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First of all, a new-staff announcement. Just before Christmas, we advertised for an Art Director to join Strange Horizons, looking at how we use art throughout the site, and helping to ensure that we're showcasing a diversity of work. We received an extremely strong set of applications—it's always a little humbling to see the quality of people willing to volunteer their time for SH—and after no little deliberation we're delighted to announce that Tory Hoke and Heather McDougal are joining the magazine. Tory is a writer, illustrator and programmer with a background in filmmaking, some of whose work will already be familiar to you—she illustrated Ann Leckie's story "She Commands Me and I Obey" last autumn, as well as her own story Lysistrata of Mars." Heather, meanwhile, is an artist and writer with an MFA in sculpture and an interest in art and graphic design in digital environments. I'm very excited to see what they both bring to the magazine over the coming years! (And of course if you're an artist, you can send them your portfolio for consideration.)

And second, with a drum roll—here are the results of this year's Readers' Poll!

Earlier this month, we asked you to vote for your favourite works published by SH in 2014. The poll was open from 13.00 PST on 5th January 2015 until 23.59 PST on 16th January 2015. Each person could vote for up to five works or nominees in each department, ranking them 1 (first place) to 5 (fifth place). Each first-place vote was worth five points, each second-place vote was worth four points, and so on. It was not compulsory to vote in every category, nor to use all five slots in a given category. Multiple votes on one ballot for the same item were discarded, and ballots required a unique email address to be submitted. Email addresses were only used to verify the validity of ballots.

As ever, we are grateful to those of you who voted in the poll—we always appreciate it, and any other feedback you send us. Congratulations to this year's winners, and thanks as ever to all of our contributors for submitting their work.

Fiction

Poetry

Articles

Columns (see the archives for individual columns)

  • First place: Genevieve Valentine
  • Second place: Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
  • Third place: Jaymee Goh
  • Fourth place: Cassandra Khaw
  • Fifth place: John Clute

Reviews (see the archives for individual reviews)

  • First place: Sofia Samatar
  • Second place: Carmen Maria Machado
  • Third place: Aishwarya Subramanian
  • Fourth place: Chris Kammerud
  • Fifth place: Alix E. Harrow

Previous years: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010.




Niall Harrison is an independent critic based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is a former editor of Strange Horizons, and his writing has also appeared in The New York Review of Science FictionFoundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, The Los Angeles Review of Books and others. He has been a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and a Guest of Honor at the 2023 British National Science Fiction Convention. His collection All These Worlds: Reviews and Essays is forthcoming from Briardene Books.
Current Issue
29 May 2023

We are touched and encouraged to see an overwhelming response from writers from the Sino diaspora as well as BIPOC creators in various parts of the world. And such diverse and daring takes of wuxia and xianxia, from contemporary to the far reaches of space!
By: L Chan
The air was redolent with machine oil; rich and unctuous, and synthesised alcohol, sharper than a knife on the tongue.
“Leaping Crane don’t want me to tell you this,” Poppy continued, “but I’m the most dangerous thing in the West. We’ll get you to your brother safe before you know it.”
Many eons ago, when the first dawn broke over the newborn mortal world, the children of the Heavenly Realm assembled at the Golden Sky Palace.
Winter storm: lightning flashes old ghosts on my blade.
transplanted from your temple and missing the persimmons in bloom
immigrant daughters dodge sharp barbs thrown in ambush 十面埋伏 from all directions
Many trans and marginalised people in our world can do the exact same things that everyone else has done to overcome challenges and find happiness, only for others to come in and do what they want as Ren Woxing did, and probably, when asked why, they would simply say Xiang Wentian: to ask the heavens. And perhaps we the readers, who are told this story from Linghu Chong’s point of view, should do more to question the actions of people before blindly following along to cause harm.
Before the Occupation, righteousness might have meant taking overt stands against the distant invaders of their ancestral homelands through donating money, labour, or expertise to Chinese wartime efforts. Yet during the Occupation, such behaviour would get one killed or suspected of treason; one might find it better to remain discreet and fade into the background, or leave for safer shores. Could one uphold justice and righteousness quietly, subtly, and effectively within such a world of harshness and deprivation?
Issue 22 May 2023
Issue 15 May 2023
Issue 8 May 2023
Issue 1 May 2023
Issue 24 Apr 2023
Issue 17 Apr 2023
Issue 10 Apr 2023
Issue 3 Apr 2023
Issue 27 Mar 2023
Issue 20 Mar 2023
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