“The Girl Who Stole Life” by Zhou Wen, tr. Xueting C. Ni – 4.0
Asimov's, May/June 2026 The story opens with an unnamed narrator standing in an ominous alley, the scent of decay seeping from behind a door, contemplating a woman whose choices led…
“Sophie Simpson’s Whizz-Bang Day at World War I” by Dale Bailey – 2.9
Asimov's, May/June 2026 Sophie Simpson is a sharp, plain, perpetually skint girl from a single-parent household who wears her cousin Mary’s ill-fitting hand-me-downs and eats cheese and pickle sandwiches every…
“Hot” by Cecelia Holland – 4.3
Asimov's, May/June 2026 “Hot” is a climate collapse novella set in the near-future California coast, following Francie Beuerlein, a teenage girl navigating civilizational breakdown during a catastrophic, lethal heat wave.…
“Half Inside the Spirit Box” by Stephanie Feldman – 4.0
Asimov's, May/June 2026 The story opens on a pier in Atlantic City, where Winston Montecarlo — the famous “Handcuff King” — performs a shackled ocean plunge before a rapt crowd.…
“Alpha Gal” by Greg Egan – 3.8
Asimov's, May/June 2026 Elena, an entomologist at a Sydney university, wakes in the middle of the night in anaphylactic shock — swollen eyes, constricted throat, collapsing blood pressure. Her partner…
“The Placemat at Baldy’s Diner” by Michael Libling – 4.2
Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2026 A grief-stricken man named Shore drives aimlessly through New England, barely sleeping, living in his car, haunted by the loss of his daughter and wife.…
“The High Shrines” by Stephen Case – 3.3
Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2026 In a future where benevolent AIs once guided humanity to prosperity before mysteriously vanishing, investigator Galédin searches for missing asteroids that might explain their departure.…
“The Ghosts of Goldilocks” by Kevin J. Anderson & Rick Wilber – 4.6
Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2026 Forty years after the damaged generation ship Hind barely managed to land its passengers on the planet Goldilocks, humanity struggles to survive on a world…
“Satan’s Slave” by R. Garcia y Robertson – 3.2
Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2026 In a future where slavery has returned to the outer solar system, Diana Spartaca is a gladiator fighting to survive in Nova Roma, a colony…
“How Else” by David Ebenbach – 3.6
Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2026 Sharon (Shar) Katz is a chronic second-guesser who always wonders how her life might have turned out differently. When Virtual Alternative Reality (VAR) technology becomes…