“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…
“Human Studies 401” by Abby Nicole Yee – 3.0
Clarkesworld, April 2026 Narrated entirely in the clipped, clinical voice of an alien researcher named Hecrimona, “Human Studies 401” unfolds as a set of research notes documenting one of the…
“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…
“D0G” by Tania Fordwalker – 4.0
Clarkesworld, April 2026 In a post-apocalyptic near future, a woman known as Billie survives alone on a small island in a river near Moosehead Lake, Maine, somewhere upstream from a…
“Tatterdemalion” by Michael Cisco – 3.5
Reactor, March 2026 Presented as a traditional folktale from the fictional Alak Empire, “Tatterdemalion” is framed by an introductory scholarly apparatus explaining its cultural context before the story proper begins.…
“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…