Madeleine Pelletier

The Bedtime Emptying of Our World by Joel Hans At bedtime, our daughter asks for two handfuls of Crayons and a ream of computer paper. She asks for the tiny blanket we crocheted for her when she was six months old. For the doll with fidget-knot…

"And like with lightning during the monsoons, we count the seconds until we hear her voice in return, the brief but enduring tremor she imparts on the bedtime emptying of our world."

This is just so heartbreakingly beautiful. 💙

@joelhans.com in @flashfrog.bsky.social

The Cirrus Circus - The Offing Fiction - The Offing Magazine

"...Globe has asked her thousands of piblings and the roadrunners and the mule deer and the jays in the hills to wait until the seventh day of the seventh week, when the first light of starrise touches the glass above our heads, to sigh warmly into the sky."

@joelhans.com @theoffingmag.bsky.social

Gosh, this was just the *most fun story* to write. Took forever, yes, but it was a joy.

Check out Astrolabe! This is a great concept for a magazine & they've published so many award-winning stories! Scroll around the landing page & check out all the gorgeous work!

EIC @joelhans.com & @astrolabe.ooo

Introducing khōréō Volume 5, Issue 4 is out now! The fourth issue of our fifth year is now live! If you’re a subscriber, you should already have access to this issue. Miss out? Never fear: you can buy a copy of the issu...

This week we're focusing on stories in khōréō!

We love this magazine & have a big list of stories to share! Please join us in reading these gems!

Huge thanks to @emelkrishnan.bsky.social & @danaiwrites.bsky.social & the magazine staff for their help curating our list!

@khoreo.bsky.social

Suuuuper excited to have been invited to an @electricsheepsf.bsky.social discussion. See yous all at the weekend!

"There’s stuff online every day, calling me an angel, a saviour. That’s the stuff I believe."

Love this approach to climate fiction - big attitude, lots of satisfaction.

@slashnburnett.bsky.social in @unchartedmag.bsky.social

Plastic-eating fungus caused doomsday[2][3] This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the End of Plastic (2029) article, about the Tremella purgare fungus, released into the Gulf of Mexico following the TransAm War Oil Spill, and …

"... to reflect the current shitstorm now that plastic everywhere is basically disappearing? -Kinoko"

Smart use of form and humor in this searing flash!

@slashnburnett.bsky.social in @flashfictiononline.bsky.social

Another beautifully realized story from emma burnett - looking forward to talking with emma this week at E Sheep!
@slashnburnett.bsky.social

"Miriam was fourteen when the food in her mouth turned to ash."

Utterly heartbreaking, beautifully written. @slashnburnett.bsky.social in @mythaxis.bsky.social

"Sell you a card? someone calls out from an alleyway. Change your life."

Love the transformation!

@slashnburnett.bsky.social in Northern Gravy!

From the author's note: "We can’t look away from one evil act when confronted with another. We need to tackle them head-on, in the hopes that we don’t reenact them."

I hope you can take a few moments to read this story. @slashnburnett.bsky.social in @mythaxis.bsky.social 💔

If you've enjoyed this week's stories by @slashnburnett.bsky.social, be on the lookout for emma's upcoming novella, EX PARTUM!

@atthisarts.com

Bone-Eater Earth - Uncharted I lose my finger during the private flight back from Japan. It isn’t the whole finger, of course, just the bone. When I drugged myself into oblivion at the start of the flight, it was totally fine. Wh...

This week's featured author is emma burnett! @slashnburnett.bsky.social

First up is "Bone-Eater Earth" in @unchartedmag.bsky.social!

"Clearly it takes a techbro to fix the important problems."

Ha!

Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Captain and the Quartermaster by C.L. Clark How different that was from the beginning. With her hand in Deputy Quartermaster Omopria’s, sneaking away from the army’s camp, Captain Len felt like she could climb the clouds. But the sky was clear ...

“Commander Maeb Len knows that, more than anything, an army needs hope in order to struggle onward. They need a vision to fight for and faith that the future will be better than the past. Better than the present.”

@clclark.bsky.social in @bcsmagazine.bsky.social!

This is going to be a great meeting! @clclark.bsky.social @electricsheepsf.bsky.social

You Perfect, Broken Thing - Uncanny Magazine When I leave the kill floor, my legs are wasted. I shuffle to the women’s locker room. I can’t stand anymore, but I know if I sit, I’ll never get back up. At least, not for another hour. I prop myself...

“With my eyes closed, I see: constellations of my future—the hero, the lover, the companions, the enemies to slay.”

Love the expertise on display in this story! @clclark.bsky.social in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social !

Honing the Blade C. L. Clark is the author of the Magic of the Lost trilogy (The Unbroken, The Faithless, and The Sovereign), Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf, and Fate's Bane.

This week’s guest is C.L. Clark! We’ll focus on the craft of short stories vs longer works – and getting them published. Huge thanks to C.L. for taking time to talk with us!

@clclark.bsky.social

Beneath Ceaseless Skies - February Moon by Josh Rountree My children have spent so much time living with terrible realities that I’m afraid they no longer take the world’s dangers seriously. I wish for them to simply be children, and for myself to be burden...

“The air is birdsong and honeysuckle and the electric touch of approaching thunderstorms, and I can almost imagine myself happy here.”

February Moon by Josh Rountree in Beneath Ceaseless Skies!
@joshrountree.bsky.social @bcsmagazine.bsky.social

Their Blood Smells of Love and Terror, by Josh Rountree - PSYCHOPOMP.COM I don’t want the things they offer me. Warm blood and broken skulls. Grunting pigs and headless roosters. Bottles of […]

“Night sits heavy against the harvested fields as my bones stir beneath the soil. They find one another, grind together, and take shape as I inhabit that old skin and prepare to play my part once again.”

Another lush story from Josh Rountree!

@joshrountree.bsky.social @thedeadlands.com

Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Guadalupe Witch by Josh Rountree The way he said ran away from home made it sound like I was a child who’d snuck out after dark, gotten lost in the woods, and cried until her parents found her. But my leaving had purpose. Laboring un...

“The witch hunter caught up with me along the banks of the Guadalupe River. He was barely old enough to grow a moustache, and I figured my husband had paid him half of what he would’ve paid someone with more experience.”

Loved this!

@joshrountree.bsky.social @bcsmagazine.bsky.social

PseudoPod 882: See That My Grave is Kept Clean Dig a hole, climb in, cover yourself in grave dirt. Not your face. You aren’t ready to join the dead, not yet. The bone men tend the graveyard, unaware they’re being watched. You’re crying because you...

“They step so softly they appear to drift above the graves. Bones bright as blades in the moonlight.”

Josh Rountree in Pseudopod!
@joshrountree.bsky.social @pseudopod.org

Summer in the House of the Departed | Psychopomp Forty-four years after his grandmother and an entire West Texas town vanished, Brady returns to his childhood home, hoping to follow in her footsteps.

This week’s guest is Josh Rountree! We’ll look at several short stories & his novella SUMMER IN THE HOUSE OF THE DEPARTED!

@joshrountree.bsky.social @psychopomp.com

What a story! Can't wait to talk about it with @aimeeogdenwrites.com and the @electricsheepsf.bsky.social gang!

Haven't shared this for a while. If you provide recs, reviews, news, or commentary about SPECULATIVE SHORT STORIES, I'm happy to add you!

This week's guest is Helen McClory!

First up is "The Companion" in Wigleaf!

"At this time of day, the risk of attack was minimal, and all she had was that noise, that taste, the treachery beneath, and the cold air around."

@helenmcclory.bsky.social @wigleaf.bsky.social

"The sound was high and wrenching. There was a strong, wild smell now. She and I stood watching the second wave of the storm as it broke, droplets spattering, dense as white oil."

Love the relationship amid the storm!

@helenmcclory.bsky.social @wigleaf.bsky.social

"I want to tell you about this other film I saw, one night when you were out sticking twigs in your hair and shoving your hand into the mouths of foxes, you dank, fleshy monster."

Every bit of this story is unexpected! And sharp as a snakebite.

@helenmcclory.bsky.social in Winter Tangerine!

Mayhem & Death Mayhem & Death [McClory, Helen] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Mayhem & Death

Political shenanigans prevent some of us from ordering directly from the press, which sucks. But you might find a copy at the evil place:

Author Interview * Vanessa Fogg Vanessa Fogg has long been one of my favorite writers. Several of her short stories are on my secret “all-time best” list, so it’s a treat to learn about her new collection, The House of Illusionis…

Interview with @vanessafogg.bsky.social about her upcoming collection, THE HOUSE OF ILLUSIONISTS!

@interstellarflight.bsky.social