Science Fiction & Fantasy

Purple clouds roiled on the horizon and the old Cessna Centurion came in low and fast, riding the tailwind. Giorgio, on the ground and looking up, took shelter behind a crude half-shed of corrugated iron and lit a cigarette with a Zippo he’d once bought in the Talat Sao back in Vientiane. It was supposedly [...]

This episode features “Blue And Blue And Blue And Pink” written by Lavie Tidhar. Published in the September 2020 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker.

The text version of this story can be found at:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/tidhar_09_20

Support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/clarkesworld

 

 Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 168 - Blue And Blue And Blue And Pink by Lavie Tidhar [25:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (25083)

We are good Mothers, or at least we will be once the embryos emerge from their confines. They dangle from the spaceship’s ceiling in pink bulbs like silkworm cocoons. Now that we landed, Ship will become the bones, sinew, and flesh that will birth five thousand colonist children. We can hardly wait for them to [...]

I remember being born. I remember the sensory overload of light and sound and scent, making me cry aloud and take fresh air into my lungs—a new sensation. I remember the weight of gravity, rendering my fragile limbs helpless and clumsy where they had been graceful and nimble in amniotic fluid. Then I remember Mother, [...]

Here you are. Take a look around you and remember it all: the gray sky that reveals no sun and casts no shadows, the dense blackness of trees encircling this place like a crown. You step out of the car, crushing wet gravel underneath your shoes, and marvel at how little this feels like a [...]

They say the universe was created when a Giant lit a matchstick. That her great sigh fanned the flames that danced and wept into stars and constellations. They say some seas are blue and Slugs are naturally submissive. They also say that I cannot exist. But what do they know? These are truths or untruths [...]

In a secret-saturated forest that nestled between worlds, Saengdao’s people were the tamest of the monsters that terrorized the long nights. It was not just the garuda army that frightened the young Khinnaree. The watching trees were populated with tree-demons and vengeful fanged owl-women who loved the sweet flavor of Khinnaree blood.
Saengdao’s clawed avian feet [...]

Outside the window, a large whale swims, or rather floats, in the clear, early-summer sky.
As its disproportionately huge eyes turn toward me, the whale’s body becomes tinted eerily dark red, and its flesh starts dripping.
I gaze around the white-walled physics classroom. The digital textbook remains open on my tablet, still showing today’s lesson.
An infinite number [...]

This episode features “Nameless He” written by Robert Reed. Published in the August 2020 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker.

The text version of this story can be found at:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/reed_08_20

Support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/clarkesworld

 

 Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 167 - Nameless He by Robert Reed [68:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (41124)

This episode features “The Immolation of Kev Magee” written by L.X. Beckett. Published in the August 2020 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker.

The text version of this story can be found at:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/beckett_08_20

Support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/clarkesworld

 

 Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 167 - The Immolation of Kev Magee by L.X. Beckett [79:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (38380)