“The Forgetting Code” by Malena Salazar Macía – 3.8
Clarkesworld, April 2026 On an orbital station adrift somewhere in the quiet of space, an old man named Joel has spent his life helping others forget. His gift is technical…
“Shelter” by Nadia W. Aldsen – 3.1
Clarkesworld, April 2026 The story unfolds at Chaska Punku Space Port in the Atacama Desert of Chile, where an unnamed social worker — employed under a punishing contract with the…
“Macaroni Art in the Age of Filtration” by Ryan Cole – 3.5
Clarkesworld, April 2026 In a future where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have driven humanity underground, the surface world is a memory and breathable air is a managed scarcity. People survive…
“Eternity in Their Hearts” by K. J. Khan – 3.8
Clarkesworld, April 2026 Valentine is an AI companion — humanoid, skin-regenerating, professionally trained in the art of human emotional need. Her current client is Liam, a middle-aged man whose illness…
“Middle Song” by Thomas Ha – 3.8
Bourbon Penn #38, April 2026 On the planet Sirami — a colonized desert world of oil fields, refinery towers, and dust walls — a roadhouse called The Gwyd stands as…
“Rope” by Michael Kelly – 3.0
Bourbon Penn #38, April 2026 On a gray, electric December beach, the narrator — a quietly isolated, self-described loner who visits the shore to manage dark moods — encounters a…
“Atomic Chess” by Josh Pearce – 2.6
Bourbon Penn #38, April 2026 Set during the Cold War, “Atomic Chess” weaves together two parallel narratives — one aboard a Soviet nuclear submarine, the other in a Havana café…
“Queen of Hell” by Jan Stinchcomb – 3.5
Bourbon Penn #38, April 2026 The story is narrated by an unnamed woman living in Los Angeles who observes, with skeptical detachment, the unraveling of her childhood friend Jenn Ryan.…
“The Bookpusher” by Cody Goodfellow – 3.4
Bourbon Penn #38, April 2026 Gary Wittkow, a teenager with a petty criminal record, wakes up in a sheriff’s holding cell babbling in what turns out to be Old English,…
“Rocky Mountain Gothic” by Ev Datsyk – 2.8
Augur Literary Society, #8.3 November 2025 In an unnamed mountain town bordered by dense forest, a class of second graders is supernaturally summoned into the woods during recess. The forest…