Size / / /

Content warning:


You cannot build anything soft
that does not become hard.
Even the stories turn into gold,
running down the people’s throats.
They cough red and yellow
into handkerchiefs,
drop them into the sewers.
The very dust—
microscopic cubes of gold,
stick in their lungs.
Food must be eaten quickly.
As it touches the tongue
it begins to taste like words, like truth,
like blood, like everything
in this place.
Some children are born statues.
Some look at the world
blindly, with gilded eyes.
Around this valley lies a golden wall.
They believe it is to keep people out.



Leslie J. Anderson's writing has appeared in Asimov’s, Uncanny Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and Apex. She currently lives in a small white house beside a cemetery with three good dogs and a Roomba.
Current Issue
18 Nov 2024

Your distress signals are understood
Somehow we’re now Harold Lloyd/Jackie Chan, letting go of the minute hand
It was always a beautiful day on April 22, 1952.
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Little Lila by Susannah Rand, read by Claire McNerney. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify
Friday: The 23rd Hero by Rebecca Anne Nguyen 
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
Issue 30 Sep 2024
Issue 23 Sep 2024
By: LeeAnn Perry
Art by: nino
Issue 16 Sep 2024
Issue 9 Sep 2024
Load More