Jan. 2026 (Issue 188)

We have original science fiction by writing duo Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff (“Mother’s Hip”) and Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe (“Hunter, Hunter”). We also have two terrific flash pieces: “Bots All the Way Down” from Effie Seiberg and “A Brief Public Announcement” by Eli Brown. Plus, we have original fantasy by Marisca Pichette (“Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell”) and Adam-Troy Castro (“The Moving Finger”). We also have a flash story (“Choose Your Own Damnation”) from Kehkashan Khalid, and another (“Academic Neutrality”) from M.R. Robinson. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team. It’s another great issue, so be sure to check it out.

Cover art by Tithi Luadthong (aka Grandfailure)

Jan. 2026 (Issue 188)

Editorial

Editorial: January 2026

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the editorial for a rundown of this month’s content and for all of John Joseph Adams’s media and book recommendations!

Publishes Online on 1/8

Science Fiction

Mother’s Hip

by Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff

High above the Amazon Rainforest, Hynd circled, her massive wingspan only visible by the shadow she cast on the battlefield below. She felt the wind pass across her wings, whispering of torrential rain coming; not her concern, so far above the clouds, but she packaged the data and shot it down to the comms base at ground level so the grunts would know what was coming.

Publishes Online on 1/8

Fantasy

Choose Your Own Damnation

by Kehkashan Khalid

1.You’ve gotten a C-minus, and it isn’t your fault. It is also not your fault that your parents are anal, Pakistani immigrants who came to this country with nothing and think a C-minus in tenth grade spells life-long doom. It doesn’t help that your Auntie (your mother’s cousin three times removed) is staying over and caught you watching inappropriate content on your laptop.

Publishes Online on 1/8

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff

by Phoebe Barton

It’s explicitly a response to the ways that trans women are dehumanised, commodified, and othered in this patriarchal society for our lack of reproductive capabilities, which itself is inherently misogynistic, by enforcing a cis woman’s only value as being her reproductive capability, which is neither permanent nor guaranteed. Sadly, a lot of cis women don’t realise this is a shared struggle (read Julia Serano’s Whipping Girl, girl).

Publishes Online on 1/8

Science Fiction

Bots All the Way Down

by Effie Seiberg

“Once upon a time,” outputted the algorithm, “there was an AI.

“It generated recipes and ingredient descriptions for an online grocery store. The website said that this recipe was not just a squash soup recipe, but it also was a good diet recipe / keto recipe / recipe for autumn nights / five ingredient recipe / easy beginner recipe / recipe to impress your date.

Publishes Online on 1/15

Fantasy

Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell

by Marisca Pichette

When she decided to wander through the woods in search of poppy fields and prowling houses, the stepmothers and grandmothers scoffed.

“You’ll be looking for love potions and beauty serums, then. Shallow. I always knew you were an insecure girl.”

“She wants slimmer thighs.”

“She craves wider hips.”

“She knows the boys don’t look twice at her, that she’ll never marry. Sad.”

Publishes Online on 1/15

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Effie Seiberg

by Robin Jeffrey

There’s a phrase, “it’s turtles all the way down,” which initially referred to the world theory that there was a flat Earth balanced on the back of a stack of turtles. When asked what was beneath the turtles, this was the answer. So here, it’s if you’re looking at what’s happening on the internet, there’s more and more algorithmically generated content, and it’s algorithms responding to algorithms responding to algorithms responding to algorithms . . . it’s bots all the way down.

Publishes Online on 1/15

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Marisca Pichette

by Erik Grove

In general, I love the chicken-footed house from Baba Yaga’s story. I’ve often wondered how the world might look from the house’s point of view. Is it a bystander or set piece? Could it be sentient? While I’ve treated the house as its own character before, this was the first time that Baba Yaga herself was entirely removed from the story. Chicken-footed houses multiplied, and suddenly the forest was not so empty.

Publishes Online on 1/15

Nonfiction

Book Review: Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms by Darcie Little Badger, Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, and Kinsale Drake, eds.

by Arley Sorg

Reviewer Arley Sorg recommends a recent anthology of Native voices, Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms.

Publishes Online on 1/15

Science Fiction

Hunter, Hunter

by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe

Today, like every other day, I wake up expecting to die before night comes. No, I’m not suicidal and I don’t have a death wish. I am just a Hunter. The life expectancy of the average Hunter in the Second Quadrant is ten years, and even that is if they are exceptionally lucky. There are too many ways to die in this line of work; so much that not even the few old-timers like myself and Jess can remember all the deaths we’ve experienced.

Publishes Online on 1/22

Fantasy

Academic Neutrality

by M.R. Robinson

When Amy begins to flay herself during office hours, you aren’t quite sure what to do. You hate office hours. You used to enjoy them, actually, back before the flayings started. Sure, it’s hard sharing your office with three other postdocs, and sure, you could spend these hours more efficiently without constant interruptions from shy undergraduates with a dozen questions already answered on the syllabus.

Publishes Online on 1/22

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe

by A Humphrey Lanham

I wanted to write a story set in space or on a spaceship. My main focus is fantasy so whenever I write science fiction or horror, it is always a bit more challenging. This story was inspired by all the human migration stories and movies I’ve encountered but I wanted to add a twist—what if something went wrong midway?

Publishes Online on 1/22

Nonfiction

Book Review: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole

by Melissa A Watkins

Looking for a good addition to the ever-growing shelf of books about Black students in magical schools? Melissa A Watkins recommends An Arcane Inheritance for your next thrilling dark academia read.

Publishes Online on 1/22

Science Fiction

A Brief Public Announcement

by Eli Brown

No one can deny that the Apollo program of the early 1970s was an embarrassment to our nation: ill-conceived, hostile, and audacious. Not only did the astronauts fail to bring back the severed head of the Moon King, but every one of them fled within hours of having landed, urinating in their suits as they retreated. The assault on the lunar surface stopped short at the planting of a stiff and garish flag.

Publishes Online on 1/29

Fantasy

The Moving Finger

by Adam-Troy Castro

In a minute, nothing we’ve said to each other and nothing we’ve done with each other will ever matter again. I don’t want her to go. We’ve just made love: spontaneous, unexpected, volcanic, in the way that sometimes occurs between people who are usually more cautious, more guarded, more moved by rational calculation than whim.

Publishes Online on 1/29

Nonfiction

Book Review: Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson

by Chris Kluwe

If you’re a fan of nature, things that go bump in the night, or just like reading extremely well-executed writing, reviewer Chris Kluwe thinks you should do yourself a favor and check out Jarod K. Anderson’s Strange Animals.

Publishes Online on 1/29