Far Fetched Fables

“The Penitent Damned" by Django Wexler (Originally published on io9.) Duke Mallus Kengire Orlanko, Royal Minister of Information — sometimes called the Last Duke, though not in his hearing — did not look particularly dangerous. He was short, balding, and tended toward the portly, a roly-poly little man with an unfortunate taste for rich purples that gave him the look of a ripe plum. Nevertheless, it was widely agreed that the Duke was the most dangerous man in Vordan, if not beyond. This was not simply because he was the inheritor of the most powerful fiefdom in the kingdom (though he was), or even because as Minister of Information his secret police, the all-seeing, all-knowing Concordat, had an informer in every shadow (though they did). What gave Orlanko his aura of terror was the certain knowledge that he had merely to crook a finger, and grim-faced men in long black coats would go to the home of the object of his displeasure in the middle of the night and haul the unfortunate away; and more... &n

Flash Fiction: “The Choochoomorphosis” by Oliver Buckram (Originally published in Unidentified Funny Objects 3.) As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed into Neville, the Crime-Fighting Locomotive. Neville was a funny little blue engine with six small wheels and a stumpy smokestack. He lived in the Big Station with the other steam engines of the Happyville Railroad, and spent his days cheerfully bustling up and down the railroad tracks, solving crimes and getting into mischief. Oliver Buckram Ph.D., lives in the Boston area where (under an assumed name) he teaches social science to undergraduates. His work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Interzone, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF), among other places. Find out more about him at oliverbuckram.com. Main Story: “The Mermaid's Purse” by Lynn Hardaker (Originally published in Cabinet des Feés' Scheherezade's Bequest: Something Rich and Strange.) “Look, Mummy, I’ve found another...

Flash Fiction: “Papagena” by Jay lake and Ruth Nestvold ("Tales of the Rose Knights" #8, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) Papagena was born on the Borderlands, between the sere landscape of the south and the orange plains to the north, a child of two homes, and when she chose to become a Rose Knight, her allegiance was to the plains as well as the desert, to the fertile land of Osverio as well as the harsher but warmer beauty of the Desertlands. She did not wear only one color. Some said her loyalties were divided, but she was true to both, orange and yellow, fighting with an ancient heart for both armies, giving the strength of her sword arm when the orange knights went to battle and the strength of her shield when the yellow knights needed to defend Sandbridge from intruders. As with all of the Rose Knights about whom the tales are told, Papagena was her own agent, free to go where she would and fight with whom she chose, living off booty and the pay from the campaigns in which she...

“Reckoning” by David Steffen (Originally published in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, September 2013.) "The Day of Reckoning is upon us," Preacher Paul said. "You reckon?" "I reckon." Paul watched Jake for telltale signs of guilt, but his friend only nodded and went on rocking his chair on the general store's porch. "You'd best do everything you can to prepare," Paul added. "I'm here to offer you counsel if you need it." "Before you get too far in that sermon of yours, you ought to know I don't have any money for you, Preacher." Paul shook his head and stroked his beard. "That's just what the Devil's telling you to say." David Steffen is a writer, editor, and software engineer. He edits Diabolical Plots, which began publishing original fiction in 2015. He runs the Submission Grinder, a tool for writers to find markets for their work. He recently published The Long List Anthology, which is a collection of 21 stories from the longer Hugo Award nomination list last year. His own stories have... &

“First and Last and Always” by Thana Niveau (Originally published in Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane.) Tamsin placed her hands on either side of her phone and gazed intently at the picture of Nicky she’d taken the day before. Her heart soared as she said his name aloud. “Nicky.” The flickering candlelight gave him the illusion of movement and Tamsin could almost believe she was watching him through a portal, seeing him as he was right at this moment. After a few seconds the picture faded and the screen went dark. She peered into the smooth black surface, focusing on the afterimage – Nicky in negative, overlaid by the reflection of her eyes and the ghostly glow of the flame. “Nicky.” When the image behind her eyes finally faded too she tried to see beyond the scrying glass of the phone’s screen, into whatever dimension the emptiness might reveal. Past, present, future – she didn’t care as long as she saw him. Thana Niveau is a horror and science fiction writer. Originally from the...

“The Ifrit's Trial” by Spencer Ellsowrth (Originally published in Human Tales.) Noble courtiers, wazirs, Sultan and lovely Sultana, salaam. Such fanfare for a poor Ifrit you have brought! I see you have seven red-robed sorcerers arrayed about the room, and seven white-robed holy men, each holding the seal of Suleyman whom the Hebrews called Solomon the Wise, and chanting the psalms of David, may peace fall upon him. In the yards of the palace you have arrayed seven times seven of these fork-bearded sorcerers, and seven times seven of these shaven holy men, and they each hold the seal and speak psalms and suras. After the time I have spent in your service, noble Sultan, do you think that I would be so foolish to not stand at my trial? I am a foolish Ifrit, this much is true, but there is enough sense in my head of air and fire to know that I owe you an explanation. This is the crime of which I stand accused: of my own malicious nature, I cast a wicked spell upon the Sultana Jalima and caused her...

"Flash Fiction: “Eden Rose” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold ("Tales of the Rose Knights" #7, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) When the Rose Knight Graham Thomas first fell in love with Eden Rose, he knew the two of them would not have an easy time of it. He was a Yellow Rose of the old guard in the service of the Sun, while she was a White Rose, a servant of the Moon, her colors white and the faintest pink blush. The Sun and the Moon had long been at war, but in the way of youth, Eden and Graham knew that their individual fates would be strong enough to overcome history. Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. In 2015, he posthumously received the

“The Forever People” by Robert V.S. Redick (Originally published in Fearsome Journeys.) When Majka stepped out through the kitchen door at dusk she found a huge white weasel in the garden. Brazen, it locked eyes with her: a rare chelu, a ghost weasel, halfway between the garden wall and the little ramp by which the chickens entered the barn. Majka hissed. The chelu answered with a growl. The animal was nearly the size of a wolverine. The door stood open behind her. From within came the eager thok thok of her mother-in-law’s knife as she battled a turnip, then a chord from the mandolin her son was learning to play. They had borrowed the instrument from a neighbor; it was scratched and worn, and the neck felt slightly loose, but the family treated it like the relic of a saint. It had changed their evenings, brought life to those shadow-swamped rooms. Majka closed the door. She would face the chelu with the axe from the wood-splitting stump. Never taking her eyes from the creature, she backed along the... &#

Flash Fiction: “Black Baccara” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold ("Tales of the Rose Knights" #6, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) Baccara is one of the dark ones from among the ranks of the Rose Knights. She is a pale woman, needle-thin with large eyes dark as bruises. She always goes clad in satin of a color that falls somewhere between maroon and leaf mold. Baccara follows battle rather than leading it like most of her fellows, always in the service of the Armies of the Moon. Baccara can hear the whispers of the departing souls of the dead. From them she bargains for secrets. And the Velvet Knight always keeps her bargains. Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and...

“Broken Clouds” by Rachel Swirsky (Originally published in When the Villain Comes Home.) Alex walked home through light rain that was almost soundless as it silvered the sidewalk. The whole world seemed colorless: overcast sky, grey drizzle, endless cement. The empty, grasping ache in her abdomen gnawed at her, not just because of the pain but because of the frisson of loss that accompanied it. She was like a glass with the water poured out, a vacant vessel. Would it ever stop? Did anyone ever recover from having the magic torn out of their flesh? Her house came into view as she turned the corner, its dilapidated single story dwarfed by the apartment buildings on either side. It always seemed to be cowering, as if the neighboring giants might decide at any moment to crush it into oblivion. Its faded wood siding was the same grayed-out blue as the rainy sky. Battered shutters held tight against wind and water. Rain had swollen the doorframe. Alex grunted as she put her weight into tugging it... &nbs

Flash Fiction: “The Quest You Have Chosen Defies Your Fate” by Beth Cato (Originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) You are reading a book, and within that book you now walk through the iron gates of the junior high school of your youth.   You don't understand how you are reading of a real place within this old fantasy book of adventures you found in the closet of your childhood bedroom. These particular pages didn't exist before, here in this volume that you read until its white spine was bowed, swaybacked, broken.   Today you have fallen between the plot lines, the inked illustrations, the bookmarks you once placed at the major decisions you were asked to make--yes, your cheating is known. The bookmarks are gone. You can no longer flip back to choose between releasing the unicorn on page 32, or continuing into the forest on page 210, or the various other forks in your literary path.   Main Story: “Cartographer's Ink” by Beth Cato (Originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) Not even the... &#

"nd Mercury, Gilt and Glass” by Lane Robins (Originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) 42 facts about my wife, Marie: 1) Marie was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1984. 2) She has blue eyes, and brown hair that falls just below her shoulders, not quite wavy, not quite straight. Her features are regular and even, though her upper lip is a little short and always bares her teeth. 3) We met five years ago during a dull business conference mixer. I thought she had a wonderful smile, especially when she turned it toward me. Lane Robins was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of two scientists, and grew up as the first human member of their menagerie. She attended the Odyssey workshop, the Center for the Study of Science Fiction novel and short story workshops, and has a BA in Creative Writing from Beloit College. She is the author of Maledicte and Kings and Assassins, and the romantic mystery Renovation. Under the name Lyn Benedict, she writes the urban fantasy series beginning with Sins and... &

"n Xochitl in Cuicatl in Shub-Niggurath” by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas, translated by Silvia Moreno-García (Originally published in Sword & Mythos.) Screams. The sun had not risen yet when the Mexica priests entered the Valley of Toluca, carrying the effigies of their gods. They carried the whistles of death tied around their necks: small clay skulls that produced terrifying shrieks when they blew them. This is how they announced the arrival of war, and with it, of Huitzilopochli and Tezcatlipoca, the lords that the Matlazinca would be forced to worship after being defeated by the Mexica. Šuti spat when she saw the procession coming closer. Those feathered puppets would never be her gods. Nelly Geraldine Garcia-Rosas is Mexican but lives in the UK with her husband. Her stories have appeared in anthologies like The Apex Book of World SF 3 and She Walks in Shadows. She can be found online at nellygeraldine.com or tweeting mostly in Spanish as @kitsune_ng. “Sun Sorrow” by Paul Jessup (Originally...

This month's cover art is "Dragonfly Kiss" by Susan McKivergan, a digital muse, graphic designer, and artist. When not working and improving her skills in digital art, she enjoys cooking, 3-D modeling, texturing, painting, crafts, sewing, the beach, gardening, traveling, and more. She has done artwork for many CD and book covers, magazines, E-zines, and commissioned and licensed work. She has won several awards, has appeared in ImagineFX, and has sold thousands of prints through deviantART. Her virtual gallery can be found on Renderosity and deviantART, and she can be found on Facebook and Twitter. Flash Fiction: “Rain Like Diamonds” by Wendy Nikel (Originally published at Daily Science Fiction.) The queen hoarded the barrels of seed, keeping them locked within her coffers among the diamonds and gold and strings of perfect pearls, remnants of the former days of prosperity and excess. The seeds would receive neither sun nor water nor nutrients from the soil until unlocked by the shining key strung...

Flash Fiction: “Harlekin” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold ("Tales of the Rose Knights" #5, originally published on Daily Science Fiction.) Harlekin was fair as a maiden, with a blush to match. Women can possess the kind of beauty that was his and still be taken seriously, but not men -- or so it seemed to the beautiful youth. Is it any wonder that he chose to wear particolor and play the clown? This strategy went well for him for a time--being underestimated has its advantages. But when Harlekin decided to become a Rose Knight and serve the forces of Prince Arthur de Sansal in the Kingdoms of the East to fight against the Forces of Darkness, the proctors of the Kingsguard looked at his fair skin and rosy cheeks, at his suit of creamy white and blushing red, and chuckled. Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and...

Flash Fiction: “River Boys” by Stephen S. Power (Originally published in Faed.) The river gives our village food and blood, breath and beat, and, one evening, it gave us a boy. A girl named Minu found him in a coracle caught on a mossy bank upstream. She didn’t recognize the weave of his boat or the cloth knotted at his hips. He was terribly thin. He couldn’t speak or open his eyes. He only pointed at his mouth. She helped him onto shore and laid his head across her lap. As the river shares with us, we must share with others, so Minu fed the boy a pinch of the fishballs she’d brought in a blue and white cloth. He took her wrist with a slippery hand and sucked her fingertips clean. He seemed to fill out as she watched. Then he pointed at his mouth again. She looked toward the village and, seeing no one coming, she fed the boy another fishball. And another. In a few moments he’d eaten them all. When he let go of her wrist and pointed at his mouth, Minu held up the empty cloth and shook it. His eyes...

Flash Fiction: “The Pixie Game” by Anna Zumbro (Originally published at Daily Science Fiction.) The rain has stopped shortly before the dismissal bell rings, and the ground is spongy and quivering with worms. Someone taps Gage’s shoulder. He spins around and sees Dasha, her mouth upturned at some private joke. “We’re playing the pixie game. Want to come?” It’s the third time someone has talked to him at this school and the first time he’s been invited to do anything. He follows her, half running, to the hedges surrounding the playground. Iver and Jack are already waiting at the greenest part of the hedge. Gage has never spoken to either of them, but he’s noticed that everyone laughs at Iver’s jokes whether they’re funny or not, that even fifth-graders defer to him in the lunch line. Iver nods at...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Featured Story: “The Cow & The Beanstalk” by Julie Frost (Originally published in Azure Valley, April 2013) Once upon a time, I was unfaithful to my fiancée. That went… aye, about as well as you’d expect. “You traitorous varlet!” Mary screamed at me. “Please, beloved! This isn’t what it looks like — ” I dodged the chamberpot she flung at my head. Fortunately, it was empty. Unfortunately, this was in fact exactly what it looked like. “With my own sister?” Katherine, the sister in question, waved a languid hand. “You should be pleased with how long it took me to wear him down. Quite noble, your young man, ‘struth. I finally had to bespell him before he’d give in, and even that wasn’t easy.” Mary growled, a noise I’d never heard her make before. “You’ve always hated me, witch, and...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Flash Fiction: “Golden Unicorn” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold (“Tales of the Rose Knights” #4, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) The Rose Knight known as Golden Unicorn was a creature of field and forest, flowing across the mountain slopes as fire flows across the stubbled fields of autumn. She was born in the misty hills of the Farmost West, raised among the simple nut farmers of Chemeketa, bound to the service of no man nor spirit save her own will and the glories of those mountains. Her coat was the brown of polished walnut burl, and the horn upon her head glinted sunset gold.   The relationship between unicorns and virgins is storied past the point of recognition, but the question of unicorn virginity is another matter entire. The Golden Unicorn had spent...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fiction: “Want’s Master” by Pat Bowne (Originally published in Tales of the Unanticipated, 2002.) When William Harrison Gracile came in to work at four-thirty in the afternoon looking as if he had aged twenty years overnight, his suit hanging loose on a wizened frame, his secretary wished him good day and went back to her typing. Gracile was offended. He had never been late to work before; he had never come in with a hair out of place. He deserved better from his secretary, he thought. She should make shocked noises, ask after his health, give unsought advice; she should stop him, as he went into his office. “I’m sorry,” she should say, “I don’t want to intrude, but…” “Oh, by the way,” said his secretary, “a package came for you. I put it on your desk.”  A package was exciting, even to someone of an age and station that begged for unsolicited, meaningless...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.