#sfstoryoftheday
LightNews LightNews
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"I laughed aloud at this, I’m not proud to say. It was a terrible sound. Like the wailing of foxes."

Momentarily bringing #sfstoryoftheday off its extended sick leave to share this @seanbirnie.bsky.social story in @interzone.digital because oh NO.

Oh.

No.
May 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
“Oh, what will we do?” gasped the girl born of lightning.

But the girl with eyes of starlight said, “Do not worry.”

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @cjsubko.bsky.social in @smallwondersmag.com.

smallwondersmag.com/piece/any-go...
Any Good Sacrifice - Small Wonders
Four girls ran through the velvet-black night. A girl made of sticks. A girl with starlight for eyes. A girl born from lightning. And a fourth girl, a strange girl, who was made only of flesh and bloo...
smallwondersmag.com
November 27, 2024 at 5:13 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"You do need the money. You cannot ever have a reputation for anything less than full delivery. That gives you pause. You are the eraser. The eraser has distance."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @jonolfert.bsky.social in @3lobedmag.bsky.social.

www.3lobedmag.com/issue43/3lbe...
3LBE Magazine - Kick the Can by Jonathan Olfert
Night is not a substance. Substance implies surface, and night is a hollow distance. You cannot touch the night, and if it touches you, it does so carelessly, giving some fast small thing -- a running...
www.3lobedmag.com
November 26, 2024 at 8:28 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Stanford wants us to figure out what the sludge is. You want us to figure out what the sludge is since you were the one to volunteer us for the trip.

I just want to go home."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @thesuiway.bsky.social in @augursociety.bsky.social.

augursociety.org/one-becomes-...
One Becomes Two by A.D. Sui
This is a simple story, and I will spoil the ending for you. You and I begin as a one. Marriage is a deceptively complex single cell organism with the two of us moving inside the socially constructed ...
augursociety.org
November 22, 2024 at 10:24 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Look, she said. I think it’s grown again.

Have you thought about dinner? he asked her.

Not really, Zoe answered, frowning down at her hand, the hand of her left arm, remembering dinner."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @seanbirnie.bsky.social in The Dark.

www.thedarkmagazine.com/lightfingers/
Lightfingers - The Dark Magazine
Does it look different? Zoe asked, tilting her head. Tom stopped in the hallway outside the bedroom and glanced back. Does what look different? he asked. Zoe shrugged her right shoulder, rolled it for...
www.thedarkmagazine.com
November 1, 2024 at 7:28 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"There are twenty-seven bones in the human hand, and the director’s are well and truly broken.

The hand, at last, is free to heal into its higher purpose."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @avramargariti.bsky.social in @undertow.bsky.social's Weird Horror Magazine

www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/fragments
Fragments — Weird Horror Magazine
www.weirdhorrormagazine.com
October 31, 2024 at 4:48 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"He’s already spent too long without himself. He needs to be held under for as long as it takes. Until the ocean rushes in and he can finally breathe."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @straith.ca in @augurmag.bsky.social.

augursociety.org/how-to-breat...
How to Breathe Water by D.A. Straith - Augur Literary Society
The first time his guides try to drown him in the tub on the beach, Zor taps out right before fainting.
augursociety.org
October 30, 2024 at 7:47 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"I didn’t tell Mama until I was eleven, when Granny died and we took her bones down to the crypt.

Granny’s bones didn’t scream."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by D. S. Ravenhurst in @diabolicalplots.com.

www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-1...
DP FICTION #116B: “Bone Talker, Bone Eater” by D.S. Ravenhurst – Diabolical Plots
www.diabolicalplots.com
October 24, 2024 at 4:30 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Experimentally, you try pulling it downward. Just a little. Something gives way.

You pull it up again, fast."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @vanessafogg.bsky.social in @thefuturefire.bsky.social.

futurefire.net/2024.71/fict...
That Small, Hard Thing on the Back of Your Neck, Vanessa Fogg
futurefire.net
October 23, 2024 at 6:31 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"You are aware you’re not the first person to have such a thought, she said, tilting her head, smiling without smiling.

I am, he said. It’s just — well, it haunts me."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday: @seanbirnie.bsky.social in @undertow.bsky.social's Weird Horror.

www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/blackwater
BlackWater — Weird Horror Magazine
www.weirdhorrormagazine.com
September 18, 2024 at 4:08 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"There is no remedy for heartbreak. It diffuses into you, becomes part of your marrow. I can't excise it. Only dilute it."

"Will you do that for me?"

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @sillysyntax.bsky.social in @havenspec.bsky.social.

www.havenspec.com/bleeding-hea...
Bleeding Hearts by Suzan Palumbo, Haven Spec Magazine
Fiction for the 21st Century!
www.havenspec.com
September 17, 2024 at 7:53 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"I thought, if I disappeared, it would take people ages to find me, if they ever did. It was comforting to think about my sun-bleached bones easing their way into subsoil. Safe. Quiet."

#sfstoryoftheday by @ashvalewrites.bsky.social in @heartlines-spec.com.

www.heartlines-spec.com/i-met-my-wif...
I Met My Wife in the Woods
I Met My Wife in the Woods by Ash Vale
www.heartlines-spec.com
September 7, 2024 at 8:00 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"My wife is endlessly beautiful. She doesn’t mind where we go."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @thisisguan.bsky.social in @nightmare-magazine.com.

www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/pain...
Painted Surfaces - Nightmare Magazine
This is a retelling of a Chinese folktale that I couldn’t get out of my head. It’s been through a lot of revisions. The two things that helped it come into its final form were cutting half the word co...
www.nightmare-magazine.com
September 1, 2024 at 2:55 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Allysandra knew me too well, but I knew her just as well: the Vice Shark was bait.

Allysandra was leading me to something else."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @kurellian.bsky.social in @3lobedmag.bsky.social.

www.3lobedmag.com/issue42/3lbe...
3LBE Magazine - All Her Rows of Teeth by Jordan Kurella
The dive goes poorly from the start. Within an hour of cutting the engine, the radar can't pick up either the Vice Shark's signal, or Allysandra's.
www.3lobedmag.com
August 16, 2024 at 3:43 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Listening to the other farmers’ chatter, Karl would draw breath to join in and inevitably miss his chance. Eventually, his voice found its primary use in humming and singing to the plants."

#sfstoryoftheday by @pbarmby.bsky.social in @flashpointsf.bsky.social.

flashpointsf.com/2024/07/26/u...
Unraveled
Karl arrived on the Moon eager for a fresh start.
flashpointsf.com
August 6, 2024 at 6:33 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Mr. Harmon smiled and, after a few long minutes, moved his hand.

“Have a good lunch,” he said.

She didn’t tell anybody. She had no one to tell."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @elliottgish.bsky.social on @pseudopod.org.

pseudopod.org/2024/07/12/p...
PseudoPod 928: Mr. Harmon’s Girls
The first day of school. Bright, cold, the sky that special autumn blue. All of us in new clothes and fresh white shoes, bold and laughing, shy and silent, angry and turned darkly inwards.
pseudopod.org
July 28, 2024 at 7:17 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"The day that she caught tendrils of wisteria curling in under the front door was the day she muttered a quick apology to her dead husband, and pulled out the garden shears."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by Kelsey Hutton in @augurmag.bsky.social.

augursociety.org/pushing-up-r...
Pushing Up Roses by Kelsey Hutton
Phyllis couldn’t hide from it any longer. It was already late spring, which meant the first anniversary of Arthur’s death was only a few weeks away.
augursociety.org
July 24, 2024 at 2:01 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"I hold these offerings in trust, in safekeeping. And when the time is right—if asked—I give them back.

Not all are brave enough to ask for theirs back."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @vanessafogg.bsky.social in @lightspeedmagazine.com.

www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-...
The Red Queen’s Heart - Lightspeed Magazine
Anything can be bought or sold at the Night Market. A dozen hummingbird tongues curled like tiny snails, basted in honey and chili oil and served on a silver tray. A mermaid’s song, caught in an antiq...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com
July 16, 2024 at 5:59 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"The crack gave no answer—nor did it understand about territory, property, and collectivity."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @kadjoman.bsky.social in @strangehorizons.bsky.social.

strangehorizons.com/fiction/the-...
The crack, or one past two
In summer, the crack on the windowpane would align perfectly with the horizon, right around 2 p.m.
strangehorizons.com
July 11, 2024 at 8:39 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Brick City clicks, grinds, scrapes around them, but everything else remains unmovable, unchangeable, indestructible. Boyd refuses to give up. Up, up."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @nikawrites.bsky.social in @seizethepress.bsky.social.

www.seizethepress.com/2024/05/08/b...
“Brick City, Stick City, Straw City” by Nika Murphy - Seize The Press
Sometimes, when Boyd squints hard enough, when windows in Brick City line up just right, when sunlight glints off shards of twisted iron fire escapes and bounces between rain-slicked alleys, he sees h...
www.seizethepress.com
July 9, 2024 at 9:51 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"The people are listening. The people have been listening. They feel the heat on their skin."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @jolantru.bsky.social in @interzone.digital.

interzone.digital/the-barricade/
THE BARRICADE // IZ Digital
‘The sea is our home.’ // ‘The Barricade’, a story by Joyce Ch'ng with art by Emma Howitt
interzone.digital
July 8, 2024 at 2:41 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"It is the easiest test.

“Reach out your hand,” says the god-bridge. “Choose.”

Two vases smash against the crystalline floor."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @bethgoder.bsky.social in
@factorfourmagazine.com.

factorfourmag.com/two-vases-fa...
Two Vases Fall by Beth Goder
Two vases fall. One containing life. The other, death.      It is the easiest test of the god-realm. Reach out a hand. Choose.      Sheel fails again, both v…
factorfourmag.com
July 7, 2024 at 3:38 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"It seemed bigger now; too large to fit on her plate. A trick of the diner lighting, surely.

Its tendrils twitched again, and it looked away."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @anovelescape.bsky.social in @kaleidotrope.bsky.social.

kaleidotrope.net/summer-2024/...
“Creature” by Kelsea Yu
kaleidotrope.net
July 5, 2024 at 4:14 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"I crush the cig in the dirt and head to the factory floor.

His eyes follow me every step of the way, as if he knows.

We killed them.

One. Two. Three. Four."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by @thomasha.bsky.social in @nightmare-magazine.com.

www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/grot...
Grottmata - Nightmare Magazine
The soldiers start rounding up us factory girls just before sunrise. We smoke cigarettes and stand in a line against the remnants of a brick wall that used to be a bakery, facing the sheer black of th...
www.nightmare-magazine.com
July 4, 2024 at 1:12 PM
arielmarkenjack.bsky.social
"Outside, the stalks are curled around each other, tumescent, red as lampreys. In the morning, they’ll be singing sunlight. Down in the trench will be safer."

Today's #sfstoryoftheday by Monica Joyce Evans in @apexmag.bsky.social.

apex-magazine.com/short-fictio...
At Night She Dreams of Silverfish - Apex Magazine
The ocean is a woman and it is dreaming, dreaming, Ekaterina thinks as she holds the hardsuit’s arm open, ready to clip a sample.
apex-magazine.com
July 3, 2024 at 1:53 PM