Strange Horizons Magazine

Strange Horizons is a weekly magazine dedicated to speculative fiction. We offer a variety of content including fiction, poetry, reviews, essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, and artwork. Speculative fiction, as we define it, encompasses genres such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, and other imaginative narratives. The pieces featured in Strange Horizons have received nominations or awards from prestigious organizations like the Hugo, Nebula, Rhysling, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree Jr., and World Fantasy Awards. This genre has a rich and innovative history, providing stories that provoke thought, critique societal norms, and envision alternate realities, whether for the better or worse. We strive to continue this important tradition and to modernize it: in the 21st century, speculative fiction should be a global and inclusive form of literature. Our goal is to highlight works that both challenge and entertain us, featuring new and established voices from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

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SH@25 Episode 10: An interview with Jordan Kurella, and a reading of his poem, 'this tree is a eulogy'

1 month ago | strangehorizons.com | Jordan Kurella |Aigner Loren Wilson |Anastasios Mihalopoulos |Emma Hayes

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/api/audio/abrept1/download?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-2-19%2F396895585-44100-2-080d142a5a4d2.m4aIn this episode of Strange Horizons at 25, we present a soundscaped reading of Jordan Kurella's poem, 'this tree is a eulogy', and afterward Kat Kourbeti chats to Jordan about his writing process, the wonders of New Weird fiction, and the magic of writer friendships. Links and things:Want to leave us a happy birthday message?
Nominating for the 2025 Hugo Awards? Here is your Strange Horizons primer.

2 months ago | strangehorizons.com | Kat Kourbeti |Premee Mohamed |Romie Stott |Laura Cranehill

Here at Strange Horizons, we publish loads of wonderful different kinds of content every year, from short fiction to poetry and from reviews to criticism essays (not to mention podcasts, selfishly), and 2024 was no exception.
High Vaultage by Chris and Jen Sugden

2 months ago | strangehorizons.com | Eric Hendel |Eric Hendel |Kunjana Parashar |Karan Kapoor |Kat Kourbeti

I wish I could say I had enjoyed Chris and Jen Sugden’s novel High Vaultage more than I did, because there are many individual elements of this story which work extremely well. Functioning as a stand-alone novelization of the audio fiction podcast Victoriocity (a work which was also co-written by the authors), High Vaultage is set in a steampunk version of the 1800s.
The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey

Feb 11, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | Stephen Case |Gautam Bhatia |Caroline Hung |Jennessa Hester

The Mercy of Gods is the first volume of The Captive’s War, a new series from the author of the wildly successful The Expanse (2011-2022). That series (both books and television adaptation) managed to raise the stakes with every installment while making each feel satisfyingly self-contained.
Murder in the Clavist Autonomous Zone

Jan 31, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | Rich Larson |Aishwarya Subramanian |Dan Hartland |Paul Kincaid

[content_warning type="drugs, sex, blood, death, murder, autonomy"]This story is one of five winners of the Stop Copaganda short story contest, run in collaboration with Fight for the Future, Rightscon, and COMPOST Magazine.
Crisis Actors By Maddison Stoff, By Corey Jae White

Jan 31, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | Maddison Stoff |Corey White |Aishwarya Subramanian |Dan Hartland

[content_warning type="blood, death, murder, autonomy, racism, vomit, homophobia, transphobia, drugs"]This story is one of five winners of the Stop Copaganda short story contest, run in collaboration with Fight for the Future, Rightscon, and COMPOST Magazine. Michael sips his coffee, watching the screen automatically cycle through vidfeeds coming in from across the country, lingering just long enough to hit the relevant button.
We Are All Monsters: How Deviant Organisms Came to Define Us by Andrew Mangham

Jan 31, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | M. L. Clark |Aishwarya Subramanian |Dan Hartland |Paul Kincaid

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” (1843) generally isn’t taught as science fiction, though it has all the core elements of many configurations of the genre. In it, a scientist named Aylmer becomes obsessed with removing the one perceived imperfection on his wife, a red birthmark on her cheek.
The Machine Autocorrects Code to I by Chanlee Luu

Jan 30, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | Tristan Beiter |Aishwarya Subramanian |Dan Hartland |Paul Kincaid

Chanlee Luu’s The Machine Autocorrects Code to I is an ambitious new entry into a larger field of feminist Asian American speculative poetics. This includes Margaret Rhee’s Love Robot (2017)—which placed third in the 2018 Elgin Award for Best Full-Length Book—Franny Choi’s Death by Sex Machine (2017) and Soft Science (2019), and Lo Kwa Mei-en’s (also publishing fiction as Lois Mei-en Kwa) The Bees Make Money in the Lion (2016).
Collective Dreaming: The Schrödinger’s Cat Approach to Framing Futures

Jan 29, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | Jacqueline Nyathi |Aishwarya Subramanian |Dan Hartland |Paul Kincaid

Thinking about the future—prospection—is supposed to be a sign of our intelligence, something that sets us apart from “lower” forms of life. But has anyone asked those forms what they’re thinking about? In fact, humans are not unique in this: Many animals seem to plan ahead, or at least anticipate things that may be coming. And as humans we’re thinking about the future all the time: when we’re planning, fantasizing, making predictions, imagining.
Leaked Footages by Abu Bakr Sadiq

Jan 13, 2025 | strangehorizons.com | Paul Chuks |Aishwarya Subramanian |Dan Hartland |Paul Kincaid

Abu Bakr Sadiq has established himself as a speculative poet who uses speculation as a didactic tool in examining the most inevitable human feeling that people of all classes experience—loss. As such, the reader is greeted with didacticism in the opening poem of his latest book, “Introducing Bhabi to the Cyborg”:just so we’re clear, you're not allowed to askhow these scars came to be. i don’t usually respond to questionsconcerning lineage [...] (p.