Anthologies

Strange California is twenty-five tales of strangeness, lavishly illustrated, that will pull you into another world, a world where migrant girls stand up to witches who live in orange groves, where trickster magpies try to steal souls from Russian sisters in the early days of Fort Bragg, where water is both currency and predator, and Gold Rush-era ghosts wander the streets of San Francisco alongside panther ladies.This anthology developed out of a love for the complexity and diversity of the state?features reflected in both the landscape and the people that inhabit them. California sprawls across a multitude of landscapes and has amassed a history full of the strange and unusual. There are secrets in the desert. Secrets in the cities. Strange and unusual happenings in the odd, dark places of the coastal state.

Red Room is a magazine of extreme horror and hardcore dark crime, full color and fully illustrated. FICTION BY: Jack Ketchum, Meg Elison, Tim Waggoner, David James Keaton, Larry Hinkle, Tom Barlow, Nick Manzolillo, Josh Scott Wilson, and Gil Valle. "The Phantom Video Stream" by Nick Manzolillo sets the tone with red-room atmospherics in the story of a man who discovers a hidden channel streaming from what may be another reality. Tim Waggoner's "Are You Crazy?" answers its own question in shocking Waggoner style. Larry Hinkle's "Meat Cute" opens with "Stop staring at her tits!" and ends with a coldblooded revelation. Short and not so sweet. Tom Barlow's "Selfie" demonstrates that two heads aren't always better than one, not when they're spitting images. Meg Elison's "The Middle Child" takes an unflinching look at fame and greed and the mania underlying video virality. In "Sick Jokes" Josh Scott Wilson takes political incorrectness to new heights--and depths. David James Keaton, aka DJK, takes us for a ride into brutal biker mayhem that hits like a jackhammer in "The Flowery." Some tattoos ain't cool. Jack Ketchum reprises "Megan's Law," a disturbing look at what can happen when a child molester moves into a concerned dad's neighborhood. Plus, an exclusive excerpt from the NYPD's "Cannibal Cop" Gil Valle's upcoming Comet Press release of his first novel A Gathering of Evil, which parallels the message-board fantasies that landed him in jail. FEATURES: Duane Bradley takes an irresistible look at the Video Nasties and the uproar those "obscene" video cassettes caused in the UK back in the 1980s. Ben Arzate reviews a formerly out-of-print classic horror novel, which is making a howling comeback. Patrick King reviews one of the best of the recent horror movie releases. Red Room interviews the phenomenal Meg Elison, and David L. Tamarin interviews Gil Valle, getting him to open up about his incarceration by the "thought police." Red Room regular Barfly Bob taste-tests the World's Most F**ked Up adult beverages. A surreal, behind the scenes glimpse at the Red Room headquarters with rogue reporter Brian J. McCarthy.

17 stories of difficult love, broken hearts, lost hope, and discarded truths. Love brings pain, vulnerability, and demands of revenge. Hardened Hearts spills the sum of darkness and light concerning the measures of love; including works from Meg Elison, author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), Tom Deady, author of Haven (Winner of the Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel), Gwendolyn Kiste, author of And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe and Pretty Marys All in a Row, and many more.Hardened Hearts dips from speculative, horror, science fiction, fantasy, into literary and then out of the classifiable and into the waters of unpinned genres, but pure entertainment nonetheless. FOREWORD - James NewmanIT BREAKS MY HEART TO WATCH YOU ROT - Somer CanonWHAT IS LOVE? - Calvin DemmerHEIRLOOM - Theresa BraunTHE RECLUSE - John Boden40 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR MONSTER LOVER - Gwendolyn KisteDOG TIRED - Eddie GenerousTHE PINK BALLOON - Tom DeadyIT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO - J.L. KnightBURNING SAMANTHA - Scott HallamCONSUMED - Madhvi RamaniCLASS OF 2000 - Robert DeanLEARNING TO LOVE - Jennifer WilliamsBROTHERS - Leo X. RobertsonPORCELAIN SKIN - Laura BlackwellTHE HEART OF THE ORCHARD - Erin Sweet Al-MehairiMEETING THE PARENTS - Sarah L. JohnsonMATCHMAKER - Meg Elison

Resistance. Revolution. Standing up and demanding to have your space, your say, your right to be. From small acts of defiance to protests that shut down cities, Do Not Go Quietly is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy short stories about those who resist. Within this anthology, we will chronicle the fight for what is just and right, and what that means: from leading revolutions to the simple act of saying “No.” Resistance can be a small act of everyday defiance. And other times, resistance means massive movements that topple governments and become iconic historical moments. Either way, there is power in these acts, and the contributors in Do Not Go Quietly will harness that power to shake our readers to the core. We are subordinates to a power base that is actively working to solidify its grip on the world. Now is the time to stand up and raise your voice and tell the world that enough is enough! TABLE OF CONTENTS: FICTION John Hornor Jacobs - "Glossolalia" A. Merc Rustad - "The Judith Plague" Maurice Broaddus/Nayad Monroe - "What the Mountain Wants" Karin Lowachee - "Sympathizer" Brooke Bolander - "Kindle" Cassandra Khaw - "What We Have Chosen to Love" Fran Wilde - "The Society for the Reclamation of Words and Meaning" Rich Larson - "Scurry" Sarah Pinsker - "Everything Is Closed Today" Sheree Renée Thomas - "Thirteen Year Long Song" Dee Warrick - "Nobody Lives in the Swamp" Russell Nichols - "Rage Against the Vending Machine" Meg Ellison - "Hey Alexa" Marie Vibbert - "South of the Waffle House" Veronica Brush - "Face" Jo Miles - "Choose Your Truth" Rachael K. Jones - "Oil Under Her Tongue" Eugenia Triantafyllou - "April Teeth" E. Catherine Tobler - "Kill the Darlings (Silicone Sister Remix)" Shanna Germain - "Salted Bone and Silent Sea" POETRY Annie Neugebauer - "To Write" Jeremy Paden - "The Skeleton Archer Speaks" Mary Soon Lee - "If the Fairy Godmother Comes" Lucy A. Snyder - "Permian Basin Blues" Christina Sng - "The Dolls" Joshua Gage - "#greenlivesmatter" Alethea Kontis - "Witch's Star" Bianca Spriggs - "Plot Twist"

Stories from our latest collection feature gritty murders on the streets of Chicago, New York, L.A., London and Paris, horrors in dark alleys, as well as many more scenes from urban crime that elicit a dark curiosity. Classic authors are cast with previously unpublished stories by exciting budding contemporary crime writers to bring you the latest anthology in our successful series. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: T.J. Berg, Judi Calhoun, Ramsey Campbell, Meg Elison, Rich Larson, C.L. McDaniel, Dan Micklethwaite, Trixie Nisbet, Thana Niveau, Josh Pachter, Michael Penncavage, Jennifer Quail, Zandra Renwick, K.W. Roberts, Leo X. Robertson, David Tallerman, Salinda Tyson, Rachel Watts, and Chris Wheatley. Classic authors include Robert Barr, Wilkie Collins, Jack London, Edgar Wallace, Oscar Wilde and more.

A collection of horror–inspired flash fiction, featuring over 40 new stories from literary, horror, and emerging writers—edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto, the twisted minds behind Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery and Murder In this playful, inventive collection, leading literary and horror writers spin chilling tales in only a few pages. Each slim, fast–moving story brings to life the kind of monsters readers love to fear, from brokenhearted vampires to Uber–taking serial killers and mind–reading witches. But what also makes Tiny Nightmares so bloodcurdling—and unforgettable—are the real–world horrors that writers such as Samantha Hunt, Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Lilliam Rivera, Kevin Brockmeier, and Rion Amilcar Scott weave into their fictions, exploring how global warming, racism, social media addiction, and homelessness are just as frightening as, say, a vampire’s fangs sinking into your neck. Our advice? Read with the hall light on and the bedroom door open just a crack. Featuring new stories from Samantha Hunt, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Rion Amilcar Scott, and more!

SOMETIMES THE BIGGEST HORRORS COME IN THE SMALLEST PACKAGES… There’s nothing better than a short, sharp slice of flash fiction to get the mind working. 99 Tiny Terrors is an anthology that the reader can dip into for something deliciously dangerous in a short amount of time, or spend an afternoon trolling through blood-soaked stories from all over the world, including Canada, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United States, and Wales. Featuring stories from the devious minds of Seanan McGuire, Ruthanna Emrys, Bev Vincent, Meg Elison, Bradley H. Sinor, Wendy N. Wagner, Premee Mohamed, Scott Edelman, Cat Rambo, Tim Waggoner, and many more. “ 99 TINY TERRORS is an absolutely wild ride through some truly weird territory. Fast, freaky, furious, and fun! Highly recommended!” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of INK and V-WARS

Twelve visions of living in a climate-changed world. We are living in the Anthropocene—an era of dramatic and violent climate change featuring warming oceans, melting icecaps, extreme weather events, habitat loss, species extinction, and more. What will life be like in a climate-changed world? In Tomorrow’s Parties , science fiction authors speculate how we might be able to live and even thrive through the advancing Anthropocene. In ten original stories by writers from around the world, an interview with celebrated writer Kim Stanley Robinson, and a series of intricate and elegant artworks by Sean Bodley, Tomorrow’s Parties takes rational optimism as a moral imperative, or at least a pragmatic alternative to despair. In these stories—by writers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Nigeria, China, Bangladesh, and Australia—a young man steals from delivery drones; a political community lives on an island made of ocean-borne plastic waste; and a climate change denier tries to unmask “crisis actors.” Climate-changed life also has its pleasures and epiphanies, as when a father in Africa works to make his son’s dreams of “Viking adventure” a reality, and an IT professional dispatched to a distant village encounters a marvelous predigital fungal network. Contributors include Pascall Prize for Criticism winner James Bradley, Hugo Award winners Greg Egan and Sarah Gailey, Philip K Dick Award winner Meg Elison, and New York Times bestselling author Daryl Gregory.

This is the eighth annual edition of the Long List Anthology. Every year, supporting members of WorldCon nominate their favorite stories first published during the selected year to determine the top five in each category for the final Hugo Award ballot. This is an anthology collecting more of the stories from that nomination list to reach more readers. The Long List Anthology volume 8 collects 21 science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories from that nomination list, totaling over 400 pages of fiction by writers around the world. From magical couches to impossible radio broadcasts, from robotic uprisings to rogue artist AIs, from gigantic alien telepaths to elaborate death trials held on a deadly stage. There is something here for everyone. The following stories are in the anthology: "For Lack of a Bed" by John Wiswell "The Cold Calculations" by Aimee Ogden "Laughter Among the Trees" by Suzan Palumbo "The Revolution Will Not Be Served With Fries" by Meg Elison "If the Martians Have Magic" by P. Djèlí Clark "Let All the Children Boogie" by Sam J. Miller "Crazy Beautiful" by Cat Rambo "Things From Our Kitchen Junk Drawer That Could Save This Spaceship" by Marie Vibbert "Before, After, and the Space Between" by Kel Coleman "Orumai's Choice" by Gautam Bhatia "Questions Asked in the Belly of the World" by A.T. Greenblatt "Mulberry and Owl" by Aliette de Bodard "The General's Turn" by Premee Mohamed "The Music of the Siphorophenes" by C.L. Polk "Just Enough Rain" by P H Lee "Ina's Spark" by Mary Robinette Kowal "The Red Mother" by Elizabeth Bear "Small Monsters" by E. Lily Yu "Tombs of the Universe" by Han Song, translated by Xueting C. Ni "(emet)" by Lauren Ring "Submergence" by Arula Ratnakar

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our January 2025 issue (#220) contains: Fiction "When There Are Two of You: A Documentary" by Zun Yu Tan "Child of the Mountain" by Gunnar De Winter "Never Eaten Vegetables" by H.H. Pak "The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe" by Tia Tashiro "Beyond Everything" by Wang Yanzhong "Autonomy" by Meg Elison Non-Fiction "Do Termites Celebrate Holidays?" by Priya Sridhar "Finishing the Read: A Conversation with Diana M. Pho" by Arley Sorg "Humbled By Love: A Conversation with LaShawn M. Wanak" by Arley Sorg "Editor's Desk: 2024 in Review" by Neil Clarke Cover Art "Landscape Painter" by Alex Rommel