Size / / /
ICE

Content warning:


or venture to
the realm of shadows
Take a blanket.
You'll want to hide.
Don't drink anything. Even
a single swallow, a single taste
could trap you here
where shadows devour fire.
Don't dawdle
here in the shadows –
you do want to live.
Dance. Dance.
You aren't dead. Not yet.
The fur pushing through your skin
shall keep you warm, thriving
obsidian sharp.
Breathe through the ice. You're safe.



Mari Ness is a poet, writer, and scholar of fairy tales, whose work has previously appeared in multiple zines, including here in Strange Horizons. Her poetry novella, Through Immortal Shadows Singing, is available from Papaveria Press. For more, check out her occasionally updated webpage at marikness.wordpress.com, or follow her on Twitter at mari_ness.
Current Issue
7 Oct 2024

The aquarium is different every time I die. Exhibits reshuffling like a deck of cards. The blood loss, though, that’s reliable.
i need lichen / to paint my exoskeleton in bursts of blue and yellow.
specters thawing out of the Northwest Passage like carbon from permafrost
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
  In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Christopher Blake's "A Recipe for Life, A Tonic for Grief" read by Emmie Christie. You can read the full text of the story, and more about Chris, here. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify
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