Brother Adalbert’s Last Shift by Karol Lagodzki – 3.7
In a domed underground city called New Chicago, built after the surface became uninhabitable, Brother Adalbert spends his final day as caretaker of a single ancient oak tree enshrined in…
“Magical Girl Eater” by Angela Liu – 3.0
Uncanny, May/June 2026 Kelly, the story's narrator, is one of four young women — alongside Annie, Mako, and Lin — who begin fighting crime as self-styled Magical Girls, first as…
“Sarah’s Laugh” by Melissa A Watkins – 3.8
Lightspeed, May 2026 The story is told by a woman walking a young Canadian scholar through what used to be San Francisco — now called Sarah’s Haven — on his…
“Year of the Tangram” by Ichabod Cassius Kilroy – 3.1
GigaNotoSaurus, May 2026 Structured as a calendar year running from April to April, “Year of the Tangram” follows Kai, an eight-year-old autistic boy navigating the twin pressures of a suffocating…
“The Scent of Memory” by Zhao Haihong, translated by S. Qiouyi Lu – 3.8
Clarkesworld, May 2026 Shijun wakes on a Greyhound bus crossing the Canadian Rockies, an amber bottle of perfume in his bag and a message from his friend Jiayuan flashing on…
“The Profitable Sentience of Household Goods” by Louis Inglis Hall – 3.4
Clarkesworld, May 2026 The story unfolds as a series of monologues addressed by a refrigerator — designated “Buddy” — to a newly activated light switch on its first day of…
“Conquerors” by Nick Wolven – 3.7
Clarkesworld, May 2026 “Conquerors” unfolds across a single Reunion Day in a far-future Earth where humanity has split into two distinct cultures: Grounders, who tend the planet’s restored ecosystems from…
“Archaeological Evidence for the Time Traveler” by Tia Tashiro – 4.4
Clarkesworld, May 2026 Teresa is a Canadian archaeologist working the interior caves of northern Brazil, returning from maternity leave with her infant son Daniel strapped to her chest. At an…
“Fernie” by Angela Liu – 3.6
Adventitious, April 2026 “Fernie” is a dual-perspective short story told in alternating voices: a lonely, precocious little girl named Sally, and a sentient ancient fern she befriends during a family…
“Ma’anu Wei: What We Know Thus Far” by Eliezra Schaffzin – 3.8
Kaleidotrope, April 2026 The story is structured as a pseudo-scholarly dossier, narrated by an unnamed collective of researchers — scientists or academics of some institutional authority — who are piecing…