Even death is no match for a trio of elderly, stubborn, ever-sparring sisters, who refuse to rest in peace while their grudges live on…   Rosalee died, aged seventy-six. Her oldest sister, Irene (seventy-eight), blamed their middle sister, Viola (seventy-seven), for sending Rosie out front to check the mail when she knew Rosie’s inner ear condition was acting up. Viola, on the other hand, blamed Irene for not paying to get the garden path repaved last summer when they had the boys in to fix the porch. The three sisters had never gotten along. They’d been born one, two, three—Irene then V ..read more

When Hurston Hill is threatened by a suspiciously powerful urban development firm, Miss l’Abielle steps up to protect her community with the help of a mysterious orphaned girl in this charming follow-up to “St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid,” featured on LeVar Burton Reads.   Trouble sits on the third stair below my door, slouching and ragged with her elbows on her knees. The wards on Mama’s car shimmer and tense, and on the rooftop five stories over my head, the bees stir from their drowsy, sun-drenched dreaming. A stranger, here, when no one has asked a thing of me since the pries ..read more

Princess Mwadi of Everfair teams up with American actress Rima Bailey on a reconnaissance mission in Egypt in an attempt to thwart the European spies intent on destabilizing Everfair and its business interests… “Sun River” is set in the world of Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed Everfair and its upcoming sequel, Kinning, available everywhere on January 23, 2024. A version of this story appeared in the anthology, Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt, published by Twopenny Books.   Princess Mwadi wheeled gracefully above the Nile. She flew in two birds, turning them in upward spirals to catch t ..read more

A new novelette set in the realms of Kerstin Hall’s acclaimed The Mkalis Cycle series. The 813th realm of Mkalis has fallen to a cruel and mercurial god, but Tahmais, its would-be successor, finds an unlikely ally in her quest to reclaim it at any cost… Sneak a peek at the cover for Kerstin Hall’s new standalone fantasy novel ASUNDER, coming August 2024 from Tordotcom!   On the night the 813th realm fell, Tahmais had been sleeping in her old bed. Another argument with Vasael—the same argument, really. She had stormed out of her ruler’s chambers, scorning her usual place beneath the demon ..read more

There’s more to “once upon a time” than meets the eye… A version of this story appeared in TEXT.   follow the story exactly, follow on, look behind, before, tell the other side or reveal that everyone was mistaken, or that events are true but the meaning forgotten, or that the events change meaning if you shift them, depending on the consequences, or that a setting changes meaning if a story takes place in it, make the mythic mundane, the mundane mythic, or make the story itself a space, a sanctuary, a refuge outside of time to think and breathe before returning t ..read more

A contentious election and radicalized locals interfere with Canadian recovery workers’ efforts at the site of a catastrophic flood in near-future Mississippi. This story is set in the same future as The Lost Cause, Cory Doctorow’s new novel, available everywhere on November 14, 2023.   Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping. —Fred Rogers (1986) It’s a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud. —Bing Crosby (1927)   I arrived in Oxford with the first wave of Blue Helmets, choppered in along with our gear, touching down on a hospital roof, both so that ..read more

While learning the ropes from a crafty Jazz Age bank robber, a young stowaway discovers their authentic self, a hidden gift, and that there are no straight lines when you run the fox roads…     I. The fox roads run through October, no matter where you start or where you end. It doesn’t matter if you’re coming across Lake Michigan from Indiana as the ice cracks under your tires or if you’re trying to make it to Cicero on roads that were never paved for cars. The fox roads don’t care about winter snow or summer storms, and maybe they bow to the gods of Tornado Alley, but I wouldn’t be ..read more

A new Judge Dee mystery! While visiting the mysterious castle of Maidstone for an investigation, Judge Dee and Jonathan discover the only thing more menacing than a vampire child is twin vampire children…   1. The castle of Maidstone or Maid’s Stone sat alone on a hilltop above a forest not far from a town of the same name. No doubt legend told that a maid was put to death by stoning there, or something equally horrid; in Jonathan’s experience this was usually the case. It also happened that the castle was crawling with vampires. He trudged after his master in the snow. Dark shapes flitt ..read more

On one of their earliest Visigoth assignments, Graff and Ell stumble into each other’s secrets (and one significant surprise) while conducting a recovery mission on a mining asteroid scheduled for imminent pulverization. . .   Ell’s been the doctor on the Visigoth for less than a year. We’ve slept together all of three times. He doesn’t know my secret—that won’t happen for another year or so. Right now, no one knows that I’m not totally human, that I have a processor, wiring, self-healing—and that I remember everything. I record my whole life. Everyone just thinks I’m a big lunk of a fie ..read more

The sister of an abducted child is haunted by a sinister figure who may or may not be real. . .     The backdrop Graham uses for the Zoom meeting makes it look like he lives in a luxury apartment, which is highly unlikely because Graham is hanging on to life by his fingernails. Of a group defined by absences, he’s had it the hardest. His mum told him that she was going out for a loaf. She locked him in and told him to stay out of sight if anyone knocked. He was six. A neighbour called the police because they heard him screaming with hunger. Saved by shoddy, paper-thin walls, he told ..read more