The first time I found the hidden market, it felt like this— —an April morning, capricious sun flitting in and out of cloud, rain riding the breeze but I’ve no umbrella, of course; a sudden darkening of the sky and a quickening of the rain and it’s under my collar and obscuring my glasses and … Continue reading The Hidden Market by Lucy Harlow
In the years after your retirement, you’ll continue to make regular visits to the cafe where your wife once worked. This will be one of the two indulgences you still allow yourself. One such occasion will fall on a snowy afternoon in early December—you’ll push the door open with a jingle, stomp off your boots, … Continue reading A Shared History by Seth Marlin
i When the girl is nine a witch called Anna wrecks her sister, spells her into a swan and binds her in a cave. Charms stalactites to grow above her, dripping minerals into her gullet while she flaps and screams. Avian lives are short and transformation requires space, so the human sister turns her volume … Continue reading How She Lost Her Voice by Mary Scott
I live down in the pockets of the deep woods, where the crickets sing at dusk. This is where I’ve lived for a long time. A long, long time. Time in these mountains is a capricious master, sometimes shredding days like wheat fields under a scythe, sometimes keeping single hours captive like a gnat in … Continue reading Skin by Gretchen Tessmer
I. On the tarpaulin I lay your body, cold and rigid as the geometry you love. Tiny invaders already hunger, stretching their wings and cilia in prayer. The banana-yellow mud tastes of forever, and when I sink to my knees the puddles run clear with eggs of sated flies. In worship they will subsume your … Continue reading Outfield by Hal Y. Zhang
One mistake is what separated Nellie from the others—the “fakies” as she called them. Nellie was no Miss Francine, and she certainly wasn’t a part of the, even worse, Psychic Sisters Network. She told her eight-year-old grandson, Sam, to mute the television every time one of the Psychic Sisters’ cheap ads came blaring from the … Continue reading Those Fantastic Lives by Bradley Sides
Before I died, I grew tall. After I died, I grew long. I stood up. In the furrows of the field I stood up. Thunderclouds were rolling in, bringing with them autumn rain, warm and cold at once. The red Ohio clay cut the soles of my bare feet. I dropped the spade by the … Continue reading Fallow by Erin K.Wagner
A maid’s face lies stark in the glass. She bares her teeth, her smile black as rot and dripping. The mistress has dentifrice of pale powdered coral flavoured with lilacs (she knows because she tested the granules with her tongue, once), but a maid must make do with soot. It’s both grainy and slick on … Continue reading Maid-of-Many-Skins by G.V. Anderson
Programming online. Log 3251CE.432CD Hello, world. Today I was told that the log debug message that my programmers use to ensure my record-keeping functions are online and working is part of a joke that the ancient computer builders would tell each other. I asked to know more about this joke, but Philemon and Bao-Shin got … Continue reading Objective: Understanding by Alyssa N. Vaughn
It’s the first time Camille sees his bone collection. She prowls the edge of Simon’s bookcase, brushing her fingers along the specimens on the shelves. The softly lit bones remind her of seashells, smooth and white, silky under her touch. Small animal skulls with teeth sharp enough to pierce skin; a larger one with twisting … Continue reading The Bones And Their Girl by Sylvia Heike