Size / / /

Stella checks the food supplies.

There won't be enough for the dogs,

but the cats might make another month.

And birds well, there's only a lame parrot

some kid found at beside the road. Plenty of seed.

The vets didn't show up this morning. They haven't been around for days.

The waiting room has been empty for she doesn't remember how long and

she's afraid to leave, afraid of what she'll find outside the doors.

Back against the wall, she slides down. Sits on the floor.

Stares at the cages. The dogs whine, pacing back and forth.

The felines are curled far back in their cells, noses tucked under tails.

When darkness falls, she crawls into an empty cage.




Marge Ballif Simon free lances as a writer-poet-illustrator for genre and mainstream publications such as Nebula Awards 32, Strange Horizons, Flashquake, Space & Time, Dreams & Nightmares, Aoife’s Kiss, Dark Regions, Fantasy Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine, EOTU, Tales of the Unanticipated. She has illustrated three Stoker award collections. Her illustrated poetry collection, “Artist of Antithesis” was a Stoker finalist in 2004.
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16 Jun 2025

When I met the young Mr Turing, I had not yet ascended as Autumn’s King. Nowadays it has become fashionable for the sons and daughters of the lesser fey gentry to improve their position in the shifting hierarchy of the Courts by virtue of intrigue, scandal, and the naked blade; but in those times, it was the custom to advance one’s position through the collection of human bagatelles.
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With their noses shaped like rockets and ancient vacuum cleaners
By: Ariel Marken Jack
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Ariel Marken Jack's 'Sister, Silkie, Siren, Shark' read by Emmie Christie. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠
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