Fiction

Mother Mansrot in the Glass Mountain

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3800 WORDS

There were walls within the glass mountain, just as clear as its sheer cliffsides. There were floors within the glass mountain—and ceilings, too—but they left just as little to the imagination. A shining citadel of rooms; a pyramid stripped of…

The Claywife

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3900 WORDS

I am bringing a rind of bread to the daughter in the lamp-house again. This is the third time. In the path along the garth-wall a hortulan stops me and demands to know my errand. I hesitate and he demands…

Vitrification

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1000 WORDS

By the time you come to your senses, his parents have already arranged for him to be burned. Your rage can’t save his body, but you rescue him from them one last time. You spin and spin the cold metal…

The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet

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3600 WORDS

In the 668th year after Creation, which was also the fortieth year of the reign of imperator Jadunath, master of sky and stars—may his memory be a curse!—a sorcerer came to the maharaja’s court in search of a wife. Our…

This Is Not Your Extinction Event

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3100 WORDS

Robert hears the rescue team coming down the stairwell before they call out. He doesn’t bother to answer. He’s busy watching sixteen ants march across a piss stain of his own making. The storm of reflective vests that enter give…

Curriculum for Girls Who Will Survive

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3000 WORDS

I. Animal Husbandry The day your moms become infected, you’re in your animal husbandry class, taught in the tack room of the barn. Sarah’s mom is holding up a chicken egg, saying, “Eggs are valuable, versatile, and portable. You can…