Photo by Abed Rahman
What does death taste like? A story written under fire . . .The moon was absent, and the sun sat high in the dome of the sky, ruling the land and everything on it. It…
Fiction
Photo by Mohamad Masri He was standing stiffly in the middle of one of the hospital’s rooms and looked like a small saint who had walked out of battle, with a miserable face and eyes that had lost…
Photo by David / Stock.adobe.com Things about the world that we learn at school: Penguins inhabit icescapes, they live closely packed together. Penguins dwell in the Antarctic, where they will neve…
Photo by ElenaMasiutkina / Stock.adobe.com A Russian police officer tracks the surprising release of a prisoner to fight in the war against Ukraine. Recalling the prisoner’s capture, the office…
Photo by Cavan for Adobe / Stock.adobe.com In this flash fiction from Argentina, a woman with a long list of symptoms empties herself during a medical exam.“Describe your symptoms for me.”…
Illustration by Emily Holson, Mataji / @mayophoo Following a crisis, a doctor’s focus shifts to a mysterious infiltration.The little boy’s eyes were wide with terror. He sat on hi…
Still from All That Breathes (2022), dir. Shaunak Sen / Courtesy of Sundance Institute When long-haired androgynous creatures, flying over Delhi, begin to show up on Snapchat feeds and…
Photo by Radosław Kut / Flickr.com The road to Delhi is hot with a heat that is no respecter of persons.Shekhar was woken by a loud sound, like a cannon. He started awake, heart thumping,…
Photo by Ahmed Zayan / Unsplash.com A man shelters from war in Gaza with his ailing fish, his mind turning to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.Do you see this little fish? Look at him.…
Photo by Cristina Conti / Stock.adobe.com. “Death by literature”? Despite her fatal diagnosis, Leila Ross clung to reading till the very end.These were the final lines of Mum’s request:Alt…
Portrait d’Eleno de Céspedes by LLarchevêque / Wikimedia In sixteenth-century Spain, the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition is facing one of its most complicated cases ever: Elena Césped…
Photo by Rey Seven / Unsplash.com Avid reader Andor Femin and the narrator of this flash fiction don’t always see eye to eye, but their observations about reading are always amusing. Andor Femin…
Photo by PR Image Factory / Stock.adobe.com. A CT scan leads to a surprising discovery in this short fiction from Australia. Clara’s first (and last) acting role was that of Medusa, the Greek mon…
Digital illustration by Emily Holson, Eyes of the Withholder (2024) Tensions build between a child and a tree, both grappling for the attention of a mother. The lemon tree was a gift fro…
Photo by Carl Raw / Unsplash.com Welcome to Game Land, where your every pleasure will be satisfied. The substitute asked the pupils to say their names. There was Onni, May, Jonna, Helmi, and Her…
Photo by Shunsuke Ono / Unsplash.com A lover of love, everything Momo does is designed to give her the advantage. They pretty much spent their days sifting through the freckles, moles, and pimple…
Photo of Ogiek animal horn by Survival International © Survivalinternational.org Deciding between his mother’s sweet love and his father’s conditional approval, Kimurguk endures a harrowing rite o…
Illustration by Apirak / Stock.adobe.com. Trigger warning for mental health, threats of violence and sexual violence, and suicidal ideation. Be careful what you wish for—especially online, especi…
Photo by Edwin Tan / istockphoto.com Trigger warning for suicide and graphic violence. Desperate to have a child, a couple takes an unorthodox route to conception. But did they bargain with the d…
Photo by Joelee Creative / Stock.adobe.com In this excerpt from a classic Argentine horror novel, something sinister visits a bathing woman in her new apartment. “The high heels! The high heels!”…
Illustration by fran_kie / Unsplash.com Three groups of children dine at long tables inside cages in this claustrophobic tale of no escape. We, my brothers and sisters and I, have broad dining ta…
Painting by Liza Martín, Untitled (2024), oil on canvas, 20x26cm. Twenty-five degrees Celsius at midday on the winter solstice: the collected humidity of an entire continent bears mercilessly, sha…
Photo by Hugo Gomes/Wirestock Creators / Stock.adobe.com It’s 2050, and five African nations have surrendered their sovereignty to form a new nation. To some, it was unfathomable that the r…
Photo by driftwood / Stock.adobe.com The offspring’s appetites know no end. What’s a mother, any mother—even that mother who nurtures us all—to do? The wound is smaller than last time, tiny…
Анна Удод - stock.adobe.com I. Northward January 2, Arrival By night they flew, korvat kuin korpit, ears like ravens, who hear a bark. They listened to the forest rustling; to the storms in…
