by Okō ( 織工) Morgan’s present caught up with him one afternoon while he sat in the local park and watched a pair of old men play chess, studiously ignoring the hipster moms and their screaming children on the tiny jungle gym to his left. The neighborhood was gentrifying slowly enough that Morgan could still […]
Category Archives: Text
24
Jul
Totally Stoned
by Houndstooth illustrated by Iron Eater “I know, I know, I’m trying to relax,” Bryce muttered, grinding the palm of their hand across their temple. “I wasn’t expecting… God, there are so many people here.” Truth be told, Aadyl wasn’t feeling completely confident either. Only a couple thin layers of velvet curtain separated them […]
24
Jul
The False Prince and the True
by shukyou (主教) illustrated by beili The throne room looked different from this angle: an inch or so off the floor, with a guardsman’s shiny leather boot pressed against the back of his neck. It was a fine angle from whence to observe the delicate work and mother-of-pearl inlay. It was a terrible angle from […]
24
Jul
Inherit, Imbue
by TK Hoshikuzu (TK 星屑) His parents had warned Mir not to stray into the origin forest. Though it was the source of all magic, like the sun, it was dangerous in proximity. He hated disappointing his parents anyway, but he had seen the horrific results of the travelers that dared to enter it. […]
24
Jul
Home from Abroad
by Domashita Romero (地下ロメロ) “Good god,” I said as I stepped through the door and put my briefcase down. “I never thought it would end up finding being bowed to tedious.” I collapsed heavily onto the sofa, loosening my tie and rolling my neck. “Not that all the bowing in return made it any better. […]
24
Jul
Unlocked
by Hyakunichisou 13 (百日草 十三) Jai let his overnight bag bounce on the bed with a careless jingle of souvenir charms as he darted across the room to the wall of windows. “Will you just look at that. Isn’t it spectacular?” Alyxi closed and locked the door and waved a hand over the light holo. […]
20
Jun
Much and Many: Or, the Death of Thomas Rust
by Ogiwara Saki (荻原咲) Hawthorne was dead and Thomas was dying; here indeed, he thought, was the beginning of the slow passage of magic from England. Well, it could not be helped. Hawthorne’s death was undeniably a shame as the Duke of Forget-Me-Not had been a stalwart general in the ongoing fairy civil war. […]
20
Jun
Scotland Shenanigans
by Yuriko Toru (百合子 亨) Alex had never bailed on a camping trip in his life. He’d been raised to be the kind to stick it out, no matter how bad things got, and he’d been fully prepared to let Finn sit in the car while he set up the tent by himself in […]
20
Jun
Risingson
by shukyou (主教) He could remember: four years old, the fruit bowl on the table, anaphylactic shock, being rushed to the doctor, a bustle of injections and barked instructions, his father’s nervous pacing, the doctor’s mechanical eyes — and then, when it was all done, a stern, clear lecture about how he was never […]
20
Jun
One May Hide Another
by Okō 織工 Nikolai Mikhailovich Kudryavtsev is drafted to the NHL in 2004 and signed to the New York Rangers. His mama cries, because New York is an enormous city, so much larger than Chelyabinsk, and it’s halfway around the world, but she looks relieved, too, because her baby will be safer there, and they […]
20
Jun
Conbadge of Honor
written and illustrated by Iron Eater “I feel too old for this,” said Ross as he watched yet another white college kid in a brightly-colored animal head pass through the registration area. There was a seemingly endless supply of them and he knew they all went to louder parties than he did. He felt Chet […]
20
Jun
The Horror From The Deep: 10th Anniversary Special Edition
by Tamari Erin (玉里えりん) The rain hammered on the roof of the car. It fell in sheets on his windshield, obscuring what little of the road his headlights had lit up. Carter tried to start the engine yet again, and swore as it sputtered and grinded noisily and died again. He slammed a hand against […]
20
Jun
Still Love After
by aohime (青姫) The soft press of lips is grounding, centering amid the scents of stale sweat and remnants of chemical cleaner. Suhayl touches rough cloth, under to smooth skin damp from the heat. Étienne gasps, arching closer, head tilted up to catch Suhayl’s lips in his own, hand pulling Suhayl down to his level. […]
20
Jun
The undersampling of success
by Hyakunichisou 13 (百日草 十三) i. Make empathy great again. Girls just wanna have fundamental rights. The number of people massed on this oval of urban grass and the roads that encircled it must have been larger than the entire population of the town Henry’d grown up in, the signs as varied and colourful as […]
20
Jun
Brittle Limit
written and illustrated by Iron Eater Riaag had been in a palace before, and it had struck him as rather nice at the time, but in terms of scale that one may as well have been an outhouse compared to the sprawling estate he now found himself in. Unlike the one he’d stayed in previously, […]
