Community over competition! We've taken some of the best stories from fellow magazines and collected them for your reading pleasure.
- The Book With All The Ring’s Marvels - Arturo Sierra
Science fiction at its best is all about a sense of wonder, and what could be more awe-inspiring than a megastructure? A world that stretches all around a star, a sphere that encircles a star completely, what sights for the imagination. Endless arguments can be had about how such a thing could be achieved, and indeed Niven made some corrections to his seminal novel based on corrections sent to him by people who read the book and had thoughts on the matter. Little time is given to the discussion of one tiny, crucial point, however: why in God’s name would anyone go to all that effort? Seriously, for what insane purpose could you possibly need all the energy of a star? Is your species the Tribbles, that you need all the space in a ringworld to fit your people? Sometimes, we think so hard about the how that we end up doing silly things at great expense, because we didn’t pause a second to think about the why. - Moon Bearer - Celia Daniels
Six months before the end of the world, I start exchanging glances with the woman who holds the moon. - Call of the Void - Bridgette Dutta Portman
Jone's suicide will be the last. Commander Hennepin will make sure of that.
He digs Jones' grave as the mottled orb of Jupiter hangs overhead. It's full today, as it is every eighty-five Earth hours.
Hennepin avoids looking at it. Not that he's afraid. But both of the prior suicides had happened when the planet was in its full phase, with the entirety of its swirling clouds lit up by the distant sun. - The Kid is Killing Me - Aubrey Taylor
[TW: darkly comic/ strong subject matter]
She really freaked me out when I first caught sight of her in the mirror, peeking out from behind my frizzy hair, grinning widely at the thick coat of foundation I had on. She was terrifying: yellowish-blue nails, and a twisted smile that curled up right to the corners of unblinking eyes far too sentient for a newborn. I dropped my candle and the baby went berserk at the noise, chomping down hard on my ear with her devil-sharp teeth. (I still have a chunk of my helix missing, and now I can’t wear my hair up, and all in all it’s just really not ideal.)