"The ship was a billion years old, and it was dying. The incalculable energies that had forced open the metric to permit its passage were all but spent, and now the relentless quintessence was taking over again: pulling the metric tighter, so that from...
Sisterhood
34 free-to-read stories tagged “Sisterhood”
After watching a make eat her mother, Malatina isn’t sure she wants one anywhere near her web, but she’s lonely, and so she responds to a very unusual arachnipede who seems to be lonely too.
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-oneviolence
"Loire Valley, 1520 Estienne’s shadow fell over me, and I could not, of a sudden, recall the stitch I was making. He had invited himself onto the ladies’ porch without announcement. Odette’s voice faltered. “Take—” She was reading from the Queen of...
Content warnings 2
misogynysexual-violence
"The first night it was a kitchen chair set neatly on top of the polished walnut table, which the father had ordered from a luxury furniture dealer around the same time the nanny came to live with the family in the new gated tract home development, where...
Content warnings 1
abuse
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
deathmental-illnessviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesubstance-use
Even death is no match for a trio of elderly, stubborn, ever-sparring sisters, who refuse to rest in peace while their grudges live on…
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
"Folake Adeyemi was slowly digging her index finger into the base of her afro and staring at the row of remote subsurface exploration monitoring screens when she heard the explosion. She’d let her mind wander for a few moments, subconsciously clenching her...
Content warnings 1
death
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"My sister Angélique found me on a warm spring night. She was not looking for me but for a doctor who could treat women ridden by hags. (Such creatures were properly called soucouyants, but the printers took such liberties with the spelling in my weekly...
Content warnings 2
body-horrordeath
"Last week, in a tangerine raincoat that did not suit her pallid skin tone, Phylicia Wimby smiled through her lies. There is an 87% chance of rain for tomorrow. Due to the high probability of unpleasant weather for the entire week, we predict the Cousins...
"There are always three: the father, the unfather, and the child. That’s why Vriskiaab threw my unfather off his back after she bore my baby sister, or so Vriskiaab tells me when he stops in the shade of a dune, his massive scales warm under my calves and...
Content warnings 1
violence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
racism
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
ableismabuseviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
pregnancy-loss
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
child-deathsexual-violenceviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
animal-harmbody-horrorviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
child-abusesuicideviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
mental-illness
Given Rebecca’s hunger for blood, our hopes being complimentary seemed unlikely, yet Auntie Regina’s blessing poured over us both from head to toe. Never before had I felt closer to my sister. The warmth penetrated deeper into our skin, past the second...
Content warnings 2
animal-harmbody-horror
Feast #1 We stare at Judar of the Island, stunned, as he picks up a piece of roasted chicken and bites into the place where thigh meets leg, the marinade smearing the corners of his mouth. His teeth sink into the flesh again, then again, then again, until...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
PseudoPod 1050: This House of Hopes, This House of Bones is a PseudoPod original. C/W: domestic violence, murder My husband is home again. I cannot hear him well, not with the ringing in my ears and the throbbing headache making every movement agony, but...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
Deb is dead set on getting a pedicure, now, damn anyone else's time! But the Universe has its own plans, and she's not the only VIP to walk through the doors of SALON LA BELLE, eager to have her wish granted. Content warnings: Blood, violence, death,...
The Wolf is Piroska's sister, and they play with bombs in the backyard of their new home. Is Piroska wolf enough to survive? Content warnings: Threat of violence, imagined bodily injury Copyright khōréō magazine 2024. Story by Varju Izzy, edited by Kanika...
Content warnings 1
war
We drive iron nails through my sister's feet and into the dusty floorboards below to keep her from flying away.
Content warnings 3
abusebody-horrorchild-abuse
PseudoPod 873: A Box of Hair and Nail is a PseudoPod original. “This story was inspired by an urban myth that terrified my mum when she was a teenager in Malaysia. The legend went that if you didn’t dispose of your nail and hair clippings carefully, an...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
Charged with carrying on her family's magical tradition, Filio must choose between legacy and freedom. "Tomatoes" by Eugenia Triantafyllou is a story about roots: those we inherit and those we put down for ourselves. Copyright khōréō magazine 2022. Read by...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one
“Laughter Among the Trees” was previously published by The Dark Magazine on February 1st 2021. The highway to the campground cuts through the granite Laurentian Plateau like a desiccated wound. It’s been twenty five years since I’ve retraced this road and,...
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneracism
PseudoPod 811: No One Really Lives Alone is a PseudoPod original. When the priest comes to your house to vanquish your demons, draped in ancient symbols with pockets of holy water oozing from her like sap, don’t ask who sent her. She’ll mark your doorstep...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
“The Hollow Tree” was previously published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies in November 8, 2018 (Issue #264) Sevatividam would let to give a shoutout to Dan of Groundcrew Studios in Charlotte NC. She recorded “The Hollow Tree” and “Grave Mother” there and he did...
Content warnings 3
abusechild-abusedeath
“Trowel, Brush, Bones” was originally published in the Iron Horse Literary Review in January 2021 Sites that help with and advocate for the safety for women: We arrive at the compound outside Huanca just after midnight. We are tired and hungry and altitude...
Content warnings 1
sexual-violence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeathviolence