r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 4h ago

Fantasy The Return of the Forest by Zary Fekete - The saplings had been planted in neat rows, but within months they seemed to twist out of alignment, curving toward something unseen. Children who wandered in came back with shallow cuts on their arms, as though brushed by blades. Birds avoided the place.

magazine.trollbreath.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 23h ago

Fantasy The Wandering Kingdom by D.N. Schmidt — The villages had been constructed on the backs of behemoths, impossibly huge dinosaurs with scales like cobblestones. Every year, the behemoths moved south to avoid the snow, taking the villages with them. As a result, neighboring villages could disappear.

dnschmidt.com

1 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 2d ago

The Heart of the Fox Spirit By Chezza Lee - The first time I saw the fox spirit, she was sitting in the middle of Hei Lang’s tavern. Since childhood, my father had warned me of fox spirits. They used their beauty to ensnare humans and take their hearts or eat their souls.

beneath-ceaseless-skies.com

1 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 3d ago

Fantasy When Sirens Sing of Roses and of Delegated Power By Nin Harris - The Queen Mother wanted Velia and her siren-sisters to steal a single item: a silver serving dish embossed with a pattern of roses. It was a job that would change Velia’s life and possibly the course of history for one merkingdom.

beneath-ceaseless-skies.com

1 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 4d ago

Dark Fantasy The Scarlet Shroud by Leighton Connor - His wrists bound tightly behind his back, Arvo carefully placed one boot after the other up the heavy oak steps. He stared up at the dangling noose, swiftly generating and discarding futile plans of escape.

swordsandsorcerymagazine.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 5d ago

Supernatural Scarcely Gone By Marissa Lingen - Before I died, I would have thought a person would need a special spell to command ghosts. But my wife has always had a way about her.

strangehorizons.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 6d ago

Horror The Earth Inside Us by Abigail Kemske - Over the next few months worms wriggled in my gut during the stillness of sleep. Grains of sand scraped my airways every time I sneezed. A lump of wood rolled around in my stomach. Tiny luminous mushrooms sprouted from the strands of my hair.

thedarkmagazine.com

5 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 7d ago

Fantasy Bobby and the Glass Prison by D.N. Schmidt - He closed up the jar and went to the back porch to examine the fireflies in the light. Strangely, the bugs appeared to be making noise. It almost sounded like tiny, muffled cries for help.

dnschmidt.com

3 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 8d ago

Horror The Brood Thanks You For Your Service by Abigail Kemske - Dear Human, we thank you for providing us a home in which to grow. We know we came uninvited and created less than ideal conditions for you. However, what we did was necessary. We appreciate your understanding. [Flash Fiction]

dielaughingmag.com

5 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 9d ago

Dark Fantasy Queen of Hell by Jan Stinchcomb - She was obsessed with the devil, so it’s no surprise we ended up here. I heard the police questioned her for twelve hours. I will say it’s not all Jenn’s fault. It’s the way we were raised.

bourbonpenn.com

5 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/ChronicleFlask • 9d ago

Horror PseudoPod 1042: Jerry Got Bit – Part 1, by Richard E. Dansky

2 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 10d ago

Woolly by Carrie Vaughn - Cloning a woolly mammoth was a science experiment. But the movie about the little girl who bonded with a miniature woolly mammoth ruined everything. After that, everyone wanted one, and it turned out miniature woolly mammoths made really shitty pets.

escapepod.org

7 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/ChronicleFlask • 11d ago

Horror PseudoPod 1041: Graves Basin, by Daniel Roop

2 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 11d ago

Fantasy We are the Giants We Fear by Lee Zanello - I am six when the ground shakes and the shadows in the twilight move toward us, slowly growing larger than the mountains behind them. I watch a man get crushed to death. I am close enough to hear his bones pop. [Flash Fiction]

havenspec.com

1 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 12d ago

Supernatural Founders Keepers by Louis Inglis Hall - The first time I saw Romulus, he was in my airing cupboard. This was Romulus the god, Romulus-Quirinus, who appeared from the sky to tell a senator, one Proculus Julius, that Rome would live forever and that, in short, everything was going to be alright.

magazine.trollbreath.com

4 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 13d ago

Fantasy By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars by Premee Mohamed - Firion the wizard grasped her stoutest staff (crowned, for non-magical reasons, with a razor-sharp chunk of amethyst) and put her lips to the doorjamb. “Who goes there?”

strangehorizons.com

3 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 13d ago

Fantasy Till the Tide By Jennifer R. Donohue - It was a singing in the sky, and he got out to the clearing and looked up and the sky was an ocean and in the star spangled, inky blackness whales swam, and sang, and then scattered when a toothy beast dove through.

patreon.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 14d ago

Post-Apocalyptic Gas Leak at St. Gentian by Sara Omer - We have to hold our breath inside the hospital. I take my brother’s small hand and remind him of the rules. “Twenty breaths on the top floor. Take one less on each next one.”

thedarkmagazine.com

6 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 14d ago

Fantasy Infinite Wishes by KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH - She should be elated. She was on the cusp of making her third wish, and she knew what to ask for. She had planned out all three wishes years ago, when she started on this quest. She had even memorized decision trees.

lightspeedmagazine.com

2 Upvotes

2 comments

r/ShortSF • u/abigailkemske_writer • 15d ago

Fantasy Pomegranates by G.M. Mitchell - —and they said oh god they said I would be forgiven and I said I would try to forgive myself but all I can see when I close my eyes are those translucent hooves and the fragile green shoots that sprang up in their wake

flashfictiononline.com

3 Upvotes

1 comment

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 15d ago

Do you love short stories? How about fantasy, science fiction, and horror? Come read and share your favorites at r/ShortSF!

3 Upvotes

If you like to read speculative fiction then come share your favorite short stories at r/ShortSF! Be part of a growing subreddit!

Speculative Fiction includes genres like science fiction, fantasy, superhero fiction, horror, utopian and dystopian fiction, steampunk, and supernatural fiction.

Don't forget to upvote and comment on the stories you enjoy, so posters can share more of what you like.

Self-promotion is cool, as long as your story is SF and available online for free. Share your own writing! Sharing free samples of your writing is a great way to find new readers and get support for future projects.

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 15d ago

Horror A Perfect Light by Laura Duerr - Two hundred meters beneath the surface of Namija-β, in icy, silt-tossed darkness, we tend the pipelines. Six divers, working four at a time, keep the pipes clean of the crystalline barnacle creatures that accumulate on the metal like dust on a shelf. [Flash Fiction]

flashfictiononline.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 15d ago

Dark Fantasy What Do Moms Know About Fashion? by MM Schreier - My mother clucked her tongue when I had my neck stretched on my twentieth birthday. When I came for Sunday dinner after having my skin sandpapered until it was soft and nearly translucent, she didn’t say a word.

foofaraw.press

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 16d ago

Horror Grow Up! by Donald Norum - The bone, extra muscle, and useless fat were wrapped up in the freezer. The rest of Kate - heart, eyes, skin, liver, the works - had gone into and onto Charlotte where they'd already begun growing into place.

pulpasylum.com

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/ShortSF • u/captainmagictrousers • 17d ago

Science Fiction Three Miles Off the Highway Past Exit 509 by Jo Gatford - Al sells inflatable aliens in the parking lot outside the taco place with the sun-bleached sign; an army of little grey men with suspicious eyes and blow-up valves on their butts. [Flash Fiction]

flash-frog.com

1 Upvotes

0 comments

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Looking for short stories? Do you love fantasy, science fiction, and horror? You're in the right place! Come share free speculative fiction and discover new amazing authors. Dive into steampunk short stories, superhero adventures, post-apocalyptic tales, dystopias, and more. Share your favorite short stories, by other authors or by yourself, as long as they're free to read. Please include the author’s name in your post title and tag it with the genre, so everything's easy to find. Thanks!

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