Left
cover of The House of Illusionists and Other Stories by Vanessa Fogg featuring a East Asian style building with a tree blooming with purple flowers behind it.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
Fogg’s focus on endings and societies declining or being destroyed may hit harder today than when these stories were originally written, which is why her consistent emphasis on the power of beauty—if not to save then at least to somehow redeem such endings—is important.
reviewer: Stephen Case
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The House of Illusionists and Other Stories by Vanessa Fogg
reviewed by Stephen Case
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
#bookreviews #fantasy #sciencefiction #scifi
28.02.2026 11:39 —
👍 12
🔁 7
💬 1
📌 0
Left
cover of New Meat in a Clean Room edited by Ira Rat featuring a close up of the upper right of a face with the eye covered in a yellow dot with a thick line extending downwards like tears.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
This is not comfortable reading. It is not intended to be. It is, however, one of the most tightly conceived, skillfully executed, and intellectually demanding horror anthologies I have encountered in recent years.
reviewer: Subham Rai
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
New Meat in a Clean Room edited by Ira Rat
reviewed by Subham Rai
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
#bookreviews #horror
28.02.2026 11:39 —
👍 5
🔁 2
💬 1
📌 2
Left
cover of The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip featuring a person sleeping draped over a rock with a black horse in the background.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
The Essential Patricia A. McKillip is by and large concerned with three things—how can imagination set people free, what do people imagine, and how do those imagined things/people/places connect and change throughout space and time?
reviewer: Roy Salzman-Cohen
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The reviews are in!
The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip
reviewed by Roy Salzman-Cohen
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
#bookreviews #fantasy #patriciaamckillip
28.02.2026 11:39 —
👍 12
🔁 3
💬 1
📌 0
NON-FICTION
Quote
Every world build makes choices about where agency rested in the great stages of its past, using histories as models and also practicing the historian’s craft: making claims about how the world changes, and who has the power to change it.
end Quote
Why All Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Are Historians
by Ada Palmer
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Why All Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Are Historians
by Ada Palmer
"Every world build makes choices about where agency rested in the great stages of its past, using histories as models and also practicing the historian’s craft..."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
27.02.2026 11:10 —
👍 37
🔁 15
💬 1
📌 6
NON-FICTION
Quote
I did expect the story to go another way because I thought it was going to be like any other undead story. But I am very happy to see that it wasn’t. Frankly, they are a nice change from the usual OTR shows which, to be honest, are often on the sloppy side.
end Quote
Stories From The Radio
by Kuzhali Manickavel
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Stories From The Radio
by Kuzhali Manickavel @kuzhalimanickavel.bsky.social
"I did expect the story to go another way because I thought it was going to be like any other undead story. But I am very happy to see that it wasn’t."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
26.02.2026 10:59 —
👍 8
🔁 5
💬 0
📌 1
2026 Rhysling Anthology and Award – Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association
Congratulations to all the 2026 @sfpoetry.bsky.social Rhysling Award nominees! 🎉
Very exciting to see twelve (!!!) poems from last year's Strange Horizons issues on the list!
Thank you to everyone who trusted us with their work and thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed them! ❤️
25.02.2026 18:24 —
👍 25
🔁 8
💬 0
📌 0
POETRY
by IM Shulman
bones and bones and bones and
Quote
I unzipped my skin and all my bones fell out. This was not by design: I meant to loose my soul from the forest of my lungs, unfurl its banner past my legs and my toes and there, in the blameless earth, find a new alchemy for living. Instead—bones.
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
bones and bones and bones and
by IM Shulman
"I unzipped my skin and all my bones fell out."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
25.02.2026 18:07 —
👍 2
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 1
POETRY
by Ursula Whitcher
Secondary Filters
Quote
Adjust the color of the sky,
my phone offers
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Secondary Filters
by Ursula Whitcher @yarntheory.bsky.social
"Adjust the color of the sky,
my phone offers"
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
25.02.2026 18:07 —
👍 8
🔁 6
💬 1
📌 0
NON-FICTION
Quote
Chambers asserts that to marvel is a necessary part of human flourishing, a mandatory part of responsible human participation in our environment. To be a responsible ecological citizen, Dex must recognize that as an animal, they have no purpose.
end Quote
Rewilding Human Purpose in Becky Chambers's A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Elizabeth Bush-Peel
23 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Rewilding Human Purpose in Becky Chambers's A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Elizabeth Bush-Peel
"To be a responsible ecological citizen, Dex must recognize that as an animal, they have 'no purpose.'"
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
24.02.2026 11:10 —
👍 5
🔁 1
💬 0
📌 2
Left
cover of Slow Gods by Claire North featuring a red planet with radial waves around it and a small gold rocket in the centre.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
There are so many huge ideas and issues addressed in Slow Gods—capitalism, religion, gender, culture, climate migration, othering, war, love, morality, having a meaningful life—but they don’t get in the way of enjoying a well-written and enjoyable novel.
reviewer: Ian J. Simpson
16 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Slow Gods by Claire North
reviewed by Ian J. Simpson
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
22.02.2026 14:45 —
👍 7
🔁 2
💬 0
📌 0
Left
cover of Lies Weeping by Glen Cook featuring three people, two generating golden wisps of magic in their hand and the third holding up a long sword.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
Cook is a competent enough writer in his dour, sardonic way—his action sequences are decently blocked and his characterization rich enough that we remember who these people are from book to book.
reviewer: Roz Kaveney
16 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Lies Weeping by Glen Cook
reviewed by Roz Kaveney
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
22.02.2026 14:45 —
👍 0
🔁 1
💬 1
📌 0
Left
cover of Into the Sun by C.F. Ramuz, translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan featuring a sun crudely drawn with black marker.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
In this translation, Ramuz’s sentences have the beauty of a beam of sunlight through swirling dust—simple, elegant, illuminating the structure of the invisible. Repeatedly he invokes a mirrored world, in which constructions partner natural objects, and the mind reconstitutes reality in its own image.
reviewer: Dawn Macdonald
16 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The reviews are in!
Into the Sun by C.F. Ramuz, translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan
reviewed by Dawn Macdonald
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
22.02.2026 14:45 —
👍 3
🔁 4
💬 1
📌 1
POETRY
by Garth Upshaw
They Leave
Quote
The mother tide goes out. And stays.
Sends me a text. Three emojis:
Yellow hand waving.
Palm tree.
Palm tree.
16 February 2026
Strange Horizons
They Leave
by Garth Upshaw
"The mother tide goes out. And stays.
Sends me a text. Three emojis:
Yellow hand waving.
Palm tree.
Palm tree."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
19.02.2026 15:30 —
👍 8
🔁 1
💬 0
📌 0
FICTION
Quote
I can’t say where I’m from for obvious reasons, but just know that most of it is a very arid, very empty desert with a whole lot of nothingness. Water is life here, and it's evident in that if you stray too far off the beaten path and away from water, you will get lost and you’ll be lucky if anyone sees you again before sundown.
end Quote
The River Speaks My Name
by Ocoxōchitl la Coyota
16 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The River Speaks My Name
by Ocoxōchitl la Coyota
"Water is life here, and it's evident in that if you stray too far off the beaten path and away from water, you will get lost and you’ll be lucky if anyone sees you again before sundown."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
18.02.2026 10:10 —
👍 11
🔁 2
💬 0
📌 0
POETRY
by Carolina Marchioro
The Secret to being a Dragon
Quote
you’re a girl-shaped puncture wound
16 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The Secret to being a Dragon
by Carolina Marchioro
"you’re a girl-shaped puncture wound"
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
17.02.2026 11:16 —
👍 14
🔁 5
💬 0
📌 0
Left
cover of Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989 by Andrea Horbinski featuring three scenes from early Japanese comics at the top two floating heads in the middle two people looking surprised as something below them and at the bottom an early telephone with arms attacking a man.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
Manga’s First Century is nonetheless a fluent, eloquent account of the art form and its many iterations across Japan’s rapidly-shifting social, political, and economic landscapes during the tumultuous, accelerated twentieth century.
reviewer: Rachel Cordasco
9 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989 by Andrea Horbinski
reviewed by Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
15.02.2026 15:34 —
👍 4
🔁 1
💬 0
📌 0
Left
cover of Arctic Knot by Ivan Leonov featuring an arctic landscape with two people underneath sitting and watching the same landscape on a screen.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
In failing to live up to its ambitions, then, Arctic Knot demonstrates what makes idea-driven speculative fiction work, the essential transformation that makes an idea into something that can animate a story, that needs to be explored in narrative.
reviewer: Tristan Beiter
9 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Arctic Knot by Ivan Leonov
reviewed by Tristan Beiter @tristanbeiter.bsky.social
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
15.02.2026 15:34 —
👍 5
🔁 3
💬 1
📌 0
Left
cover of Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud featuring a face with glowing yellow eyes and a centipede curling around it's left side.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
His characters are at turns ruthless and pathetic, endearing and distancing, and the scope of the characters’ relationships remains grounded, even while the scale reaches out to the stars. As with Ballingrud’s previous short story work..., I was simultaneously repulsed, fascinated, horrified, and certainly never bored.
reviewer: Andy Sawyer
9 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The reviews are in!
Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud
reviewed by Matt Holder
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
15.02.2026 15:34 —
👍 13
🔁 3
💬 1
📌 1
Poetry Submission Guidelines
How to submit poetry.
I'm reading poetry subs at Strange Horizons this month. You can submit up to 6 speculative poems in a single file or separate files. I recommend separate files, because we allow simultaneous submissions and it's easier to withdraw individual poems. Guidelines: strangehorizons.com/submit/poetr...
11.02.2026 19:13 —
👍 43
🔁 29
💬 0
📌 0
POETRY
by Darius Jones
The Point
Quote
The triangles bred and twisted,
replicating themselves.
9 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The Point
by Darius Jones
"The triangles bred and twisted,
replicating themselves."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
#poetry #speculativepoetry
12.02.2026 10:43 —
👍 5
🔁 3
💬 0
📌 0
FICTION
Quote
But she had heard about the cable line stewards, those like Benny who usually descended from generations of ʻohana living out near the cable stations, long-term custodians of the ‘āina and, in turn, the cable lines that ran through them, enabling communication across the islands.
end Quote
A Night with Hui ‘Enehana ‘Ike
by Maʻemaʻeolehua Matsumoto
9 February 2026
Strange Horizons
A Night with Hui ‘Enehana ‘Ike
by Maʻemaʻeolehua Matsumoto
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
#shortstories #fiction #speculativefiction
11.02.2026 10:36 —
👍 11
🔁 5
💬 0
📌 0
POETRY
by Larina Warnock
Why You Don't Buy Your Wife a Dishwasher for Her Birthday
Quote
sometime in the night, we heard rocking and knocking and rapping and tapping, a million trillion tiny feet skittering across the open oven door.
9 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Why You Don't Buy Your Wife a Dishwasher for Her Birthday
by Larina Warnock
"sometime in the night, we heard rocking and knocking and rapping and tapping, a million trillion tiny feet skittering across the open oven door."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
10.02.2026 11:22 —
👍 12
🔁 7
💬 0
📌 0
Left
cover of Hazelthorn by C. G. Drews featuring a person stretching their face out of thorned vines with vines across their bleeding eyes.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
It leans on the idea of a “good” rich person pursuing better communion with the earth, meshing queerness and wealth critique within the gothic. Ultimately, it neatly combines a critique of the rich themselves with one of the exploitation inherent to gaining massive wealth.
reviewer: Cameron Miguel
2 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Hazelthorn by C. G. Drews
reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
08.02.2026 19:15 —
👍 4
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Left
cover of Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree featuring a humanoid mouse, a goblin, an elf and a horse standing around a pot heating over a campfire.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
Brigands & Breadknives is a brave book to write, a cozy fantasy novel that acknowledges the hard, the messy, the jagged, and the wrenching bittersweet, while simultaneously advocating for hope and belief in an essential goodness.
reviewer: Anushree Nande
2 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
reviewed by Anushree Nande
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
08.02.2026 19:15 —
👍 11
🔁 2
💬 1
📌 0
Left
cover of Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky featuring a round metal shield with a spider on it surrounded by fire.
Right
REVIEWS
Quote
it's certainly possible to read Spiderlight as a lightly amusing deconstruction of the kind of fantasy we have all read too much of. At the end of the day, it’s a guilty pleasure. We know where we’re going, and we are happy to have a skilful guide to take us there. But if this novel is play, it is thoughtful play.
reviewer: Andy Sawyer
2 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The reviews are in!
Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
reviewed by Andy Sawyer
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...
08.02.2026 19:15 —
👍 11
🔁 1
💬 2
📌 1
POETRY
by Alison Clara Tan
The Sunfish Considers Flotation Therapy
Quote
Don’t know why they
bob? In blue death boxes? Sunless wreck.
2 February 2026
Strange Horizons
The Sunfish Considers Flotation Therapy
by Alison Clara Tan
"Don’t know why they
bob? In blue death boxes? Sunless wreck."
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
#poetry
06.02.2026 11:58 —
👍 13
🔁 8
💬 0
📌 0
FICTION
Quote
From the window of the nursery, Wendy saw Jane wobbling her way down Kensington Park Road on a borrowed bicycle, hair unbraided and wild like she’d been flying. Wendy’s throat seized with fear. Was that gold glittering in the girl’s hair? Had the neighbors seen? Was that his laughter that rang out from Kensington Park across the way?
end Quote
Mother, Darling
by Allison Pottern
2 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Mother, Darling
by Allison Pottern @apottern.bsky.social
"Was that gold glittering in the girl’s hair? Had the neighbors seen? Was that his laughter that rang out from Kensington Park across the way?"
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
#shortstories #fiction #fantasy
05.02.2026 10:32 —
👍 17
🔁 11
💬 1
📌 2
POETRY
by Josh Pearce
Plastic Paradise Awaits
Quote
Inject direct
the petroleum of salvation
2 February 2026
Strange Horizons
Plastic Paradise Awaits
by Josh Pearce @fictionaljosh.bsky.social
"Inject direct
the petroleum of salvation"
Link ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...
04.02.2026 10:31 —
👍 5
🔁 4
💬 0
📌 0
