GlitterShip

Minghun: Unlikely Patron Saints, No. 5byAmy SissonA whisper of excitement echoes through the cave, or what I think of as a cave. She is coming, the minghun broker is coming, I hear or perhaps feel, like soft butterfly wings brushing my face. I strain...

They Jump Through FiresBy Gabriela Santiago“They jump through fires, you know.”We were behind a glass window and at least ten feet off the ground, but Sam’s voice startled the rabbit that had been standing frozen on the asphalt, one large brown eye t...

Seventh Day of the Seventh MoonBy Ken Liu“Tell me a story,” said Se. She had changed into her pajamas all by herself and snuggled under the blankets.Se’s big sister, Yuan, was just about to flip the switch next to the bedroom door. “How about you rea...

All That Fairy Tale Crapby Rachel SwirskyI was supposed to go to the ball, but I spent the night licking out my stepsister instead.Bethesda moaned and rustled mulberry silk high up her thighs. “There, there, no, faster, come on, faster, please…”The f...

Sugarby Cat RamboThey line up before Laurana, forty baked-clay heads atop forty bodies built of metal cylinders.  Every year she casts and fires new heads to replace those lost to weather, the wild, or simple erosion.  She rarely replaces the metal b...

Swan-Brotherby Gabriel MurrayThe—woman—took snuff.  "Good morning, Captain," she said, Capitaine in her accent.  "This is a colder day than I imagined."  She looked out over the swells, her mannish periwig bobbing as she tilted her head up to regard ...

Bonzaiships of Venusby Kate Heartfield The work of aesthetics is the aesthetics of work.     —Principles of Graphene Cultivation, by Johanne St-Pierre, Vol. IIMakoto adjusted the angle of his scalpel’s electron beam, exhaled and made the cut. A finge...

King Tideby Alison WilgusSome particular trick of the moon, the weather, and the Earth's closeness to the sun had pulled the tide all the way to 5th Avenue, a good half-block further uphill than usual. The city had put out an alert, so Jordyn knew to...

Sooner Than GoldBy Cory SkerryI tug on clean underwear in case I get arrested, paint my makeup perfectly because there's nothing sadder than a grown man in badly applied eyeliner, and climb out my apartment window, onto the fire escape.I can't be lat...

Love Over Glass, Skin Under Glassby Penny StirlingThe seasick lover becomes a saltwater cisternShe built her first lover out of glass."I was often disappointed," she said as she showed her creation around her gallery, "that the things I make with suc...