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In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents poetry from the February issues of Strange Horizons.

  • "After the Changeling Incantation" by John Philip Johnson, read by Diane Severson Mori. You can read the full text of the poem and more about John here.
  • "A Spell for Rebuilding Your Lover Out of Snow" by Peter Chiykowski, read by Peter Chiykowski. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Peter here.
  • "From the Record" by Susan Carlson, read by Kristopher Goorhuis. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Susan here.
  • "Ex Machina" by Natalia Theodoridou, read by Kate Baker. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Natalia here.
  • "On an Iranian Goblet, 5,000 Years Old" by Alicia Cole read by Ciro Faienza. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Alicia here.
  • "Disturbance" by Jude Alford read by Amal El-Mohtar. You can read the full text of the poem and more about Jude here.

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Alicia Cole is a writer and artist in Huntsville, Alabama. She's an Irish-American, autistic, dyscalculic, 2E, MAD, bisexual, genderfluid, survivor woman (one), who is an alt-spiritual practitioner.  Her poetry has recently appeared in Reckoning, isacoustic*, and NILVX. She's a studio artist at InsideOut Studio at Lowe Mill, a studio for disabled adults, and she attends Merrimack Hall, a performing arts school for the disabled.  She lives with her husband, five animals, and some plants, and loves tea, coffee, and claw machines. Her favorite holiday is Halloween.
Amal El-Mohtar is the Nebula-nominated author of The Honey Month, a collection of poetry and very short fiction written to the taste of twenty-eight different kinds of honey. She has thrice won the Rhysling Award for Best Short Poem and once received the 2012 Richard Jeffries Society Poetry Prize. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple venues online and in print, including Apex, Strange Horizons, Lackington's, and the special "Women Destroy Science Fiction" issue of Lightspeed magazine. She also edits Goblin Fruit, a web quarterly dedicated to fantastical poetry, with Caitlyn A. Paxson. She reviews books for Lightspeed and short fiction for Tor.com. Find her online at amalelmohtar.com or on Twitter @tithenai.
Ciro Faienza (pronounced CHEE-roh) is an American/Italian national. He has acted on stages and screens throughout Texas and Massachusetts, and his work as a filmmaker has shown at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Hub Theater, and the National Gallery, London. His fiction is featured in numerous publications, including Daily Science Fiction and Futuristica, Vol 1. His short story "J'ae's Solution" was a top finalist in PRI's 3-Minute Futures Contest. You can see his visual artwork at his web gallery, Postmedium.
John Philip Johnson has work in Rattle, Asimov’s, F&SF, Apex, Mythic Delirium, The Pedestal, Phantom Drift, Ted Kooser’s newspaper column, “American Life in Poetry,” and the Poetry Foundation, with Pushcart, Best-of-Web, and Rhysling noms. He would love to live on Mars. His comics are from his new comic book, The Book of Fly, which is graphic poetry in Twilight Zone-like episodes. Available at www.johnphilipjohnson.com.
Kristopher Goorhuis is an American expatriate in Southeast Asia and too pale to pass as Australian. Sticking out like a sore thumb has not abetted his shyness. Through sheer force of repetition, however, Kristopher has become adept at pretending not to be. He is not sure how to feel about exposing his thoughts and words to a wide internet audience.
Natalia Theodoridou is the World Fantasy Award-winning and Nebula-nominated author of over a hundred stories published in Uncanny, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Nightmare, Choice of Games, and elsewhere. Find him at www.natalia-theodoridou.com, or follow @natalia_theodor on Twitter.
Peter Chiykowski spends his nights jotting down stories, poems, and a silly webcomic called Rock, Paper, Cynic (which George Takei and Nathan Fillion once shared). His writing’s appeared in The Seattle Times, Asimov's Science Fiction, and a few "best Canadian" anthologies. Once, in 1988, he was the planet's youngest living person.
Susan Carlson has lived all over the United States, but currently calls San Francisco home. When not writing or cat wrangling, she’s a reader, gamer, cook, and avid watcher of historical documentaries. This is her first published work. You can keep up with Susan at her blog, www.natterings.com.
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
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Issue 24 Apr 2023
Issue 17 Apr 2023
Issue 10 Apr 2023
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Issue 27 Mar 2023
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