Cactus and Lizard – Hannah Costelle
The city shimmered as though it were under an ocean instead of in a barren desert.
Beautifully written fantasy
Tower of Mud and Straw I – Yaroslav Barsukov
Shea Ashcroft stepped from a carriage into the low-lit cul-de-sac as a mongrel lifted its door knocker of a head from a garbage pile.
Where the Old Neighbors Go – Thomas Ha
The man standing on the porch that night seemed like an ordinary gentrifier at first glance: young and tall and artfully unshaven.
Devilish Calliope and the Ungrooviest Apocalypse – Evan Marcroft
I’d just worked the handcuffs loose when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. Even hanging by my ankles above impending doom, I knew I’d be in real shit if I didn’t pick up. I made a sort of cup out of my hand and pressed the phone to my ear. “This is Devilish urgently speaking.” “Devilish. It’s me. Are you free to talk?” I glanced up, or rather down, into the flame-rimmed iris over …
The Chorley – Rachel Ayers
Little Annamarie wore a mournful expression. “Mama,” she said, “I can’t find my Chorley.” Chorley was a ragged stuffed elephant that the girl had had since she was two. “Where did you leave it?” the Mama asked, the air of distraction hardened on her features. She had taken off the VR glasses that she customarily wore throughout the long hours of the day, and even the child could see that she was irritated by the …
Shards – Jordan Chase-Young
Shona’s seaweed harness creaked loudly as a cold, whistling gale tried to fling her off the Spire. She held onto the masonry until the air stilled, until her guts ceased to cartwheel. In the six years since Shona had escaped the deluge, she’d rarely felt vertigo. Even when her fellow earthmasons raised the Spire as high as it hung now—a mile or so above the ocean that now wrapped the world—the sun-pummeled water below seemed …