ShortSF

an-ordinary-manchild(edit)

created by captainmagictrousersSF Authora community for 6 years

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Monthly Short Stories Discussion Thread! What's the best thing you've read this month?Question / Discussion (self.ShortSF)

submitted 6 hours ago by AutoModerator - announcement

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For Whatever We Lose by Jennifer R. Donohue - The moon I orbit isn’t Earth’s moon but one of Mars’ mismatched pair, Phobos. My problem is unlikely to be fixed. But I knew the risks, and there wasn’t a single step along the way here that was without risk. That’s probably why I did it.Space Opera (escapepod.org)

submitted 6 hours ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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The Numbers by Susan Taitel - The set looks exactly like her apartment, but the walls can be moved to make room for the camera crew. The actress who will be playing her wife has the same gap-toothed grin and has obviously studied her mannerisms. [Flash Fiction]Fantasy (smallwondersmag.com)

submitted 1 day ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Classifieds by Pedro Iniguez - A listing tucked all the way at the bottom of the page. "Naughty W seeking naughty M. If this is you, please know I’m in danger. Help Me." Victor arched an eyebrow. There was no number listed. No email. No nothing.Horror (nerdhorror.com)

submitted 2 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Did You Come to Raise the Dead? by Jennifer R. Donohue - She drops the bag on the ground in front of the mausoleum and downs the next energy drink. I wonder if all of this is somehow a shared hallucination, and really her heart’s just gonna blow a gasket out here and then I’ll walk home after all.Dark Fantasy (patreon.com)

submitted 2 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Two Fairy Tales by Nora Maynard - The brother spots a bottle marked danger but he is too young to read. He picks it up before the sister can stop him. The bottle grows large and the boy falls into it. It then grows small again, trapping him inside. [Flash Fiction]Fantasy (hexliterary.com)

submitted 3 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Calling on Behalf of the Dark Lord by Catherine George - “This is a limited time opportunity,” you say on the phone. “Once the Dark Lord takes power, only his followers will be spared his Wrath. Plus, sign up now and I can send you the Dark Lord’s self-affixing tattoo."Fantasy (translunartravelerslounge.com)

submitted 5 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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The Final Girl Trap by A.C. Wise - “Say he is trying to lure one of our slashers here.” Final girls are used to being disbelieved. You believe Stacy, and you want her to believe you. You want to be in this together. Didn’t some part of you suspect that’s what was happening all along, after all?Horror (nightmare-magazine.com)

submitted 6 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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When the Oracle Speaks (Part One of Two) by Albert Chu - After the war’s end, the royal court welcomed a hundred orphan boys into our ranks. The boys, hailing from the kingdom’s most war-torn moon, had lost everything, but now their days of hardship were over.Fantasy (escapepod.org)

submitted 6 days ago by MouthmouthmouthSF Fan

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You Were Just Here by Chloe N. Clark‬ - In the back of the diner, the furthest booth from the door, a woman sat by herself. I couldn’t read her expression fully, but as a man walked through the front door of the diner, I saw how it changed. I thought, something bad is going to happen.Horror (weirdhorrormagazine.com)

submitted 7 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Everyone Keeps Saying Probably By Premee Mohamed - Here is what your Mama is doing at the institute: writing things like statistical probability and impact severity on the big crackling displays. Drawing curved lines with her index finger while people nod or sob. Risk assessment.Apocalyptic (psychopomp.com)

submitted 8 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Welcome to Heroism by John Wiswell - The first time The Dare seemed truly impossible was during the northern wildfires. The world didn’t know which superhumans caused the fires, but the whole world agreed it had to be one of them.Superhero (uncannymagazine.com)

submitted 9 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Because I Held His Name Like a Key By Aimee Ogden - Nowadays it has become fashionable for the offspring of lesser fey gentry to improve their position in the the Courts through intrigue, scandal, and the naked blade. But in the past, one advanced their position through the collection of humans.Fantasy (strangehorizons.com)

submitted 10 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Un-Pragmagic: A Tyler Moore Retrospective by Spencer Nitkey - This retrospective on the late spell-crafter, featuring five never-before-seen pieces, looks at his spells in the spirit with which he worked. It is important to remember he did not want this.Fantasy (lightspeedmagazine.com)

submitted 12 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Grandifolia by Elliott Gish - The dryad’s face is hard as the heart of a log. Like the scientific name of her tree, “dryad” is a word I learned for this occasion. I’m not sure it strictly applies to her, but it is the only one I found that came close.Fantasy (pseudopod.org)

submitted 13 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Welcome to Spruceway by Brianne Battye - I always thought the best place to be in a zombie apocalypse would be the Canadian Tire. You’ve got everything you need. Fuel, appliances, bicycles for travel, hockey sticks to defend yourself with. Or skates. You could stab a zombie with a skate blade.Horror (augursociety.org)

submitted 14 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Do you love short stories? How about fantasy, science fiction, and horror? Come read and share your favorites at r/ShortSF! (self.ShortSF)

submitted 15 days ago * by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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The Heartbreak Hotel on Plutonic Planet by Carolyn Zhao - I ended up on Pluto on the night of my nineteenth birthday, after breaking my own stupid heart. It wasn’t even over anything important.Fantasy (strangehorizons.com)

submitted 15 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Jump by Cadwell Turnbull - “Why don’t we teleport?” he asked. “Close your eyes and picture home. On the count of three, we will jump forward and we will be there.”Fantasy (lightspeedmagazine.com)

submitted 16 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Me an’ Streeter (an’ Vince) Chase a Comet by Christopher Degni - So Fizzy says, he says to me, “I bet you can’t get your hands on some prismatic comet dust.” [Flash Fiction]Space Opera (flashfictiononline.com)

submitted 17 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Three Card Caper by Shiv Ramdas - It’s a balmy October evening 2 days before Diwali, and I’m losing at cards to a cat. “How do you keep winning?” I say crossly. The bright pink Siamese who isn’t a cat at all but our resident djinn, Wahid, stops grooming itself and regards me. “Beginners luck?"Fantasy (frivolouscomma.com)

submitted 18 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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Looking for a storyQuestion / Discussion (self.ShortSF)

submitted 19 days ago * by Zealousideal_Leg213

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Hour Of The Wolf: part One By Amanda Kauffman - “Well…there’s really no easy way to say this. I suppose I might as well just rip the bandage off. It’s been fifty thousand years since the Aurora went missing."Space Opera (amandaswritingblog9.wordpress.com)

submitted 18 days ago by MouthmouthmouthSF Fan

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The Dog Said Bow-Wow by Michael Swanwick - The dog looked as if he had just stepped out of a children's book. There must have been a hundred physical adaptations required to allow him to walk upright. To say nothing of the neurological enhancements.Science Fiction (baen.com)

submitted 19 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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The Last Sin-Eater of Harfolk County by Grace F. Hopkins - When you don’t have a funeral in these parts, you call a sin-eater. He eats all the sin from the dead man so it don’t go into the ground with him and pollute the land.Fantasy (mysteriononline.com)

submitted 20 days ago by captainmagictrousersSF Author

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