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To Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

When we knew that no more ships would come,
that the blue star on our skies
had brought upon itself the death it had
first given us, we came
out of hiding; and foremost
among us was me, Mr K
in my silver mask and my yellow gun
still humming with golden bees,
and I led us, the few,
to the side of the canal
where the last beings of the blue star
here, the last beings
of the blue star on all spheres
of the Sun, were
sitting and looking at their faces
rippling in the water. I
heard one of the old ones,
the tall ones say
“We are the Martians”
to one of the smaller ones,
and hearing those words all
doubt flew from me like firebirds
to the immense night-sky over
the deserts of Tyrr, our star Tyrr,
and gripping my gun
I let my golden bees go.
“No, we are the Martians,”
I said as they fell
into the cool waters of the canal.



Raimo Kangasniemi is forty-two. His nationality is Finnish. He has a master’s degree in history, and published one short story a quarter century ago. He has been a science fiction and fantasy fan since he learned to read.
Current Issue
18 Mar 2024

Strange Horizons
We are very happy to welcome Dante Luiz as a new fiction editor on the team! Dante is a Ignyte Award winning author, and has been with Strange Horizons working as an Art Director for the past several years. We’re stoked to bring him on to the fiction side and have him bring his wonderful insight and skill to the fiction team.
Day in and day out, the rough waters of the Pacific slam themselves against the protrusion of sandstone the locals refer to as Morro Rock. White streaks of bird shit bleed down the rock, a testament to the rare birds of prey that nest in its pocked face overlooking the bay.
in my defence, juggling biological and artificial, i tripped over my shoelace, and spilled my lungs empty of the innocence that was, before guilt.
the birds, / who carry with them / the many names of the dead
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