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Science Fantasy

120 free-to-read stories tagged “Science Fantasy”

The Starship and the Temple Cat

Yoon Ha Lee BCS 2018 ShortStory Future Fantasy 3,499 words

Even the ghosts have abandoned the ruins of the space station once known as the City of High Bells. All but the faithful temple cat, who sees a starship reenter the system after many long years.

Science FantasyAI PersonhoodHopeful

Content warnings 4

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolencewar

The Mermaid Astronaut

Yoon Ha Lee BCS 2020 ShortStory Future Fantasy Adventure 6,009 words

Until a visiting starship arrived, the other mermaids thought Essarala was silly for wanting to explore the galaxy.

Fairy Tale RetellingFriendshipSlow Burn

Content warnings 1

death

Foxfire, Foxfire

Yoon Ha Lee BCS 2016 Novelette Military Fantasy 8,500 words

Baekdo, a fox who wants to become human, needs one more kill to achieve his goal. A collapsing city in the middle of a civil war seems like a good place to do it but there are complications.

Science FantasyFriendshipSecondary World

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds

James Beamon Lightspeed 2018 ShortStory Military Steampunk 5,990 words

An orphan recruit on a Turkish airship tends the brainwashed monkeys that constitute one of their principle weapons. He fears them deeply, but the ones with mechanical parts he fears the worst.

Science FantasySurvivalHistorical Europe

Content warnings 4

deathgoreviolencewar

A Salvaging of Ghosts

Aliette de Bodard BCS 2016 ShortStory Space Opera 4,292 words

Thuy seeks her daughter's remains in the twisted parts of unreal space where salvagers pick over the remains of wrecked starships.

Science FantasyMotherhoodDeep Space

Content warnings 2

deathdeath-of-a-loved-one

The Mausoleum's Children

Aliette de Bodard Uncanny 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,411 words

"Thuận Lộc stared at the cup. It was dark, and mottled with the characteristic patterning of silver-eye fungus. The tea inside was trembling—the faint vibrations from the Mausoleum, the dead ships’ atrophied motors that would never again allow them to...

Science FantasyColonialismDefiant

Content warnings 2

child-abuseviolence

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 Last Voyage of Skidbladnir

Karin Tidbeck Tor.com 2019 ShortStory SF Adventure 5,620 words

Saga does maintenance work on an old, living starship. Skidbladnir is doing poorly lately, and Saga’s boss is determined to save her, even if no one else wants to.

Science FantasyFound FamilyWhimsical

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 Astrakhan, the Homburg, and the Red Red Coal

Chaz Brenchley Lightspeed 2015 Novelette Martian Steampunk 7,534 words

A group of Englishmen sharing an evening in a pub near a canal on "Old Mars" meet a stranger who knows their secret and makes them an offer.

Science FantasyColonialismIntertextual

Content warnings 1

substance-use

Stones

Nnedi Okorafor Clarkesworld 2023 ShortStory Science Fiction 5,790 words

"I don’t know if I can die. Maybe when this comet reaches the sun, I’ll keep right on being. Or maybe then, finally, after so long, I will stop. I am not ready to find out. I want to be immortal. To never die as those on your planet do. This place isn’t...

Science FantasyFound FamilyHopeful

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Descent

Wole Talabi Clarkesworld 2025 Novella Science Fiction 21,240 words

"The maadiregi at the temple of the talking drum say that there is a word in old Sauúti, the high language of our ancestors, that when spoken backwards, allows the speaker to fly. To take to the sky like a bird, unshackled from the persistent pull that...

Science FantasyMentorshipPhilosophical

Content warnings 3

deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

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

The Rainbow Bank

Uchechukwu Nwaka GigaNotoSaurus 2023 Novelette 10,546 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Science FantasyCorporate PowerWest Africa

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata

P. Djèlí Clark The Book of Witches 2023 Novelette Fantasy

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Science FantasyFound FamilyWhimsical

Content warnings 1

slavery

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

Quintessence

Andrew Dykstal BCS 2021 Novelette Fantasy 14,804 words

"He could hear her voice more clearly now, as though the notepad were merely a synchronizing gear between the two minds caught in his head. She sounded sick and frightened and tired—like a young woman trapped alone in a strange place, not like a witch...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerPhilosophical

Content warnings 4

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence

Metal Like Blood in the Dark

T. Kingfisher Uncanny 2020 ShortStory Science Fiction 7,180 words

"Once upon a time there was a man who built two enormous machines, and he loved them very much. He called them Brother and Sister and programmed them with intelligences that woke and stretched and tested the limits of their metal bodies. When they did not...

Science FantasyAI PersonhoodDeep Space

Content warnings 1

violence

The Visible Frontier

Grace Seybold Clarkesworld 2019 ShortStory SF Adventure 5,473 words

A young sailor wants to learn what the stars really are, and if it’s true there are people living there.

Science FantasyColonialismPhilosophical

The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home

Renan Bernardo Reactor 2025 ShortStory Space Exploration 6,026 words

To celebrate her grandmother, all the captain of the Sopinha de Feijão wanted was to build a street market on a distant moon. But now the captain is dead and…

Science FantasyDiasporaIntrospective

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Claudette Dulac and the Devil of the North

Genevieve Sinha BCS 2020 ShortStory Steampunk 5,583 words

When the Demon of the North takes her father, young Claudette teams up with a university professor to hunt it down and kill it.

Science FantasyFatherhoodAdventurous

To Sail the Black

A.C. Wise Clarkesworld 2020 Novelette Science Fiction 8,116 words

"The ghost ship Xanthic Promise sails the black, powered by the slumbering heart of a dying star. And its captain, Antimony Jones, stalks its decks in a swirl of crimson coat and fox fire lighting, dogged by voices. The recent dead, the long dead, and the...

Science FantasyColonialismDefiant

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

A Champion of Nigh-Space

Tim Pratt Uncanny 2019 ShortStory Multiverse Space Opera 7,205 words

Glenn and Vivian are Berkley students with a good thing going up until he finds out what she really does for a living, and it’s literally out of this world.

Science FantasyFound FamilyWhimsical

Penitents

Rich Larson BCS 2018 ShortStory Post-Apocalypse 6,374 words

Mara has made a deal with a scavenger girl to help her rescue her best friend, who left the underground habitat to try to talk to the aliens and never came back.

Science FantasyColonialismPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 2

body-horrorviolence

The Emotionless, in Love

Jason Sanford BCS 2018 Novella Post Apocalypse 28,352 words

Ancient nanotech controls a few humans to enforce harsh anti-technology rules on a reluctant population. Colton escaped its control at the cost of losing all emotion, and he struggles to be accepted by a caravan that’s trying to evade some of the restrictions.

Science FantasyFound FamilySlow Burn

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

A Record of Our Meeting with the Grand Faerie Lord of Vast Space and Its Great Mysteries, Revised

A.T. Greenblatt BCS 2022 Novelette Science Fantasy 7,572 words

"Herein is the account of the evening the crew of the Forever Trying invited the Grand Faerie Lord of Vast Space and Its Great Mysteries into our home. I, Felix, Chronicler of the ship, endeavor to capture a true and accurate record of transpired events on...

MetafictionalMentorshipWhimsical

Singing the Ancient Out of the Dark

R.J. Theodore & Maurice Broaddus Lightspeed 2022 ShortStory Science Fiction Mystery 4,095 words

"A small asteroid swerved in a most un-asteroid-like way and pierced the hull of the archivist’s ship, as though it was determined to drive her away. But she was just getting started. She slammed the emergency foam release button, holding her breath even...

Science FantasyArt And CreationEpistolary Adjacent

Content warnings 1

illness-and-pandemic

A Stranger Goes Ashore

Adam R. Shannon BCS 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 6,722 words

"There had to be other islands capable of supporting human settlements, Alain told himself. Life should be possible beyond the shores of Heora. That was the article of faith that drove all Exploration. They simply haven't sailed far enough to find a new...

Science FantasyColonialismElegiac

Content warnings 2

body-horrordeath

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

Blood, Bone, Seed, Spark

Aimee Ogden BCS 2019 Novelette High Fantasy Horror 9,732 words ♪ audio

Anell takes a job with a great house researching immortality, but she secretly works on her own research involving reproduction.

Science FantasyArt And CreationSlow Burn

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

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

Medusa's Ship, or The Thing About Bodies

Natalia Theodoridou BCS 2026 ShortStory Science Fantasy 4,953 words

"They are travelling in the great dark before them nothing behind them stars just the two of them the man that captains and the ship that sails darts flies through space —whoever said space is empty did not know what they were talking about space is full...

Fairy Tale RetellingTrans IdentityIntertextual

Content warnings 2

body-horrorsexual-content

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

Dekar Druid and the Infinite Library

Cadwell Turnbull Lightspeed 2025 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,083 words

"Dekar Druid lives in an infinite library. Besides Ebizenum, who is in a special category of their own, he is the only living person in the library’s single tower. Outside, a forest surrounds the tower. There’s a lake a short walk to the north and a peak...

MetafictionalAI PersonhoodPhilosophical

Last Train from Deadwall

André Geleynse BCS 2025 Novelette Fantasy 9,700 words ♪ audio

"The first time Knucklebone tried to kill himself, he’d already been dead for one hundred and thirteen years. He’d died in a workplace accident, which meant it was within their legal rights for the Cogsmith Railroad Company to bind his soul to his...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerBleak

Content warnings 3

suicideviolencewar

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

With Her Serpent Locks

Mary Robinette Kowal Uncanny 2025 ShortStory Fantasy 1,729 words

"Hey cuz! It’s been too long. Love to come out and see your digs. The message hung in the air, glimmering in her Heads Up Display overlaid across the moss garden she was tending. The chill that swept over Euryale made the hair on her arms stand on end and...

Science FantasyRevengeRestrained Prose

Content warnings 2

deathsexual-violence

3.4 The Maiden Voyage of the Piranha Belle by L.M. Guay

L.M. Guay khōréō 2024 ShortStory 1,500 words ♪ audio

A deluxe riverboat welcomes the galaxy's wealthiest tourists to the drought-ridden Amazon — but no one's seen her mysterious captain. "The Maiden Voyage of the Piranha Belle" is a flash exploration of colonization and survival. Content warnings:...

Science FantasyRevengeSatirical

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

Do Not Waver, My Heart

Shanna Germain BCS 2024 Novelette Science Fantasy 13,484 words

"Good morning, Akasma.” I say these words to my spaceship every day, whether it is a good morning or not, because she is the only being I can safely talk to, and she has said she likes my voice, froggy and raspy though it may be. My spaceship is not, for...

Fairy Tale RetellingFound FamilySlow Burn

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one

Dragons of Paris

Michael Swanwick Reactor 2024 ShortStory Fantasy 6,845 words

In celebration of the 50th World Fantasy Convention’s Toastmaster, Michael Swanwick, Reactor presents a new Mongolian Wizard story about a battle to save Paris from an unexpected new enemy.

Science FantasyGuiltHistorical Europe

Content warnings 3

goreviolencewar

Let the Star Explode

Shingai Njeri Kagunda Lightspeed 2024 ShortStory Science Fiction 4,656 words

"The last picture that Karu has of her father alive is on the day of her graduation. She has this big smile that by the placing of her dimples makes it obvious that she is his daughter. He stands next to her holding her waist in the space between his...

Science FantasyFatherhoodTender

Content warnings 1

death-of-a-loved-one

Sully the God

Philip Gelatt & J.T. Petty Lightspeed 2024 Novelette Fantasy 11,585 words

"An excerpt from the unfinished memoirs of Sullivan Kingsley. Text was dictated to and recorded by a Kvasir Scrivener™. Any poetic editorializing can be assumed in accordance with the spirit of Mr. Kingsley’s intentions, as interpreted by a conjured...

Science FantasyRevengeSatirical

Content warnings 3

deathgoresexual-content

Those Who Remember the World

Ben Berman Ghan Clarkesworld 2024 Novelette Science Fiction 11,910 words

"The low rumble of the train cut through the night and the living flesh of The City, carrying its passengers ever further from the gleam of parliaments and providence. The stop towards Wild Park grew ever closer, represented along the wall of the train by...

CyberpunkCorporate PowerIntertextual

Content warnings 3

body-horrorgoreviolence

At the Foot of the Dragon Stair

Aliette de Bodard BCS 2022 ShortStory Science Fantasy 5,066 words

"The entire time they were walking towards the Dragon Stairs, Giền said nothing. She merely changed shape in Thanh Lan’s arms—not growing heavier and heavier, which Thanh Lan could have understood, but by turns lighter and heavier, her shape shimmering...

Science FantasyFreedomSlow Burn

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

Blood Grains Scream in Memories

Jason Sanford BCS 2022 Novella Science Fantasy 22,040 words

"That dying anchor said some mysterious ‘he’ was looking for her. Chakatie tried to think of who that could be. When she’d been an anchor in charge of her own land, she’d thought she’d been even-handed. But traveling with the day-fellows had revealed to...

BiopunkGuiltVisceral

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

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

The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch

Garth Nix Tor.com 2022 Novelette Science Fantasy 7,931 words

In this raucous, steampunk tale a sacred order of scientist nuns battle against vicious Invaders from Mars and their murderous machines in an ongoing conflict that has lasted centuries.

Science FantasyMentorshipHistorical Europe

A Minnow, or Perhaps a Colossal Squid

Carlos Hernandez Mermaids Monthly 2021 ShortStory 7,066 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Science FantasyMentorshipWhimsical

Love, That Hungry Thing

Cassandra Khaw Apex 2021 ShortStory Science Fantasy 3,243 words

"Sister," pants the white fox as it dangles upside-down from the railing, its tail like a question mark, its grin like something the devil had won from Saint Peter. “You’re getting soft.” I pinch my midriff and shrug, winking an eye. “I’ve been busy.” “No,...

Science FantasyFriendshipPost Apocalyptic

Content warnings 1

violence

The Loneliness of Former Constellations

P.H. Low Strange Horizons 2021 ShortStory Fantasy 6,033 words

"When the doorbell first rings, I do not rise from my chair. It is one of those days when the hurt bends me double. My nerves pulse sharp behind my eyelids; my fingers, clenched around the worn wooden armrests, are full of thorns. But outside the open...

Science FantasyFound FamilyElegiac

The Mathematics of Fairyland

Phoebe Barton Lightspeed 2021 ShortStory Science Fantasy 2,945 words

"If you had a warp drive, it would be easy. The mathematics are strange the way ley lines are strange, invisible yet divinable. You’ve pulled your way up sterner mountains, fingertip by fingertip. You’ve already compensated for stellar motion, spacetime...

Science FantasyArt And CreationSecond Person

Cycle of the eternal witness

Adelehin Ijasan Omenana 2020 ShortStory 3,314 words

Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.

Science FantasyGuiltBleak

Content warnings 3

child-deathgoresuicide

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

My Sister's Wings Are Red

Christine Tyler BCS 2020 Novelette Future Fantasy 8,911 words

Olive’s life changes when her hated little sister’s red wings become visible in her chrysalis, and everyone knows she’ll be the new queen when she emerges.

Science FantasyClass InequalityDefiant

Only the Messenger

Emily C. Skaftun BCS 2020 Novelette Space Opera 10,142 words

When Astrill finds a cat-like alien attached to the outside of their spaceship, things get complicated for him and the other smugglers, and the more they learn about their visitor, the worse it gets.

Science FantasyFound FamilyHopeful

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

The Great Train Robbery

Lavie Tidhar Apex 2019 Novelette Portal Fantasy 9,253 words

In a world we can only reach in our dreams, the Stranger rides a train through a dangerous mountain pass while a troupe of bandits plans to attack it.

Science FantasyFreedomIntertextual

Content warnings 2

child-deathdeath

A Green Moon Problem

Jane Lindskold Lightspeed 2018 ShortStory SF Horror 6,084 words

On Cat station, people tell stories of a super-competent engineer, Tatter D’MaLeon. Supposedly she can fix anything, for those who can pay her price.

Science FantasyArt And CreationAmbiguous Ending

Content warnings 1

body-horror

Do As I Do, Sing As I Sing

Sarah Pinsker BCS 2018 Novelette High Fantasy 8,688 words

When teenage Guerre is called to be a cropsinger, she makes a big sacrifice to serve her family and community, but her brother refuses to accept it.

Science FantasyMentorshipSecondary World

Content warnings 1

death

Hapthorn's Last Case

Matthew Hughes Lightspeed 2018 Novelette Future Fantasy Mystery 10,138 words

Hengis knows his civilization will collapse when technology fails and magic takes its place, but there’s one last case he wants to solve before the lights go out.

Science FantasyMentorshipSardonic

The Great Detective

Delia Sherman Tor.com 2016 Novelette Steampunk 12,752 words

In 1880s London, Sir Arthur's "Illogic Engine" has gone missing, so he seeks help from Mycroft Holmes.

Science FantasyMentorshipEarnest

Variations on an Apple

Yoon Ha Lee Tor.com 2015 ShortStory 5,045 words

Surreal science fantasy, in which three goddesses come to Paris, prince of a mathematical Troy, and ask him to decide to whom to award an apple.

Fairy Tale RetellingFreedomMetafictional

Content warnings 2

deathwar

Tell the King

Natalia Theodoridou BCS 2024 ShortStory Science Fantasy 7,384 words

"I watch the King sleep beside me and worry over the rapid movements behind her eyelids. The air in the bedroom smells faintly of something burning. My mouth is dry—I wet my lips and hold my breath so as not to disturb my King’s sleep. I can hardly see the...

Science FantasyTrans IdentityIntrospective

Content warnings 1

death

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

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

5.3 Island Getaway by Sonia Focke

khōréō 2026 ♪ audio

Able Seaman Pol has a lot of problems — getting the cats fed, watered, and reporting for duty, keeping tree roots from destroying the wiring, the monkeys out of the pantry and the mines from exploding on deck. Talking octopuses, though? That was new....

Science FantasyFriendshipTender

Content warnings 2

deathwar

5.4 The North by Subodhana Wijeyeratne

khōréō 2026 ♪ audio

A young scribe joins a voyage to hunt sea creatures in waters that once belonged to the feared Northerners, but the truth behind the Northern myths is more complex than they first believed. Content warnings: Animal cruelty and death, use of the r-word...

Science FantasyColonialismBleak

Content warnings 3

animal-harmgoreviolence

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 1026: What Any Dead Thing Wants (Part 1 of 3)

Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Aimee Ogden Narrator : Isaac Harwood Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “What Any Dead Thing Wants” originally appeared in Psychopomp (February 2024) Copious helpings of harsh language descriptors found here. What Any Dead Thing...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerDarkly Comic

Content warnings 1

violence

Escape Pod 1027: What Any Dead Thing Wants (Part 2 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 Part 1: Escape Pod 1026: What Any Dead Thing Wants (Part 1 of 3) What Any Dead Thing...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerSlow Burn

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathgore

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 1039: The Many Rebirths of Karina Morita

Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Tim Pratt Narrator : Isabel J. Kim Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “The Many Rebirths of Karina Morita” first appeared in 2025 on Tim’s Patreon Sponsored by Mixtape Stories The Many Rebirths of Karina Morita by Tim Pratt My...

Science FantasyClass InequalitySatirical

Escape Pod 1040: Gods and Spirits Our Witnesses

Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : S. C. Mills Narrator : Hugo Jackson Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 1040: Gods and Spirits Our Witnesses is an Escape Pod original. Loss of an infant Sponsored by Mixtape Stories Gods and Spirits Our Witnesses by S....

Science FantasyClass InequalitySecond Person

Content warnings 1

child-death

Escape Pod 1044: Rhona’s Tavern and Spacetime Portal

Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : S. L. Myers Narrator : Dani Daly Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 1044: Rhona’s Tavern and Spacetime Portal is an Escape Pod original. Occasional use of harsh language Escape Pod is proud to say that we have...

Science FantasyClass InequalitySardonic

Content warnings 2

deathviolence

Escape Pod 1048: The Library of the Apocalypse

Rati Mehrotra Escape Pod 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Rati Mehrotra Narrator : Joe Moran Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht The Library of the Apocalypse was first published in Clarkesworld, May 2025, Issue 224. Includes death and cursing. The Library of the Apocalypse By Rati Mehrotra...

Science FantasyFound FamilyBleak

Content warnings 3

deathviolencewar

First Human Ghost on Mars by R.L. Meza

R.L. Meza Clarkesworld 2026

The afterlife on Mars is different from the afterlife on Earth. I was the first ghost to experience both worlds: a pioneer like Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon, minus […]

Psychological HorrorGuiltDread

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

First Human Ghost on Mars by R.L. Meza (audio)

Clarkesworld Magazine Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "First Human Ghost on Mars" written by R.L. Meza. 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/meza_03_26 Support...

Psychological HorrorGuiltDread

Content warnings 3

body-horrordeathviolence

PodCastle 929: TALES FROM THE VAULTS – A Place to Grow

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : A. T. Greenblatt Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Devin Martin Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously ran as episode 558 and first published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies Rated PG A Place to Grow By A. T. Greenblatt Lillian was wearing one of her...

Science FantasyFound FamilyHopeful

PodCastle 938: TALES FROM THE VAULTS – Scry

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : Anne Ivy Narrator : Elizabeth Green Host : Alicia Caporaso Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously ran as episode 292 and first published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Read the full text here! Rated R Read the full text here! The post PodCastle...

Science FantasyRevengeSlow Burn

Content warnings 3

goresexual-contentviolence

PodCastle 940: Last Train from Deadwall by André Geleynse – PART ONE of Two

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : André Geleynse Narrator : Rae Lundberg Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #433 Content note for suicide attempts Rated R Last Train from Deadwall PART ONE of Two by André Geleynse...

Science FantasyClass InequalityBleak

Content warnings 3

body-horrorsuicidewar

PodCastle 941: Last Train from Deadwall – PART TWO of Two

PodCastle 2026 ♪ audio

Author : André Geleynse Narrator : Rae Lundberg Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #433 Content note for suicide attempts Rated R Last Train from Deadwall Part TWO of Two by André Geleynse...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerBleak

Content warnings 3

body-horrorsuicidewar

Saint Zero of the Hollows and the Eagle Knight

V.M. Ayala Lightspeed 2026

The only sound Zero heard in their helmet was their own hyperventilating and the gentle pings from their pegasus. > waiting . . . > waiting . . . > communication received > confirmation of countdown initiation: 30 seconds  

Science FantasyRevengeVisceral

Content warnings 3

deathgoreviolence

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

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Scion: Afterword by Thomas Ha

Thomas Ha Clarkesworld 2026

I have done my best to transcribe the account found in the recently excavated cenotaph, but, as you’re aware, these experiential simulations don’t easily lend themselves to direct reproduction. Nonetheless, […]

MetafictionalFatherhoodPost Apocalyptic

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Scion: Afterword by Thomas Ha (audio)

Clarkesworld Magazine Clarkesworld 2026 ♪ audio

This episode features "Scion: Afterword" 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/ha2_03_26 Support us on...

MetafictionalFatherhoodAmbiguous Ending

Six-Gun Vixen and the Machinist of Doom Valley [Part 1]

Ashok K. Banker Lightspeed 2026

New Providence sparkled like fool’s gold in the distance, all gleaming spires and whirring clockwork, nothing like the two-bit townships I usually rode through. My Halfie tensed beneath me, his wolf-hackles rising at the stink of machine oil and steam that...

BiopunkRacismAmerican Southwest

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Six-Gun Vixen and the Machinist of Doom Valley [Part 2]

Ashok K. Banker Lightspeed 2026

The sun was sinking toward the horizon like a brass penny dropped in muddy water by the time I rode back into New Providence. My Halfie’s mechanical shoes struck sparks off the metal road plates, each impact sending little jolts of pain through my spine....

BiopunkRacismAmerican Southwest

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The Aerialist

Yoon Ha Lee Lightspeed 2026

The typewriter proved, at first glance, to be a poor investment for a daring aerial escape. Kallista had been drawn to the typewriter from the moment she viewed it languishing in a Museum of Curioddities, a pun that 3% of Pennon City’s citizens might...

Science FantasyArt And CreationWhimsical

You, Me, Us

Oyedotun Damilola Muees Lightspeed 2026

You know you are fucked when you see fragments of the broken radio on the floor. Your damaged ship lay nose caked into the sand, and coupled with your sprained ankle that hums an excruciating pain, and slight concussion on your head—your chances of...

Science FantasyFreedomSecond Person

Escape Pod 1005: When the Oracle Speaks (Part 1 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 1) by Albert Chu One year after the war’s end, the royal...

Science FantasyColonialismSlow Burn

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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

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Escape Pod 1011: Once Upon a Planet

Kelsey Hutton Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Once Upon a Planet By Kelsey Hutton Once upon a time, there were three boring, totally normal planets lazily circling their sun. One was too hot. It spewed out venomous flames like a firebreather with something pokey stuck in her teeth—dangerously...

Fairy Tale RetellingFound FamilyMetafictional

Escape Pod 987: In the Palace of Science (Part 1 of 2)

Chris Campbell Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

In the Palace of Science (Part 1 of 2) By Chris Campbell Track One– If you’ve found this recording, two things can be said for certain. The first is that I have passed my greatest test as a man and, in doing so, have passed from this world. The second is...

Psychological HorrorRacismRestrained

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Escape Pod 988: In the Palace of Science (Part 2 of 2)

Chris Campbell Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

In the Palace of Science (Part 2 of 2) By Chris Campbell (...Continued from Part 1) B-Side Track Five– The automaton was unfinished, but even in a transitory state, it was a thing of marvel. In form, it was like a man. With two legs meant for bipedal...

Psychological HorrorRacismHistorical USA

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Escape Pod 996: Sanctuary, Part 1 of 2

Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Author : Alexis Ames Narrator : Eric Valdes Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Sanctuary” first appeared in Kyanite Press, Winter 2020 Sanctuary (Part 1) by Alexis Ames 1. The king of the galaxy died the day before the biggest holiday of...

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Escape Pod 997: Sanctuary, Part 2 of 2

Escape Pod 2025 ♪ audio

Author : Alexis Ames Narrator : Eric Valdes Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Sanctuary” first appeared in Kyanite Press, Winter 2020 Don’t miss “Sanctuary, Part 1” Sanctuary (Part 2) by Alexis Ames 3. Eilan slept for thirteen...

Science FantasyMentorshipEarnest

Those Uncaring Waves

Yukimi Ogawa Clarkesworld 2025 Novella Science Fiction 18,140 words

"We are very, very disappointed.” It was her third try, and it still came out feebly. “We thought we made it super clear that any, any change in material, maker hand, machine, or method, however small or irrelevant it may seem, must be notified...

Science FantasyColonialismSlow Burn

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Escape Pod 947: Rupert Weard and the Case of the Adamant Annihilist

Rob Gillham Escape Pod 2024 ♪ audio

Rupert Weard and the Case of the Adamant Annihilist By Rob Gillham Rupert Weard leapt into the drawing room, escaping a hallway dense with impossibly angled, tentacular horrors trying to sell him insurance. "Ye gods, it's bedlam out there," he said. "Just...

Science FantasyFriendshipIntertextual

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

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Escape Pod 881: Wild Geese

Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Author : Lavie Tidhar Narrator : Kyle Akers Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks This story first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (December 2020) Wild Geese by Lavie Tidhar With rustling wings the wild geese fly Round...

Science FantasyArt And CreationWhimsical

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Escape Pod 900: Bishop’s Opening (Part 1 of 4)

R.S.A. Garcia Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Bishop's Opening (Part 1 of 4) By R.S.A. Garcia Old as she was, the Kiskadee had done three full delivery runs without a single safety incident. So naturally, with the crew relaxed after a fourth successful delivery and launch, and eight cycles after Reece...

Science FantasyFound FamilySlow Burn

Escape Pod 901: Bishop’s Opening (Part 2 of 4)

R.S.A. Garcia Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Bishop's Opening (Part 2 of 4) By R.S.A. Garcia (Continued from Part 1...) Bishop was alone in the Grandmaster's Penthouse suite when the call came from the Kingston. Once it was over and his Grandmaster's virtual form had dissipated, Bishop cursed under...

Science FantasyFound FamilyDread

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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...

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Escape Pod 903: Bishop’s Opening (Part 4 of 4)

R.S.A. Garcia Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Bishop's Opening (Part 4 of 4) By R.S.A. Garcia The attendants set little bowls shaped like flower petals in front Sebastian and Olly. Steam drifted upward, redolent of fresh herbs and a hint of lime. Bits of white flesh speckled with green seasonings, and...

Science FantasyFound FamilySlow Burn

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 909: Murder or a Duck (Flashback Friday)

Beth Goder Escape Pod 2023 ♪ audio

Murder or a Duck By Beth Goder George called out, “Mrs. Whitman, you have a visitor.” Mrs. Whitman strode from her workroom, her white hair skipping out of its hairpins. She straightened her work skirt, massaged her bad knee, then hurried down the hall....

Science FantasyRevengeSatirical

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Escape Pod 818: Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria (Part 1)

Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

Author : Sam Schreiber Narrator : Dave Robison Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria” first appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (November/December 2020) This story contains harsh...

MetafictionalGuiltIntertextual

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Escape Pod 819: Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria (Part 2)

Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

Author : Sam Schreiber Narrator : Dave Robison Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria” first appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (November/December 2020) This story contains harsh...

MetafictionalGuiltIntertextual

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Escape Pod 826: This Is Our Get-Along Brainship

Escape Pod 2022 ♪ audio

Author : Kristen Koopman Narrator : Sofia Quintero Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 826: This Is Our Get-Along Brainship is an Escape Pod original. Contains harsh AI language This Is Our Get-Along Brainship by...

Science FantasyArtificial IntelligenceEpistolary Adjacent

Escape Pod 776: Tloque Nahuaque

Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Tloque Nahuaque By Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas, translated by Silvia Moreno-Garcia If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. —Carl Sagan I—The Particle Accelerator They built an underground temple. A well of Babel...

Folk HorrorColonialismBleak

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Escape Pod 780: Seed Vault (Part 1)

Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Author : Marika Bailey Narrator : Eden Royce Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “Seed Vault” was originally published in Strange Horizons (Nov 2019) Seed Vault (Part 1) By Marika Bailey 1. FIRE I should tell you about the...

Science FantasyColonialismCaribbean

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Escape Pod 781: Seed Vault (Part 2)

Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Author : Marika Bailey Narrator : Eden Royce Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “Seed Vault” was originally published in Strange Horizons (Nov 2019) Seed Vault (Part 2) By Marika Bailey The desert rain has lulled me and I...

Science FantasyRevengeCaribbean

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Escape Pod 785: Death, the Universe, and Everything

Sherin Nicole Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Death, the Universe, and Everything By Sherin Nicole The morning after it happened for the first time, I-- I’m not sure if I should tell you, but maybe you can tell me. If your understanding of reality fundamentally changes, does it change you? And how...

Science FantasyFreedomWhimsical

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Escape Pod 803: A Princess of Nigh-Space

Tim Pratt Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

A Princess of Nigh-Space By Tim Pratt There was a business card stuck in the crack between the door and the frame when I got home from another too-long day at the office. I plucked the card out, annoyed, assuming it was some stupid advertisement, but the...

Science FantasyCorporate PowerMidwest USA

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Escape Pod 808: Win Again

Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

Author : Lina Munroe Narrator : Joniece Abbott-Pratt Host : Brent Lambert Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 808: Win Again is an Escape Pod original. Win Again by Lina Munroe “I want a do-over!” Zira crumpled her opponent’s collar...

Science FantasyRevengeDefiant

Escape Pod 813: A Consideration of Trees

Beth Cato Escape Pod 2021 ♪ audio

A Consideration of Trees By Beth Cato As a xenoarbitrator, I was accustomed to working with concepts and situations deemed peculiar by most of humanity. Often, though, my own species confounded me most of all. "I fear you misunderstood my advertisement." I...

Science FantasyGuiltDeep Space

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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

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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

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Georgie in the Sun

Natalia Theodoridou Uncanny 2020 ShortStory Space Vampire Epic 2,592 words

Vlad’s an immortal vampire and his girlfriend Eliza stays in suspended animation most of the time while they travel the stars looking for a planet where they can be happy together.

Generation ShipBodily AutonomyMetafictional

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

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