Fragment on the theme of momento mori
by Sophia Adamowicz

In the year of our Lord, 1312, a vision was granted unto me. I saw myself casting a net into Lago di Anguane and hauling up a catch of souls bedecked in shimmering scales.[…]

The Fever
by Clare Cummings

Ma told me I have the fever. Early morning while I lay still tangled in the thin bedsheets, she pressed a hand to my forehead and shook her head,[…]

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Worm Arm
by Eli S. Evans

I emerged from my battle with the knotweed that had invaded the back garden caked in soil and sporting a mysterious little wound on my right arm, just above the elbow.[…]

Bite Me
by LM Fontanes

In another life I might have been a peach. Not a supermarket hardball of a peach, juiceless and wan, but a tongue-kissing disaster destined to run down your chin[…]

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Homecoming
by Kathryn Kulpa

Desert sun can leach color out of wood, same as it does out of anything that grows: scrub grass, sage, bent stands of creosote bush.[…]

Loss and Recovery
by Leigh Loveday

In through the fourth-floor window comes the Divested, oily and sinuous, sloth-like claws clacking on the frame. Its mouth is a wicked ring of bone shards.[…]

Please Don’t Cry
by Rowan Marsh

The weep’s stirring today. It’s been quiet in its pit for the last few days, gurgling over whatever Freckles throws into it. Like digesting, we think.[…]

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MINA
by Ali McLafferty

I’ve heard countless theories about MINA. No one, not even the FBI agents I partnered with, had come close to the truth.[…]

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Black Velvet
by Aaron Mullins

The damp meter said eleven per cent, drier than Catriona Murray’s own kitchen, so the black rot on Mrs Gauld’s ceiling had no business being there.[…]

World Eater
by F. Palmer

I don’t see the bat. I’m lying on my back in the grass, letting the warm light of evening slip between the great big branches of the park’s old oaks and spread dappled across me.[…]

Come Home to Rot
by W. M. Peregrine

There’s a man rotting in my apartment building. He waits at my front door, the sweet scent of him infusing the nooks and crannies of my living room.[…]

The Food Pyramid
by Dina Perthakines

The thing eating my husband was still in the kitchen. I could hear it. I could hear both of them. Groaning, shrieking. Ted whimpering my name.[…]

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Blessing of the Star God
by Aza Smith

The Bishop Chata left Cielo for the Starlit Capital for help and brought back an entourage. He couldn’t look the villagers in the eye[…]

‘We Grew Apart’ Doesn’t Really Cover It
by Lydia Storm

The moment I met him rampaging near the Scorpius cluster, I knew. Teeth like swords. A giant set of musk-producing glands. Tentacles for days.[…]