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SHORT STORIES

Color photograph of the back of a white-haired woman's head as she sits on a bench with blurred background; title card for the 2025 Short Fiction Prize 2nd Place Finalist, "The Walking Dead" by Stephanie Gangi.

The Walking Dead by Stephanie Gangi

October 17, 2025

  Jackie gets onto the elevator from twelve. She says hi to Barbara from sixteen, already on board. Sixteen is the penthouse but no one calls it that anymore, that’s elitist, although the Art Deco button panel still shows PH. …

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Color photograph of a refugee camp with laundry hanging in the foreground and three small children facing away from the camera; title card for the 2025 Short Fiction Prize 3rd Place Finalist, "Minefield" by Alison Gibbs.

Minefield by Alison Gibbs

October 10, 2025

  They called the children night commuters. You used to find this strange, writing fundraising copy at your desk in Sydney, trying to squeeze emotion from dry UN reports. For you, the term conjured up Dickensian images of children going…

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Color photo in pale blue, grey and white of one Polaroid photo on a bleached wood background featuring the back of a female figure facing the sea; title card for the short fiction story "23 Images in Your Gallery of Absent Things" by Angela Kubinec.

23 Images in Your Gallery of Absent Things by Angela Kubinec

September 12, 2025

  1. Fallen leaves are a quiet palette of cut glass; they are a funeral in the church of nature. They make you think of pastry, damp strata from an earlier rainfall, or spirit-shadows looping into the distance. You want…

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Color photo of a row of hanging cotton t-shirts in shades of pink; title card for the short fiction story, "The Confidante" by Medhi M. Kashani.

The Confidante by Mehdi M. Kashani

August 8, 2025

  By the time Hamid learns they’ll have a guest, it’s a done deal. Kathy has this habit of inviting people over for beer on a whim, but having someone—a man, no less—stay for a whole week without consulting him?…

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Image is a color photograph of the head and shoulders of a tiger in profile against a backdrop of green vegetation; title card for the short fiction story "Ishi Agu (Leaking Tigritude" by Kasimma.

Ishi Agụ (Leaking Tigritude) by Kasimma

July 11, 2025

  A Tiger does not proclaim its tigritude. It pounces. —Wole Soyinka When sleep accepts one week, it becomes death. My father’s earthly cloth, as per tradition, must wait in his hut until the fourth day before he is confirmed…

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Image is a color photograph of a toy horse; title card for the new short story, “Horse Mother,” by Franz Jørgen Neumann.

Horse Mother by Franz Jørgen Neumann

May 9, 2025

  “My stepdaughter is a horse.” The school psychologist waits for me to say more, then resumes her review of the pedagogical strategies she and Lilja’s teachers have employed. She speaks at a clip that makes me wonder if her…

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Image is a photograph of a large fossil in orange dirt; title card for the new short story, “Thin Places,” by Emily Giangiulio.

Thin Places by Emily Giangiulio

March 14, 2025

  We fill up on deep-fried bricks of cheese and rib eyes big as our heads at Burly’s Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse. Our neatly laced Merrells and moisture-wicking Patagonias set us apart from the mud-splattered, steel-toed boots under most every…

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Image is a black-and-white photo of a taxidermied weasel; title card for the new short story, “Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini Make Out in Wisconsin Weeks Before Disaster,” by Francis Van Ganson.

Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini Make Out in Wisconsin Weeks Before Disaster by Francis Van Ganson

February 14, 2025

  When considering the mysterious circumstances at the centre of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes says to Watson that in order to begin, there are two questions that must be considered. Firstly, if a crime has been committed at…

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Image is a color photo of caribou silhouetted on a hillside; title card for the new short story, "After Skim-Reading Jack London on the Plane," by Elissa Field.

After Skim-Reading Jack London on the Plane by Elissa Field

January 10, 2025

  “The fuck you take your gloves off again?” you growled, never letting up, the oldest. Brother trip, our third in two years, anywhere there’d be northern lights.  We hiked out of the frozen Alaskan woods—the black-dark, wraith rider intimidation…

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Image is a color photograph of red tea kettle and white teacup on a table; title card for the new short story, “Abecedarian,” by H. B. Asari.

Abecedarian by H. B. Asari

November 8, 2024

  Zones of your brain affected: frontal, temporal, parietal. The doctor points at them in turn on the scan of your brain. Those traitorous parts, shrivelling out of existence, threatening to take pieces of you with them. I look from…

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