Surely cursed, they carried him, tiny, yowling, still wet from birth, and left him near the time-rift, the death-sentence destiny for all misshapen things. Who could love a three-eyed cat? The hungry time-rift void, that’s who. Hunched against the cold, they didn’t look back, lest his helpless, wriggling form defile...

We are here to recognize this Lady Author, who joins a prestigious list of exceptionally decent male writers who earned this Very Distinguished Award. She’s the first lady writer who managed to write something good enough to impress our selection committee. But tonight is not about her. Tonight is about all the men...

Read Never Quit Your Post now!Do you have any cats?Do I ever! I have four, three Maine Coons and one feral trash cat adoptee. It’s roughly eighty pounds of cat. Their names are Fergie, Fiona, Fidget, and Phoebe. I thought it would be cute to give them all F-names, but all it did was ensure that I would call them all...

I sit on my couch with the pistol hidden between the cushions. Rufus is at his usual spot, staring out the big window in the middle of the front door. He doesn’t move much. The occasional flick of an ear, that lickfacebrush thing cats do with their paws. Other than that, he’s an attentive soldier at his post, wary...

Three to be exact. They are following me now, taking great enjoyment from tripping me up, shoving me over the one who’s snuck behind, snickering on all fours as I topple backward.People think I’m clumsy or drunk. In the café, they swap the sugar for salt, collapse into fits when I spit out my tea. I christen my...

The Foofs (2025) anthology is here! It features all of the award-winning stories published by other mags in 2025, plus many, many more! You can pre-order direct from us now to get 15%, otherwise it'll be available everywhere books are sold online on September 1st!Paid subscribers get a free digital copy and Patron's...

Award-winning short stories of all shapes and sizes from around the world published in various litmags during 2025 featuring Try Luigi's Pizza by Rachel Henderson, We Were Never Afraid of the Spider by Timothy Fox, An Infestation of Elliotts by Galen Gower, Blotter Acid by Devin James Leonard, Bone-eater Earth by...

An examination of the word “speculative”I’ve always disliked the term “speculative fiction.” I don’t mean I dislike actual works classified as speculative fiction, mind you, but the term itself. There have been arguments over the meaning of this term for going on almost a hundred years now, and it’s fallen in and...

Read Your Daily Tear Away Horoscope now!I’m a bit scared to ask… but gone through any rough breakups lately?No, (I’ve actually been happily married for about 5 years now), but if you read any of my stories, you’ll notice that I do have a (small) obsession with doomed relationships. I’m intrigued by people who stay...

FEB 1The new month dawns upon you. With Mercury and Venus by your side, forget the transgressions of the past and grow into the awakening of the new. Take chances, discover truths, and live without regrets.Mantra of the day: Forgetting is growing.FEB 2Focus your energy on social obligations today. Friends need your...

—Rusty Epstein

I could have been born in Canada, but the family cleaved the space between wars. In the smelter’s shadow the grass bled arsenic the day great grandpa was born. The mines didn’t stop for VE day, but he did.He shot out of that shaft like an artillery shell into the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea chasing phantom...