Original flash fiction submissions now open. Submission window closes Oct. 31.
Gods and Monsters Installment 34: The Fault Line Within
Reading Time: 7 minutes Now, after the advent of dreams and the appearance of color, when Gabriel reads of a killing, something inside him screams. When he looks upon a charcoal figure that so recently possessed unearthly beauty, he mourns. He wants to create, not destroy. He doesn’t like the role in which he has been cast.
Honeypot
Reading Time: 5 minutes A derelict spaceship turns out to be a trap for a space pirate and his very unusual copilot.
Gods and Monsters Installment 33: Pamela
Reading Time: 8 minutes Vampires followed the deluge of fluid and fear, tracking the lonely, homeless, and lost to the city, drawn by the need for belief, as well as blood.
A Perfect Day
Reading Time: 4 minutes A day at the beach turns into something unexpected for a young couple.
Gods and Monsters Installment 32: Time Before Time
Reading Time: 7 minutes Thanatos never kills. He’s just the messenger.
The Fingers of Regina Durette
Reading Time: 9 minutes Who says your body has to take orders from you?
The Snow Hath No Queen
Reading Time: 5 minutes In a future where the continents are gone, the oceans are dead, and humanity survives atop the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a man goes on a dreamquest to rediscover cold and snow.
Gods and Monsters Installment 31: Small Time Gods
Reading Time: 7 minutes Ever since he found Gabriel in the field, River has been cut off and alone. Separated from humanity by a knowledge that he didn’t even realize he possessed, a perception deep within his bones. An understanding that though fairy tales may come true, they are written in blood and lies.
Gods and Monsters Installment 30: The Morgue
Reading Time: 8 minutes The door is heavy, about four inches thick. A long narrow staircase leads down into darkness. He is in total darkness. Feeling his way slowly along the wall, carefully tapping his feet to see where the stairs begin, he finds a light switch. Harsh fluorescence floods the stairwell. This light would make anyone look dead, River thinks.
Spell to Find Amelia Earhart
Reading Time: 4 minutes Magic circles, incantations—could this be enough to bring back Amelia Earhart?
Body Donor
Reading Time: 4 minutes David volunteers for NASA’s Body Donor program, where human corpses are exchanged for advanced knowledge of an alien species.
Gods and Monsters Installment 29: Beautiful and Strange
Reading Time: 7 minutes Pamela stands in the doorway. River stops stirring and opens his arms. Pamela doesn’t even need to cross the room. She melts into him, soft as butter into flour. She is cold, damp as night fog.
Taking Care of Our Own
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s an aswang on the loose and it’s up to us to deal with it. Don’t forget to bring trash bags…
Forest in Apartment Number Ten
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Gretel grew up, she left the Sugar-Candy House and the forest behind her, but some stories won’t allow you to walk away.
Gods and Monsters Installment 28: Journey’s End
Reading Time: 8 minutes That night, Jackson does not come to Bert’s.
Gods and Monsters Installment 34: The Fault Line Within
Reading Time: 7 minutes Now, after the advent of dreams and the appearance of color, when Gabriel reads of a killing, something inside him screams. When he looks upon a charcoal figure that so recently possessed unearthly beauty, he mourns. He wants to create, not destroy. He doesn’t like the role in which he has been cast.
Honeypot
Reading Time: 5 minutes A derelict spaceship turns out to be a trap for a space pirate and his very unusual copilot.
Gods and Monsters Installment 33: Pamela
Reading Time: 8 minutes Vampires followed the deluge of fluid and fear, tracking the lonely, homeless, and lost to the city, drawn by the need for belief, as well as blood.
A Perfect Day
Reading Time: 4 minutes A day at the beach turns into something unexpected for a young couple.
Gods and Monsters Installment 32: Time Before Time
Reading Time: 7 minutes Thanatos never kills. He’s just the messenger.
The Fingers of Regina Durette
Reading Time: 9 minutes Who says your body has to take orders from you?
The Snow Hath No Queen
Reading Time: 5 minutes In a future where the continents are gone, the oceans are dead, and humanity survives atop the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a man goes on a dreamquest to rediscover cold and snow.
Gods and Monsters Installment 31: Small Time Gods
Reading Time: 7 minutes Ever since he found Gabriel in the field, River has been cut off and alone. Separated from humanity by a knowledge that he didn’t even realize he possessed, a perception deep within his bones. An understanding that though fairy tales may come true, they are written in blood and lies.
Gods and Monsters Installment 30: The Morgue
Reading Time: 8 minutes The door is heavy, about four inches thick. A long narrow staircase leads down into darkness. He is in total darkness. Feeling his way slowly along the wall, carefully tapping his feet to see where the stairs begin, he finds a light switch. Harsh fluorescence floods the stairwell. This light would make anyone look dead, River thinks.
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Oct. 11, 2024
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a shifter romance by a New York Times bestselling author, a book about a space pirate, and a thriller about climate change.
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Oct. 4, 2024
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Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a romantasy by a USA Today bestselling author, a space opera box set, time travel, and a gaslamp mystery.
Artifact Space by Miles Cameron Takes You for an Interstellar Ride
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Sep. 20, 2024
Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a demon who cost a witch her job, time-traveling tourists, and so, so much fantasy romance!
Writing Advice of the Week
Writing the Other: Fictions and Culture
Reading Time: 6 minutes Fiction is unique to human communication, which is fascinating on its own. But why do we still look to fictions? What do they do for us in the modern age? Why does fiction matter? And what considerations must go into crafting culturally honest fictions?
7 Story Structures to Know (and Disregard)
Reading Time: 5 minutes Story structure is the framework around your literary jigsaw puzzle, the order into which you organize the events in your story to create a beginning, a middle, and an end. So let’s talk about some common story structures you may encounter while researching storytelling techniques.
Three Craft Reads For Revising Your Story
Reading Time: 4 minutes Mastering story edits isn’t easy, but there are a few books I’ve recommended to my clients repeatedly to assist them during edits, and these are also books I use myself when editing my work. The good news: Once you’ve absorbed the material covered in these books, you’ll be able to apply the lessons over and over without really thinking about them. They’ll become second-nature to your writerly process.
Story Is Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
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ESSAYS
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission will push space travel further than any private mission has before
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Reading Time: 5 minutes Science fiction and technological innovation feed off each other in an ongoing back-and-forth that can play out over decades.
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NEWS
Fall 2024 Original Fiction Submissions Period Opens October 1!
Reading Time: 2 minutes The fall 2024 submission cycle for original speculative fiction begins on October 1 and closes at midnight on October 31. We’re looking for your best enthralling, imaginative, or bone-chilling original fiction stories, as long as they’re 1,200 words or fewer.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Looks To Fully Embrace Its Video Game Source
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Hugos awarded, Emily Tesh and Ann Leckie take top honors
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Hugo awards votes disqualified
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SFWA Announces 59th Nebula Awards Finalists
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MetaStellar is Accepting Flash Fiction Submissions for Spring 2024!
Reading Time: 2 minutes The spring 2024 submission cycle for original speculative fiction runs from March 1st and closes at midnight on March 31st. We’re looking for your best enthralling, imaginative, or bone-chilling original fiction stories of 1,200 words or fewer. Please visit our flash fiction submission page for full details and the online submission form. Accepted authors will […]
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James S. Corey, Brent Weeks, Ann Leckie, and other authors teach free virtual writing course
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