From Modern Mythcraft to Magical Surrealism

CHOSEN ONES

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Fiction

Fiction

The Pragmatical Princess

by Nisi Shawl

Princess Ousmani had fallen asleep in her chains, from boredom. She woke to the weight of a dragon’s head resting uncomfortably on her stomach. One rough, scaly paw kneaded her left shoulder, pricking at her skin.

The Pragmatical Princess by Nisi Shawl

In August 2011 (Issue 53)

Fiction

The World Is Cruel, My Daughter

by Cory Skerry

One day it was, “Why haven’t you any hair, Mother?” She stroked her own golden locks, which now swept her ankles, as she waited for an answer.

The World Is Cruel, My Daughter by Cory Skerry

In August 2011 (Issue 53)

Fiction

Swans

by Kelly Link

My name is Emma Bear, and I am eleven years old. I live on Black Ankle Road beside the Licking River. I live in a palace. My father is a king. I have a fairy godfather.

Swans by Kelly Link

In July 2011 (Issue 52)

Fiction

The Wolves of Brooklyn

by Catherynne M. Valente

It was snowing when the wolves first came, loping down Flatbush Ave., lithe and fast, panting clouds, their paws landing with a soft, heavy sound like bombs falling somewhere far away.

The Wolves of Brooklyn by Catherynne M. Valente

In July 2011 (Issue 52)

Fiction

The Machine

by M. Rickert

Graveyards creak with too many bones, and the weight of headstones, and when the wind blows the air is dusty with the dead. Ah life, its hoary inevitability. What’s the point?

The Machine by M. Rickert

In July 2011 (Issue 52)

Fiction

Union Falls

by J. S. Breukelaar

But the girl was kicking off her other shoe and at the Casio before Deel had worked out but what. And what she pounded out with her feet was Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell.”

Union Falls by J.S. Breukelaar

In July 2011 (Issue 52)

Fiction

You Have Been Turned into a Zombie by a Friend

by Jeremiah Tolbert

You know all about bending and breaking their terms of service; it would take some serious hacking, magical or mundane, to pull this off. But you suspect magic.

You Have Been Turned Into a Zombie by a Friend by Jeremiah Tolbert

In June 2011 (Issue 51)

Fiction

Virgin of the Sands

by Holly Phillips

Graham came out of the desert leaving most of his men dead behind him. He debriefed, he bathed, he dressed in a borrowed uniform, and without food, without rest, though he needed both, he went to see the girl.

Virgin of the Sands by Holly Phillips

In June 2011 (Issue 51)

Fiction

The Immortality Game

by Cat Rambo

Decades later the music was what really tipped Glen off. He heard a song on the radio, a brand new release, and remembered the day he’d first heard it, twenty years earlier.

The Immortality Game by Cat Rambo

In June 2011 (Issue 51)

Fiction

A Prince of Thirteen Days

by Alaya Dawn Johnson

I clear my throat. “Mister Statue Man,” I say, because I haven’t grown up on the Border without learning to be polite around magic. “Do you think you might have sex with me?”

A Prince of Thirteen Days by Alaya Dawn Johnson

In June 2011 (Issue 51)