r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 1h ago
r/ShortSF • u/ChronicleFlask • Sep 25 '26
Horror PseudoPod 1049: An Inordinate Amount of Interest, by Ayida Shonibar
r/ShortSF • u/themindin1500words • Sep 25 '26
Horror Occupants by Steve Rasnic Tem: "And didn’t they deserve a three-week vacation after the year they’d had? Ethically, Tom wasn’t sure he approved. But if they spent their money here, didn’t it help the locals?"
in Reactor
timely story, not an easy read, I liked the moral rationalisation stuff as in the quoted text.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 1d ago
Science Fiction Sixty-One Seconds by Martin Cahill - Remember the recharge time. A minute and one. A lot can happen in that time. Microjumps, they say. Alternate realities at the speed of what-if. The velocity of wondering. [Flash Fiction]
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 1d ago
Question / Discussion Congratulations to Thomas Ha, whose book Uncertain Sons and Other Stories just won the 2026 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection!
What a well deserved win!
If you’ve never read his work, there are a bunch of his stories here on r/ShortSF. Enjoy!
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 2d ago
To The Android I Saw Get Pushed onto the Tracks at the Archives Metro station by RJ Aurand - I peered into the dark well of the tracks to see what had become of your body. It looked wrong, all angles and exposed wire. [Flash Fiction]
r/ShortSF • u/PowerfulPurpleNurple • 2d ago
Science Fiction Three Tentacled Tales Trancending Terra by Caz Lewis
The universe is full of strange life, questionable ethics, and bad decisions. Three Tentacled Tales Transcending Terra is a collection of humorous science fiction short stories about alien biology, bad assumptions, and looking at the world turned upside down.
Transcendence: When Tenzin finally attains enlightenment, he discovers life and the universe are far more bizarre yet strangely familiar than he thought possible.
Landfood: Cliona is an ambitious hunter determined to score her best haul of fresh human landfood, only to discover her quarry isn’t as primitive as she initially thought.
Cycle of Sin: Jucky is a devout human seeking forgiveness for laying with an alien…from another alien. But he discovers his spiritual leader has different ideas about sin and penance.
You can find all my free short stories here. These stories require an email to read them. But then you can immediately unsubscribe if you don't want to receive any emails for additional free stories.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 3d ago
Fantasy Endless Requiem By Y. M. Pang - Sometimes, if Wuyin tilted his head and squinted just right, he’d find himself in the water. He’d raise his hands and find soft palms, the fingers still stubby and half-grown. Wuyin laughed, and his laughter was that of a boy and not a lost man.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 4d ago
Dark Fantasy What Cradles Us But Will Not Set Us Free By Nin Harris - I used to dance with the Three Sisters beneath those trees when I was a child. I would forget it the next morning. It made no sense to me right now that they would let me have that memory and knowledge. Pieces of who I was have been removed.
r/ShortSF • u/ChronicleFlask • 5d ago
Horror PseudoPod 1053: Put Your Metal Blade to the Earth, by Madeline Logemann
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 5d ago
Fantasy There’s Something a Little Wrong with Jean by Kathy Fish - It’s just some sort of atmospheric disturbance, Lara assures him. She notices Lance’s face, typically rosy, is turning gray. [Flash Fiction]
matterpress.comr/ShortSF • u/Thoth-Reborn • 5d ago
Fantasy How the Aesir Learned the Mantras by Sam McDonald — A Norse folktale from a world where Buddhism, rather than Christianity, became the dominant religion of Europe.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 6d ago
Supernatural Tomorrow Night by Marie Brennan - She finishes supper and has everything tidied away by the time her husband’s ghost appears. He settles into his favorite chair by the fire and smiles at her. [Flash Fiction]
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 7d ago
Space Opera The Imitation by D.N. Schmidt - After a week of watching the black sphere, Meyer announced that he was going inside. There was no airlock, no doors or windows that they could see, but there had to be a way in.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 8d ago
Urban Fantasy Third Shift by Jess Simms - My brother Walt used to have a brownie. They had a real good arrangement until his kid started taking the treats for himself. Then the brownie turned trickster. A bunch of his wife’s jewelry went missing and, after that, the brownie was gone for good.
r/ShortSF • u/PANTHERseriesOfficia • 8d ago
Science Fiction My newest short story, P.A.N.T.H.E.R
The P.A.N.T.H.E.R story is about a man named Brolinn who gets lost from his intergalactic army. The story is supposed to be a commentary on the toxic side of the military and war. Its also just a sick action packed story. Its only 7210 words so if you have time please give it a read. The author is me, Stryker Fox.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 9d ago
Fantasy As The Shore To The Tides, So Blood Calls To Blood By Karlo Yeager Rodríguez - In the beginning, two brothers divided the world between the bitter waters and sweet. Tiago parted the bitter waters of the boundless deeps, and his brother Jaime carved the revealed land with his lakes and rivers.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 10d ago
Fantasy Until the Cure by Marissa Lingen - The golem who cares for my mother is patient, as I am not patient. The golem who cares for my mother is kind. It is precise. I took everything I wanted to be as a daughter, and am not, and I put it into the golem. I’m still afraid I am failing her.
lightspeedmagazine.comr/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 11d ago
Urban Fantasy Business As Usual by Sylvie Althoff - The last time I saw you, you were driving a wooden spike through my eye socket. This afternoon, you were ringing up my groceries at Dillons. [Flash Fiction]
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 12d ago
Science Fiction Reversion by Nin Harris - The first time she had met the multi-faceted eyes of her mate, Aakavi had recoiled at the difference. It had not been a marriage of passion, but rather an anthropological experiment carried out by human researchers on Tortz.
r/ShortSF • u/Thoth-Reborn • 12d ago
Science Fiction Welcome to the Xenarium by Sam McDonald — Explore the wonders of the cosmic wilderness right here on Earth. Take a tour of the Xenarium, an indoor zoo full of alien animals
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 13d ago
Science Fiction Guidance by Martin Cahill — The voice of the Guidance whispering in his mind. “Across the fifty most accessible timelines, there is consensus: This plant’s safety measures do not hold. If operations are not ceased immediately, a mistake is made that is catastrophic.”
lightspeedmagazine.comr/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 14d ago
Happy Buttons by D.N. Schmidt — When they start to get down, they can press it to feel like their simulated lives are worth living again. If you look at the software, the button adds three hearts to the Joy Meter and toggles the Hopelessness setting from a one to a zero.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 15d ago
Dark Fantasy Every Force Evolves a Form by Tom Marcinko — I snapped awake before dawn. Every jangle in my nerves insisted something was wrong. I must rush to the Nursery, to the plot of Jaymla Braden convicted of Sororcide, Cruelty to Animals, Simpering Vacillation in Matters of Love.
r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 16d ago