“The company engineered desire and sold it as experience.” But in Tobacco City, a novella by author Ricardo Novaes, the company did much more than that: it disguised a hellish dystopia as success. Meet Matheus Reis, a power-hungry corporate cog ravenous for advancement no matter...

It had been three years of daring missions for Onsan Vorga as an agent of Skaperen the Creator, and now he was ready to step aside from his duties and look after his pregnant wife, with whom he lived in the Trannsa-Eaglais Citadel. However, the...

In J.E. Spina’s In a Second, Athena Stone wakes up in a hospital after a violent car crash during a storm and insists her boyfriend Justin was with her, though authorities claim she was found alone. As she recovers, fragments of memories surface that point...

“How could I have been so obtuse, so neglectful that my dying son hated me until the end?” For Joe Fredericks, the protagonist of Wayne Feinstein's novel, Turning, it took little effort to be such a sleazeball. Joe is the definition of success in one...

Crow: The Luck of Charm by Surya Prakash Shrivastava is a short story about the connection between a boy and a crow. Yash lives in an urban environment, with chaotic traffic and construction noise just outside his window. Inside, chaos comes from his arguing parents....

Miracles of the Season by Susan Jean Ricci begins in NYC, where Chloe Twiggins reminisces about the life she used to have before meeting and marrying her husband. She’s late meeting him and their daughter, Lala, at the Rockefeller Center. One of his trees has...

In Sicko, Avril Grady tells the story of Jamie Katz, a queer man working as a scriptwriter for an adult film studio. Jamie’s life is complicated—he’s still intertwined with Paul, his twice-ex-husband who is also his boss and secret lover, and their repeated breakups and...

Rob wishes to earn money quickly due to his unfortunate circumstances, which have left him with insufficient income. Rob and his wife, Ann, are poorer than most people they know and work for. Their children, Matt and Marisol, must deal with this fact every day....

When Consul Barsal Casolaba is found impaled on the Red House spire in Kota Gelangi, Archangel Gavriel Morningstar is sent to investigate a killing that threatens the balance between witches and angels. His inquiry intersects with Cathrynne Rowan, drawn into the hunt after a miner...

In Weeping Boughs Don't Break by Staci Troilo, Claudia is a middle-aged woman trying to rebuild her life after her husband, Leo, cheated on her and their marriage ended. She is buried in bills, worn out from years of emotionally carrying their family, and embarrassed...