Size / / /

I have to admit,

this poem is not about swans

or visiting the plot

where my father is buried.

In fact, he's still alive.

I said that so you

would read this:

there are no

such things as swans

or graves or fathers.

Only flight. Put down this poem,

see it now: the black hole

stretching like a mouth,

taking in houses, oceans,

planets. Open your eyes,

quicken past moons,

novas, nebulae, dying

suns. Let the vacuum

swallow you until

the surrounding light curves

so far into itself you see

the back of your body.




Scott Hughes received an MFA from Georgia College & State University in 2004. He is currently seeking an agent for the first book in his young adult fantasy series. His work has appeared in Crazyhorse and Redivider and is forthcoming in Crab Creek Review and Seasons in the Night. You can send Scott mail at richardscotthughes@hotmail.com.
Current Issue
20 Jan 2025

Strange Horizons
Surveillance technology looms large in our lives, sold to us as tools for safety, justice, and convenience. Yet the reality is far more sinister.
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It's 9 a.m., she still hasn't eaten her portion of tofu eggs with seaweed, and Amaia wants the day to be over.
Nadjea always knew her last night in the Clave would get wild: they’re the only sector of the city where drink and drug and dance are unrestricted, and since one of the main Clavist tenets is the pursuit of corporeal joy in all its forms, they’ve more or less refined partying to an art.
surviving / while black / is our superpower / we lift broken down / cars / over our heads / and that’s just a tuesday
After a few deft movements, she tossed the cube back to James, perfectly solved. “We’re going to break into the Seattle Police Department’s database. And you’re going to help me do it.”
there are things that are toxic to a bo(d)y
By: Michelle Kulwicki
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
  In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Michelle Kulwicki's 'Bee Season' read by Emmie Christie Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify.
Wednesday: Motheater by Linda H. Codega 
Friday: Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain The World by Chris Gavaler and Nat Goldberg 
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Issue 18 Nov 2024
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 11 Nov 2024
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