May 2025 (Issue 180)

We’re serving up original science fiction by Gene Doucette (“Rthing It Up: An Oral History”) and P.A. Cornell (“Through the Machine”). We also have two terrific flash pieces: “The Temporal Displacement of the Graves” from Russell Nichols and “The Meaning We Seek” by Nancy Kress. Plus, we have original fantasy by Martin Cahill (“The Price of Manners”) and Jonathan Olfert (“Ninnagan Says Remember”). We also have a flash story (“Shadows on the Pavement”) from R. P. Sand, and another (“Where Are They Now?”) from Meg Elison. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team.

Cover art by Tithi Luadthong (aka Grandfailure) / Shutterstock

May 2025 (Issue 180)

Editorial

Editorial: May 2025

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the editorial for a rundown of this month’s delicious content.

Science Fiction

Rthing It Up: An Oral History

by Gene Doucette

In 23762, the Interstellar Community of Planetary Systems began its campaign to add a new member: a distant, isolated planet called Rth. It would be an understatement to say that the annexation of Rth did not go well. In fact, it went so poorly, a popular phrase entered the vernacular almost immediately: Rthing it up.

Fantasy

Shadows on the Pavement

by R. P. Sand

Author spotlight

You are what blooms between my thoughts. Relentless, like the roots of a poplar, or the mold swelling from neglected corners of a home echoing with silent disharmony. You slink through my star-ridden veins, haunt my magma gut, occupy the warmth I carry for the denizens that trawl my skin. I cannot shake you, cannot fathom a sunrise without picturing you basking in its crimson glow.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: R. P. Sand

by Mayookh Barua

Concrete is the most widely used human-made substance; it’s something most people have encountered in some form. And it isn’t biodegradable. I imagined concrete stifling the living, breathing earth beneath.

Science Fiction

The Temporal Displacement of the Graves

by Russell Nichols

As dead bodies floated down the Mississippi, Mrs. Graves couldn’t shake the urge to dance. It was ingrained in her bones, dancing. Growing up in New Orleans, death was once celebrated—a spirited second line surging through Treme to the blare of trumpets and rumble of drums. But that was before the levees broke, before the waters rose, before the music stopped. “Honey, I’m home,” Mrs. Graves said, poking her head into their rundown trailer. “I found one.”

Fantasy

The Price of Manners

by Martin Cahill

Author spotlight

Everyone believes they’ll be the one to crack the curse. It’s that very belief that assures their doom. Arrogance has always been one of the currencies of the brilliant. Students, especially those from the Society of Myriad Mysteries, are rich with it; they spend it without knowing, in the arch of a skeptic’s eyebrow or the scoff of hearty denial. These luminous youths have not been taught to be misers with such a precious resource.

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Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Martin Cahill

by Mayookh Barua

I went with “tome” because it just has a more mysterious image and cadence to it, and also, I liked the idea of poor students lugging around a massive cursed book as opposed to something more mass market-sized.

Nonfiction

Book Review: I Want That Twink Obliterated! by Trip Galey, Robert Berg & C.L. McCartney, eds.

by Arley Sorg

Looking for your next fun anthology purchase? Let Arley Sorg tell you all about a fun read: I Want That Twink Obliterated!.

Science Fiction

Through the Machine

by P.A. Cornell

Author spotlight

“Steve, over here! Turn to your right. Can we get a smile?” He falls back on his training easily enough, turns to the cameras, gives them his famous crooked smile, tilts his head just so as the flashes go off so they can capture the smoulder that highlights his cheekbones. The one he’s practiced countless times with his manager, Ethel.

Fantasy

Where Are They Now?

by Meg Elison

I didn’t die when I fell into the candy river, you know. That mean girl didn’t die when she got flushed down the fake novelty toilet. Neither did the other one, the one who ate so much jelly that they rolled her away to pump her stomach. I think she set the record for the highest ever blood glucose level, but she’s alive. We write sometimes.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: P.A. Cornell

by Phoebe Barton

What I’d like readers to take away from this is that there’s value to art. That it is in fact an essential service that provides us with something that can improve our lives just by being exposed to it. To give an example from both film and real life, take the story depicted in Sing Sing.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Esperance by Adam Oyebanji

by Melissa A Watkins

Looking for your next SF thriller? Melissa A. Watkins thinks Esperance by Adam Oyebanji might just fit the bill!

Fantasy

Ninnagan Says Remember

by Jonathan Olfert

Author spotlight

A decade since the Fivefold Church conquered the mile-high godpines and hanged their priests, settlements picked at the trunks like termites. Each godpine’s felling had shivered faraway cities to their foundations: small wonder that whole kingdoms hungered for lumber now. Or perhaps folk just liked the thought of chopping up a god for outhouses and chicken coops. Ander Carmora hated the noise—endless sawmills, axes, oxen.

Science Fiction

The Meaning We Seek

by Nancy Kress

In the pre-dawn light she lies in bed, gazing through the window at graceful trees silhouetted against a turquoise sky. The air is still, the pretty room orderly and calm. She lies motionless except for her eyes, the soft blue quilt rising and falling with her breath. At a hundred years old, breath is shallow. It will not be long now. I am remembering for her, vivid visions linked to her mind through implants and nanos and software.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Jonathan Olfert

by Alex Puncekar

A couple of winters ago, trudging up an icy hill, I realized I could revisit elements I loved from one of my first trunked novels. I could come at it fresh and make the fundamentals into short stories. That meant I could junk all the characters, setting, and plot—and still feel like the years I spent writing it were good for something beyond skill growth.

Nonfiction

Book review: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

by Chris Kluwe

Chris Kluwe recommends a novel with an improbably mash-up: B-movie monsters and hard SF. That’s right—Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove does it all. Find out if it’s your next read!