Strange Horizons

In case you missed it, the latest episode of the Critical Friends podcast is out now! This episode centers around writing in hard times.

Give it a listen at the link ⬇️

#podcast #bookreviews #fiction #speculativefiction #specfic #fantasy #sciencefiction #scifi #sff

☎️ SH CRITICISM HOTLINE NOW OPEN

In mid-August, thoughts naturally turn to the end of next January: the @strangehorizons.bsky.social Criticism Special.

What spec fic essays, roundtables, interviews, song-and-dance routines have you got for us? Go broad!

⚾️ Pitch us: danwhartland at gmail dot com

Left cover of Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski featuring a woman with half her body through a black portal filled with stars. Right REVIEWS "These are not conventional portal fantasies. Rather than offering straightforward executions of the format, these stories dwell in the knotty, ambiguous spaces surrounding their portals..." reviewer: William Shaw 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman featuring a gold framed painting of three people with posting swiped over it slightly hiding the image. Right REVIEWS Quote "As an author of speculative fiction, Fellman is not interested in the hows and whys of magic or the supernatural. But he is a master of the who. For readers of his earlier work, the same empathy and insight are here, but sharper and more aching." reviewer: Amy Nagopaleen 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of Anji Kills A King by Evan Leikam featuring the side view of a head with long white hair and a face covered in a beaked mask made out of a mountain side with people climbing below and a castle built into the cliff face at the top. Right REVIEWS Quote "Leikam’s writing style is very concise, and distraction-free. He excels at building up mind-pictures, useful for any fantasy author. His descriptions of the land of Yem are evocative without feeling like they’ve been written for film..." reviewer: Jacqueline Nyathi 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Reviews are in!

Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski
reviewed by William Shaw

Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
reviewed by Amy Nagopaleen

Anji Kills A King by Evan Leikam
reviewed by Jacqueline Nyathi

Read at the link to the latest issue in our bio

#speculativefiction #fantasy #sff #bookreviews

Left cover of Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski featuring a woman with half her body through a black portal filled with stars. Right REVIEWS "These are not conventional portal fantasies. Rather than offering straightforward executions of the format, these stories dwell in the knotty, ambiguous spaces surrounding their portals..." reviewer: William Shaw 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman featuring a gold framed painting of three people with posting swiped over it slightly hiding the image. Right REVIEWS Quote "As an author of speculative fiction, Fellman is not interested in the hows and whys of magic or the supernatural. But he is a master of the who. For readers of his earlier work, the same empathy and insight are here, but sharper and more aching." reviewer: Amy Nagopaleen 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of Anji Kills A King by Evan Leikam featuring the side view of a head with long white hair and a face covered in a beaked mask made out of a mountain side with people climbing below and a castle built into the cliff face at the top. Right REVIEWS Quote "Leikam’s writing style is very concise, and distraction-free. He excels at building up mind-pictures, useful for any fantasy author. His descriptions of the land of Yem are evocative without feeling like they’ve been written for film..." reviewer: Jacqueline Nyathi 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Reviews are in!

Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski
reviewed by William Shaw

Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
reviewed by Amy Nagopaleen

Anji Kills A King by Evan Leikam
reviewed by Jacqueline Nyathi

Read at the link to the latest issue in our bio

#speculativefiction #fantasy #sff #bookreviews

POETRY by M. Weigel Playing Among the Leaves  Quote Did none of you ever question why Robin Hood could melt into the trees? 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

Playing Among the Leaves 
by M. Weigel @peronelle.bsky.social

"Did none of you ever question why Robin Hood could melt into the trees?"

Read the full poem at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

Link⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

Finalists for the 2025 Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) Small Press Award for Short Fiction have been announced: * “All We Ever Had”, M.A. Akins (Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores 8/24) * “Within the Seed Lives the Fruit”, Leah Andelsmith (Reckoning 6/24) * “Bespoke”, Elly Bangs (Embodies Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures) * “A Hero’s Tale”, E. Florian Gludovacz (Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores 7/24) * “A Slightly Different Sunrise from Mercury, Nevada”, Íde Hennessy (Strange Horizons 11/24) * “A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places”, Marissa Lingen (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/24) * “A Catalog of 21st Century Ghosts”, Pat Murphy (Lightspeed 12/24) * “Collaborators”, Michael Payne (Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores 12/24)

🚀🤯 Thrilled to announce my nuclear test site tourism story “A Slightly Different Sunrise from Mercury, Nevada” in @strangehorizons.bsky.social has been nominated for a WSFA Small Press award! The WSFA is one of the oldest existing science fiction clubs in the U.S. (est. 1947). So honored! 🩵 #scifi

POETRY by Chris Clemens A Distressing Absence of Eyes  Quote "Not your recessed optical orbs, unable to see beyond printed warnings. We have tasted these orbs, found them wanting. Range-limited." 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

A Distressing Absence of Eyes 
by Chris Clemens

"Not your recessed optical orbs, unable to see beyond printed warnings. We have tasted these orbs, found them wanting. Range-limited."

Full poem ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

POETRY by Chris Clemens A Distressing Absence of Eyes  Quote "Not your recessed optical orbs, unable to see beyond printed warnings. We have tasted these orbs, found them wanting. Range-limited." 4 August 2025 Strange Horizons

A Distressing Absence of Eyes 
by Chris Clemens

"Not your recessed optical orbs, unable to see beyond printed warnings. We have tasted these orbs, found them wanting. Range-limited."

Full poem ⬇️
strangehorizons.com/wordpress/po...

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

On Artistic Honesty with Debbie Urbanski (SH@25 Episode 15) In this episode of Strange Horizons at 25, editor Kat Kourbeti chats to author Debbie Urbanski about her 2018 Strange Horizons publication and the 13 years of submissions it took to get accepted, w…

Episode 15 of the Strange Horizons at 25 Podcast is out now!

Kat Kourbeti @darthj.uno chats with Debbie Urbanski about her 2018 Strange Horizons publication and the 13 years it took to get accepted, writing in the gray areas between genres, and what it means to be artistically honest.

Link ⬇️

Habitats Volume 2 (Optimistic Science Fiction & Fantasy) The second issue of a brand-new optimistic science-fiction and fantasy magazine. Published by Habitats Press.

We're almost £6,000 funded with 10 days to go! Thank you to everyone who backed today — this was our best day of the campaign yet! ☀️ But we still have a way to go until we're fully funded.

Please repost and help us get there!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/sam...

#solarpunk #scifi #fantasy

FICTION Quote She let out a scream, a tiny bird-like scream, and fixed her pupils on mine – algae-filled, reptilian, discolored pupils, made of a far off glass, a glass extracted from the greenest, iciest night stars. Cuca  by Alfonsina Storni Translated by Alina Lazar and Anna Evelyn White 28 July 2025 Samovar Strange Horizons

FICTION Quote Ella dio un grito, un gritito de pájaro, y me clavó en las mías sus pupilas, unas pupilas algosas, arreptiladas, descoloridas, hechas de un vidrio lejano, de un vidrio rezumado por las más verdes y heladas estrellas de la noche. Cuca  by Alfonsina Storni 27 July 2025 Samovar Strange Horizons

Cuca
by Alfonsina Storni
translated by Alina Lazar and Anna Evelyn White

Read the full story in translation and the original at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#fiction #shortstories #speculativefiction #specfic #sff #translation #translatedfiction

FICTION Quote She let out a scream, a tiny bird-like scream, and fixed her pupils on mine – algae-filled, reptilian, discolored pupils, made of a far off glass, a glass extracted from the greenest, iciest night stars. Cuca  by Alfonsina Storni Translated by Alina Lazar and Anna Evelyn White 28 July 2025 Samovar Strange Horizons

FICTION Quote Ella dio un grito, un gritito de pájaro, y me clavó en las mías sus pupilas, unas pupilas algosas, arreptiladas, descoloridas, hechas de un vidrio lejano, de un vidrio rezumado por las más verdes y heladas estrellas de la noche. Cuca  by Alfonsina Storni 27 July 2025 Samovar Strange Horizons

Cuca
by Alfonsina Storni
translated by Alina Lazar and Anna Evelyn White

Read the full story in translation and the original at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#fiction #shortstories #speculativefiction #specfic #sff #translation #translatedfiction

Habitats Volume 2 (Optimistic Science Fiction & Fantasy) The second issue of a brand-new optimistic science-fiction and fantasy magazine. Published by Habitats Press.

Please repost! 💖 We're creeping up to £5,000 funded with 14 days to go — we want to keep publishing optimistic sci-fi and fantasy!

We have both print issues of our new magazine available together in one pledge:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/sam...

#scifi #fantasy #scififantasy #solarpunk

Samovar POETRY by Angela Acosta translated by Angela Acosta Heritage / Speaker | Hablante / Herencia  Quote I rehearsed a speech in a language that was assigned at birth 28 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Samovar POETRY by Angela Acosta Hablante / Herencia  | Heritage / Speaker  Quote Ensayé un discurso en el idioma que me han asignado al nacer 28 July 2025 Strange Horizons

The poem from the latest @samovarmag.bsky.social

Heritage / Speaker | Hablante / Herencia
by Angela Acosta
translated by Angela Acosta

Read this poem in translation and the original language at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff #samovar #translation

Samovar POETRY by Angela Acosta translated by Angela Acosta Heritage / Speaker | Hablante / Herencia  Quote I rehearsed a speech in a language that was assigned at birth 28 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Samovar POETRY by Angela Acosta Hablante / Herencia  | Heritage / Speaker  Quote Ensayé un discurso en el idioma que me han asignado al nacer 28 July 2025 Strange Horizons

The poem from the latest @samovarmag.bsky.social

Heritage / Speaker | Hablante / Herencia
by Angela Acosta
translated by Angela Acosta

Read this poem in translation and the original language at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff #samovar #translation

FICTION Quote Siddhartha said softly, ‘What’s done is done. Why can’t you take the matter simply as an accident? Look, the three of us were intoxicated at that time. That’s why I am asking you to think of the entire incident as a mild error. And what do you fear so much? We should go there at the very least to get over this fear.’ Oppressed | আক্রান্ত   by Sakyajit Bhattacharya Translated by Rituparna Mukherjee 28 July 2025 Samovar Strange Horizons

FICTION Quote সিদ্ধার্থ ধীরে ধীরে বলল, ‘যেটা হয়ে গেছে, হয়েই গেছে। একটা অ্যাক্সিডেন্ট হিসেবেই ব্যাপারটাকে নে না। দ্যাখ, তখন আমরা তিনজনেই ইনটক্সিকেটেড ছিলাম। তাই বলছি, গোটা ঘটনাটাকে তো একটা মাইল্ড এরর হিসাবেও দেখতে পারি। আর এত ভয় কিসের? অন্তত ভয় ভাঙানোর জন্যও ওখানে যাওয়া দরকার। ' সুনন্দ ঠোঁটের ওপর জিভ বোলাল— ‘কাজটার জন্য এখনও আমার খুব অপরাধী লাগে নিজেকে।' আক্রান্ত | Oppressed By Sakyajit Bhattacharya 28 July 2025 Samovar Strange Horizons

New issue of @samovarmag.bsky.social is this week's issue!

Oppressed | আক্রান্ত  
by Sakyajit Bhattacharya
translated by Rituparna Mukherjee

Read the full story in translation and the original at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#fiction #samovar #speculativefiction #specfic #sff

Podcast: Time Is An Ocean In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Angela Liu's 'Time Is An Ocean' read by Emmie Christie.

NEW PODCAST ALERT!

Time is an Ocean
by Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social
read by Emmie Christie @emmiechristie33.bsky.social

Listen to the story at the link ⬇️

#fiction #strangehorizons #speculativefiction #specfic #sff #podcast

Left cover of Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler featuring a bright pink tree trunk cut into three sections floating one above the other. Right REVIEWS "One of Nayler’s many strengths as a writer is his ability to depict the similarity in systems-thinking across fields often treated as distinct, which is why the “technology” of narrative itself lies so comfortably alongside the “technology” of state apparatuses in Where the Axe Is Buried. " reviewer: M. L. Clark 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of The Flat Woman by Vanessa Saunders featuring a manikin with a light skin tone from the neck up with the title over the eyes. Right REVIEWS Quote "Because The Flat Woman is a novella, the depiction of this soul-sucking relationship is necessarily brief. As is, to be honest, a lot of the worldbuilding... Readers are left to draw their own conclusions. I don’t think, in this instance, this is necessarily a drawback." reviewer: Octavia Cade 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of The Forestborns by Vardhini Amin featuring a girl riding a bike through a forest with a large face visible in the trees behind her. Right REVIEWS Quote "Amin writes with a simple, unadorned style that creates an effortless reading experience. Her prose is grounded, welcoming readers of all ages and making The Forestborns a book you’ll finish in one sitting." reviewer: Amritesh Mukherjee 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

The reviews are in!

Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler
by M. L. Clark

The Flat Woman by Vanessa Saunders
by Octavia Cade

The Forestborns by Vardhini Amin
by Amritesh Mukherjee

Link to the latest issue in our bio!

#speculativefiction #specfic #fantasy #sciencefiction #scifi #sff #bookreviews

POETRY by Ian Li not tied down Quote I find they’ve liberated us from safety tethers, turned my umbilical cord to the ship      into a wireless gravitational connection. 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

not tied down
by Ian Li

"I find they’ve liberated us from safety tethers,
turned my umbilical cord to the ship
     into a wireless gravitational connection."

Read the full poem at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

FICTION Quote Your head throbs in time with her words, you want to lift your fingers to your temple, but you don’t. Your tongue tastes the way a garden smells after the earth has been turned over to make room for new seeds. Charon said you insisted he bring you to me. You must have been very convincing. Resurrections  by Emet North 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Resurrections
by Emet North

"Your head throbs in time with her words, you want to lift your fingers to your temple, but you don’t. Your tongue tastes the way a garden smells after the earth has been turned over to make room for new seeds."

Full story at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

POETRY by Holly Easton In the Age of Dreams  Quote Keratinous dipped nickel borne of the planetary core, binds together conquest with forgotten fear. 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

In the Age of Dreams 
by Holly Easton

"Keratinous dipped nickel borne of the planetary core, binds together conquest with forgotten fear."

Read the full poem at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

POETRY by Holly Easton In the Age of Dreams  Quote Keratinous dipped nickel borne of the planetary core, binds together conquest with forgotten fear. 21 July 2025 Strange Horizons

In the Age of Dreams 
by Holly Easton

"Keratinous dipped nickel borne of the planetary core, binds together conquest with forgotten fear."

Read the full poem at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

Left poster of Jurassic World: Rebirth featuring a large dinosaur with mouth open over three people wading in water with one in the middle holding a gun and the one on the left holding a burning red flare. Right REVIEWS "The dinosaurs are bigger, the interaction between them and the humans has increased thanks to technological advancements, but the film is still trying to chase the feeling from thirty years ago." reviewer: Tansy Gardam 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of The Incandescent by Emily Tesh featuring the golden outline of a Phoenix in flight. Right REVIEWS Quote "I would like more authors to pick up the gauntlet Tesh has thrown down, and think seriously about the magical school story as a story about education, and through it, class and power. For now, we have The Incandescent, a novel that is remarkable both in itself, and as a call to action." reviewer: Abigail Nussbaum 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Left cover of A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry featuring the title in gold framed by long curly stemmed flowers with an eye at the top. Right REVIEWS Quote "Parry doesn’t use Dickens as a crutch or even as a copy-paste structure; she has her own narrative agenda, a story to tell, her own clear but at times lyrical and emotive language that doesn’t try to copy her predecessor’s wordy and complicated prose." reviewer: Anushree Nande 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

The reviews are in!

Jurassic World: Rebirth
by Tansy Gardam

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
by Abigail Nussbaum

A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry
by Anushree Nande

Link to the issue in our bio!

#fiction #speculativefiction #specfic #fantasy #sciencefiction #scifi #sff #bookreviews #moviereviews

Short Fiction Treasures: Quarterly Short Fiction Roundup One of the recent bright spots in the world of speculative short fiction publishing is the rebirth of Fantasy Magazine. Yes, Fantasy is back, published under the Psychopomp umbrella with co-editors…

Stories from @fantasymagazine.bsky.social, Remains, @nightmare-magazine.com , @diabolicalplots.com , @kaleidotrope.bsky.social , @lightspeedmagazine.com , @clarkesworldmagazine.com , The Indian Express, @omenanamag.bsky.social , @giganotosaurus.bsky.social , @escapepod.org , @psychopomp.com

Short Fiction Treasures: Quarterly Short Fiction Roundup One of the recent bright spots in the world of speculative short fiction publishing is the rebirth of Fantasy Magazine. Yes, Fantasy is back, published under the Psychopomp umbrella with co-editors…

Here's Maria Haskins' @mariahaskins.com "Short Fiction Treasures: Quarterly Short Fiction Roundup" in this week's issue!

POETRY by Silvatiicus Riddle The Witch Is My Mother, The Witch Is My Prince  Quote I waited for your kiss, inside the dank carapace of this body 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

The Witch Is My Mother, The Witch Is My Prince
by Silvatiicus Riddle @silvatiicus.bsky.social

"I waited for your kiss,
inside the dank carapace of this body"

Read the full poem at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

FICTION Quote This exhibition presents pieces from our permanent collection that are rarely displayed together, in order to illuminate the life of one of our most celebrated early rulers, Nizararuddin Zafer Abu Hassan Mohammed, better known as Prince Nizar. Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection  by Sharang Biswas 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection 
by Sharang Biswas @sharangbiswas.bsky.social

Read the story at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#fiction #speculativefiction #specfic #sff

FICTION Quote This exhibition presents pieces from our permanent collection that are rarely displayed together, in order to illuminate the life of one of our most celebrated early rulers, Nizararuddin Zafer Abu Hassan Mohammed, better known as Prince Nizar. Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection  by Sharang Biswas 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection 
by Sharang Biswas @sharangbiswas.bsky.social

Read the story at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#fiction #speculativefiction #specfic #sff

POETRY by Carsten Cheung Possessed  Quote There’s a ghost stuck up my nose. Has to be. 14 July 2025 Strange Horizons

Possessed
by Carsten Cheung

"There’s a ghost stuck up my nose.

Has to be."

Read the full poem at the link to the latest issue in our bio!

#poetry #speculativepoetry #specpo #sff

Strange Horizons 2026 A free weekly speculative fiction magazine with a global perspective.

8 hours to go on the @strangehorizons.bsky.social fund drive - can you help us reach our 25k stretch goal and fund a special 25th anniversary issue? Some great new perks have been added too, courtesy of Interzone 👀 www.kickstarter.com/projects/str...