMetafictional

Content warnings 2

child-deathdeath

Person, Place, Thing by Marissa Lingen

Marissa Lingen Clarkesworld 2026

I speak human very well, better than any of my colony. You can tell that I speak human very well because I didn’t make the obvious mistakes like “I speaking […]

First ContactFriendshipEarnest

Content warnings 1

violence

PodCastle 942: TALES FROM THE VAULTS: Burning Season

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : C. L. Clark Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Wanini Kimemiah Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously ran as episode 519 as a PodCastle Original Rated PG-13 Burning Season By C. L. Clark It was burning season in Rashid. Again. Even in the...

Historical FantasyColonialismBleak

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

PodCastle 946: TALES FROM THE VAULTS: A Fine Balance

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Charlotte Ashley Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Ziv Wities Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously ran as episode 517 and first published in Fantasy & Science Fiction. Rated PG-13 A Fine Balance By Charlotte Ashley My mistress, Shoanna Yildirim,...

Social SatireClass InequalityDefiant

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Sarah’s Laugh

Melissa A Watkins Lightspeed 2026

Everyone knows the Walls around the cities fell. What some people don’t remember is that the first one fell because of a laugh. It sounded like a ringing bell. Not like it came out of a baby at all. That was the first thing I told the scholar boy. He was a...

DystopiaCorporate PowerSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

racismviolence

Scion by Thomas Ha (audio)

Clarkesworld Magazine Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Scion" written by Thomas Ha. Published in the March 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_03_26 Support us on Patreon at...

Science FantasyColonialismDread

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

The Best of Intentions

Mari Ness Lightspeed 2026

She assures them, again and again, that she acted under the best—the very best—of intentions. Oh, yes, she can be a bit dramatic at times—she won’t deny that. And she was hurt—very hurt—by that mess with the invitations. She won’t deny that, either. But...

Fairy Tale RetellingClass InequalityUnreliable Narrator

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

The Snatchers

Eugenia Triantafyllou Uncanny 2026 ♪ audio

Out in the great expanse of cosmos, little seeds float. They have been drifting for billions of years in the cold darkness of space from one planet to the other, driven by the need for survival and propagation, but most of all driven by spite (they will...

Social SatireCorporate PowerDread

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

Up the Line to Death by Carrie Vaughn (audio)

Clarkesworld Magazine Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Up the Line to Death" written by Carrie Vaughn. Published in the June 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/vaughn_06_26 Support...

AI FictionArtificial IntelligenceEarnest

Content warnings 1

war

Update on Rules for the Spatiotemporal Use of Campus Spaces

Andrea Kriz Lightspeed 2026

Dear Members of the Community, As we begin yet another fall semester in the throes of the rogue timestream unleashed on our campus, I cannot help but take a moment to marvel at just how vibrant our community has become. In addition to our current...

Social SatireCorporate PowerSatirical

Content warnings 2

slaveryviolence

Escape Pod 1006: When the Oracle Speaks (Part 2 of 2)

Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Author : Albert Chu Narrator : Hugo Jackson Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “When the Oracle Speaks” was first published in Metaphororsis, July 2023 When the Oracle Speaks (Part 2) by Albert Chu Outside the warehouse, the rain fell in...

Science FantasyColonialismPhilosophical

Content warnings 1

war

Escape Pod 1014: Here Instead of There (Part 2 of 2)

Elizabeth Bear Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Here Instead of There (Part 2 of 2) By Elizabeth Bear (... Continued from Part 1) With the launch gone, there was just one rubber dinghy with an outboard motor stowed under the floor of the hangar, along with two kayaks, a sailboard, and a jet ski in an...

CyberpunkCorporate PowerDread

Escape Pod 1015: Space Pirate Queen of the Ten Billion Utopias

Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Author : Elly Bangs Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Space Pirate Queen of the Ten Billion Utopias” was first published in Lightspeed Magazine in November 2021 Copious amounts of casual strong language. This...

Social SatireQueer IdentityUnreliable Narrator

Escape Pod 976: Reflected in Mirrored Skies (Part 1 of 2)

Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Author : Deborah L. Davitt Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Reflected in Mirrored Skies” was published by Compelling Science Fiction (Special Kickstarter Companion issue Nov. 6, 2018) Reflected in Mirrored Skies...

Space OperaColonialismSlow Burn

Content warnings 1

death

Escape Pod 977: Reflected in Mirrored Skies (Part 2 of 2)

Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Author : Deborah L. Davitt Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Reflected in Mirrored Skies” was published by Compelling Science Fiction (Special Kickstarter Companion issue Nov. 6, 2018) Mentions of sexual assault...

Space OperaColonialismVisceral

Content warnings 3

deathsexual-violenceviolence

Escape Pod 978: Oak Hill Lane

Alasdair Stuart Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Oak Hill Lane By Alasdair Stuart The day the world ended, Scotch picked a fight. Not that there was much choice. Two fellow Canary Detailers, heads full of redtop bigotry and guts full of Tesco beer, had jumped Scotch’s work partner Billy the previous week...

DystopiaQueer IdentityHopeful

Content warnings 2

homophobiaviolence

Escape Pod 989: Holding Patterns

Jennifer Hudak Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Holding Patterns By Jennifer Hudak I dream about the trees sometimes. I think we all do, even though none of my generation were alive when the forest was actually growing. We don’t dream about them the way they are now—stunted and dormant—but the way they...

DystopiaArt And CreationRestrained

Escape Pod 923: The T-4200 (Part 1 of 2)

J. R. Johnson Escape Pod 2024 ♪ audio

The T-4200 (Part 1 of 2) By J. R. Johnson Carleton T. Lowengren, low-level civil servant, single twenty-something and refugee from the war-torn Outer Rim, woke to the remnants of a gaming binge and a killer headache courtesy of his interface. The implant...

Social SatireCorporate PowerWhimsical

Escape Pod 924: The T-4200 (Part 2 of 2)

J. R. Johnson Escape Pod 2024 ♪ audio

The T-4200 (Part 2 of 2) By J. R. Johnson (...Continued from Part 1) Carl scrambled to follow Mango past the loading dock to the parking corral. Her T was an early model with a lot of light-years on it, but its shell still shone and its maxillae were...

Social SatireCorporate PowerSatirical

Escape Pod 967: Code Switching (Part 2 of 4)

Malon Edwards Escape Pod 2024 ♪ audio

Code Switching (Part 2 of 4) By Malon Edwards (...Continued from Part 1) [JEAN-MICHEL] ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PERFORMANCE OUTPUT JEAN-MICHEL FEAT. KINSLEY CHASE Lòske jounalis sa yo gade m— Hold up. Let me say that again. I'll wait. Y'all go grab y'alls paper...

CyberpunkRacismMidwest USA

Content warnings 2

racismwar

Escape Pod 969: Code Switching (Part 4 of 4)

Malon Edwards Escape Pod 2024 ♪ audio

Code Switching (Part 4 of 4) By Malon Edwards (...continued from Part 3) 12. THIS IS THE TRUTELL MICHAËLLE-ANNABELLE FEAT. JEAN-MICHEL I strap into my rig, take a really big swig from my hydration dispenser tube I call The Ultra Black Vig, and settle back...

CyberpunkRacismMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

racismviolencewar

Escape Pod 871: The Contrary Gardener (Part 2 of 2)

Christopher Rowe Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

The Contrary Gardener (Part 2 of 2) By Christopher Rowe (Continued from Part 1) Even in the ‘Ville, even in a family of master cultivators, tickets were not easy to come by, so it was not unusual that Kay Lynne had never been to the Derby. What was unusual...

DystopiaArtificial IntelligenceMidwest USA

Escape Pod 878: Budo (Flashback Friday)

Tade Thompson Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Budo By Tade Thompson “Being desirous, on the other hand, to obviate the misunderstanding and disputes which might in future arise from new acts of occupation (prises de possession) on the coast of Africa; and concerned, at the same time, as to the means...

Science FantasyRevengeWest Africa

Content warnings 3

goreviolencewar

Escape Pod 885: The CRISPR Cookbook: A Guide to Biohacking Your Own Abortion in a Post-Roe World

Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Author : MKRNYILGLD Narrator : Premee Mohamed Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “The CRISPR Cookbook: A Guide to Biohacking Your Own Abortion in a Post-Roe World” originally appeared in Lightspeed Magazine (September 2022). Abortion,...

BiopunkPolitical ResistanceSecond Person

Content warnings 3

misogynypregnancy-losssexual-violence

Escape Pod 887: The Revolution, Brought to You by Nike (Part 1) (Flashback Friday)

Andrea Phillips Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

The Revolution, Brought to You by Nike By Andrea Phillips 1. THE BRIEF Corazon clicked to the slide she’d been dreading: long-term trends for brand engagement. It was dire. She focused on the smudgy mirror at the far end of the conference room, looking...

Social SatireDiasporaNew York City

Escape Pod 888: The Revolution, Brought to You by Nike (Part 2) (Flashback Friday)

Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Author : Andrea Phillips Narrator : Julia Rios Hosts : Valerie Valdes and Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks The Revolution, Brought to You by Nike originally appeared in Fireside Magazine in February 2017 and first played on Escape Pod Episode...

Social SatireCorporate PowerNew York City

Content warnings 1

violence

Escape Pod 902: Bishop’s Opening (Part 3 of 4)

R.S.A. Garcia Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Bishop's Opening (Part 3 of 4) By R.S.A. Garcia (Continued from Part 2...) The Pawn was seated at the table with arms outstretched along its surface. Metal restraints held their forearms and wrists immobile. They had been stripped naked and their mask...

Science FantasyGuiltDread

Content warnings 2

goreviolence

Escape Pod 904: Itoro fe Queen

Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Author : Maurice Broaddus Narrator : Cherrae L. Stuart Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Itoro fe Queen” was originally published in The Sunday Morning Transport, May 2022 Itoro fe Queen by Maurice Broaddus “It’s all gone.” The ethereal...

Space OperaColonialismDread

Escape Pod 905: Six Ways to Get Past the Shadow Shogun’s Goons, and One Thing to Do When You Get There

Stewart C Baker Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Six Ways to Get Past the Shadow Shogun's Goons, and One Thing to Do When You Get There By Stewart C. Baker 1. Dust 'em "Listen, little lady," the guy in front of the door is saying with a sneer. "There's two types of swordsman..." Chiyome's already heard...

Science FantasyQueer IdentityWhimsical

Escape Pod 913: #buttonsinweirdplaces (Part 1 of 2)

Simon Kewin Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

#buttonsinweirdplaces By Simon Kewin The buttons started to appear on the last day of April, 2022. A six-year-old boy from Nairobi, Jomi Mbenzi, was perhaps the first to spot one. Dawdling along behind his mother, her swaying yellow-orange dress and the...

First ContactPolitical ResistanceHopeful

Escape Pod 914: #buttonsinweirdplaces (Part 2 of 2)

Simon Kewin Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

#buttonsinweirdplaces (Part 2 of 2) By Simon Kewin (... Continued from Part 1) The news the following morning was bad. An explosion in the middle of a market-square in Libya had been variously blamed upon a suicide-bomber and upon over-zealous security...

First ContactPolitical ResistanceDread

Content warnings 1

violence

Escape Pod 838: Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma (Part 4 of 4)

Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

Author : R.S.A. Garcia Narrator : Maxine Moore Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums This story first appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine (Issue 172, January 2021), and is a finalist for the 2022 Ignyte Award for Best Novella...

Space OperaGuiltCaribbean

Content warnings 3

slaveryviolencewar

Escape Pod 854: Pickled Roots and Peeled Shoots and a Bowl of Farflower Tea

Chaz Brenchley Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

Pickled Roots and Peeled Shoots and a Bowl of Farflower Tea By Chaz Brenchley there’s rue for you, and here’s some for me Just that morning, she’d had a novice shave her head for her. He was a promising lad - no, more than promising, he was a promise...

Space OperaMentorshipRestrained

Content warnings 1

violence

Escape Pod 859: Pen Pal (Part 2 of 2)

Grant Canterbury Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

(Continued from Part 1) Pen Pal By Grant Canterbury August 8, 2005 Meliari Thulissia General Delivery Tharsis Station Dear Thu, Well I officially graduated from high school! And I have been itching to get out into the world for a long time but right now...

Space OperaFriendshipHistorical USA

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-onewar

Escape Pod 867: Through the Mirror

Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

Author : Heather Kilbourn Narrator : Eric Luke Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 867: Through the Mirror is an Escape Pod original. Contains harsh language Through the Mirror by Heather Kilbourn The crashed spaceship was...

DystopiaArtificial IntelligenceDefiant

Content warnings 1

violence

Escape Pod 773: A Wild Patience (Part 2 of 3)

Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Author : Gwynne Garfinkle Narrator : Alethea Kontis Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums This story first appeared in GigaNotoSaurus (March 2020) A Wild Patience (Part 2 of 3) by Gwynne Garfinkle The next day, school was in an...

AI FictionAI PersonhoodHistorical USA

Content warnings 2

abusemisogyny

Escape Pod 777: The Dame With the Earth at Her Back

Sarah Pauling Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

The Dame With the Earth at Her Back By Sarah Pauling That’s the trouble with Teegarden’s northern latitudes: the sun never sets in summer. The red glow assaults Maryellen’s stage long after midnight, pushing in through the picture window alongside the...

DystopiaColonialismSardonic

Escape Pod 787: Ascend, Exalt, Love, Propagate, Rise!

Sarah Kumari Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Ascend, Exalt, Love, Propagate, Rise! By Sarah Kumari The Glory smolders through Jehanne's bloodstream, pulsing its encouragement. The rivals who have survived along with him–officially 'Fellow Eminents' now that selection is over–twitch and moan as their...

BiopunkCorporate PowerDread

Content warnings 3

body-horrorsexual-violenceviolence

Escape Pod 800: Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death

N.K. Jemisin Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death By N.K. Jemisin The intel is good. It had better be; three women died to get it to us. I tuck away the binoculars and crawl back from the window long enough to hand-signal my girls. Fire team moves up, drop team on my...

Social SatireRacismPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 3

goreracismviolence

This Shattered Vessel, Which Holds Only Grief

Izzy Wasserstein Apex 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 6,468 words

"Cassie pulls her hood low over her forehead, keeps her eyes on the ground ahead of her. She wears face paint meant to fool facial recognition algorithms, though the cops think she’s dead. Her friends are. She should be. She circles the block twice,...

Science FantasyTrans IdentityMidwest USA

Content warnings 3

self-harmtransphobiaviolence

An Incomplete Account of the Case of the Bird-Talker of Yaros

Eleanna Castroianni Fireside 2020 ShortStory 2,396 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Historical FantasyPolitical ResistanceHistorical Europe

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Escape Pod 759: The Sun From Both Sides (Part 3 of 3)

R.S.A. Garcia Escape Pod 2020 ♪ audio

The Sun From Both Sides (Part 3 of 3) By R.S.A. Garcia (Continued from Part 2 - Escape Pod episode 758) "Grandmaster Lucochin." He started awake, his hand tightening on something. Someone. The Knight hung motionless over him. He had it by the throat, his...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerRestrained Prose

Content warnings 2

slaveryviolence

The Ordeal

M. Bennardo BCS 2020 Novelette Ruritanian Romance 8,126 words

A young American in the early 20th Century visits a remote principality and is shocked at their notion of justice.

Historical FantasyGuiltHistorical Europe

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Carborundorum > /dev/null

Annalee Flower Horne Fireside 2018 ShortStory 3,955 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Near FutureFriendshipDefiant

Content warnings 2

sexual-violencesubstance-use

We Feed the Bears of Fire and Ice

Octavia Cade Strange Horizons 2018 ShortStory Ecological Apocalypse 3,326 words

As climate change destroys Australia, the people sacrifice climate-change deniers to the giant koala bears that are attacking the cities.

Social SatireGuiltSatirical

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Tower of the Rosewater Goblet

Nin Harris Strange Horizons 2016 ShortStory Fantasy 5,874 words

Erheani wanted to be a master storyteller, and the first task her teachers set for her was to update an old classic tale. But there are tales within tales...

MetafictionalArt And CreationIntertextual

Content warnings 1

slavery

The Pyramid of Krakow

Michael Swanwick Tor.com 2015 ShortStory Alternate-History Fantasy 4,932 words

Part six of the Mongolian Wizard, in which Ritter goes to Krakow in disguise to find evidence of atrocities so grave that London cannot believe them.

Historical FantasyGuiltHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

child-deathviolencewar