Size / / /

". . . much is passed on, you see. Oh, not the

surface—the face is due to my mother's mother,

who was by all accounts a stunner—but the other

side, the hidden legacy. For me it comes in a love of

feathered headdresses, and abiding dreams of flight . . .

". . . remember that swans are mute. He couldn't have

given a warning even if he'd wanted to, though by then

he'd given up trying. Because no one is more fixed by fate

than the gods. Thunder and lightning and tides, yes:

but we need only stories to hold them. Cages of words,

each one a sharp sliver of bronze, pinning them in place forever . . .

". . . so I can't blame him for a momentary lust

instantly quenched and eagerly forgotten.

He was my father. And despite the way that inevitably

turns out, it means something to me . . ."

(. . . and I'm listening, trying hard to understand. I don't even know why I want her . . .)




Chris Szego lives and works in Toronto, and is the manager of Bakka-Phoenix Books, Canada's oldest SFF bookstore. 
Current Issue
16 Dec 2024

Across the train tracks from BWI station, a portal shimmered in the shade of a patch of tall trees. From her seat on a northbound train taking on passengers, Dottie watched a woman slip a note out of her pocket, place it under a rock, strip off her work uniform, then walk naked, smiling, into the portal.
exposing to the bone just how different we are
a body protesting thinks itself as a door out of a darkroom, a bullet, too.
In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'.
Issue 9 Dec 2024
Issue 2 Dec 2024
By: E.M. Linden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 25 Nov 2024
Issue 18 Nov 2024
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 11 Nov 2024
Issue 4 Nov 2024
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
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