// Melissa A Watkins
// Lightspeed Magazine
// May 7, 2026
Everyone knows the Walls around the cities fell. What some people don’t remember is that the first one fell because of a laugh. It sounded like a ringing bell. Not like it came out of a baby at all. That was the first thing I told the scholar boy. He was a grown man, a researcher. He looked it, too. Big round glasses, chubby cheeks, curly hair.
// Summer Brooks
// Escape Pod
// May 28, 2026
// Tia Tashiro
// Uncanny Magazine
// Jul 7, 2026
// Scott Andrews
// Beneath Ceaseless Skies
// Jun 25, 2026
By KJ Kabza in Issue #460 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine The Comet —and my awful fate within her—sped away, not yet aware of my escape. My heart and bones still banged together. My body screamed at me to flee, or to hide, but perhaps it did not matter. My death was still near, whether that be in the Comet 's return or in the White Se...
// Sheri Singerling
// Clarkesworld Magazine
// May 1, 2026
Normally, Tillie didn’t mind being the object of everyone’s gaze. But today, the crowd loitering in the street wasn’t drawn to her orange-red curls or her height or regalness. They […]