Size / / /

Content warning:


Listen for announcements.
Emergency instructions say the only things you need to worry about are
(1) Fire (2) Medical Emergency, and
The Police are dancing under the red lights
without their heads

Evacuate the car, onto the steel track
the air tastes like pennies down here and if you
   hold my hand tight enough maybe we can
      avoid the third rail
         the crackle of electricity, the swiveling light of a stranger’s flashlight

Just a bit further,
Survival is always a pinprick of light just out of reach, isn’t it?
   With our knees in the mud and sewage,
      we could pray,
      ask for a better second chance
         Assassinate our former selves

The tunnel’s just dark enough for a confession
don’t be shy
   Begging is a form of worship
      Worship, too, is a form of begging
         They never tell you that
            there is always more to lose

See the cameras? The scintillating eyes of a million strangers
waiting for you to fall
Hands up where they can see
Higher—
like you’re reaching for the stars
   like you’d let them
      turn you to ash for a glimpse of god.



Angela Liu is a Nebula-, Ignyte-, and Rhysling-nominated writer/poet from NYC who writes about intergenerational trauma and weird things. She formerly researched mixed reality storytelling at Keio University in Japan. Her stories and poetry are published in Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, The Dark, Interzone Digital, Lightspeed, khōréō, Uncanny, and Logic(s), among others. Check out more of her work at liu-angela.com or find her on Twitter/Instagram @liu_angela.
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
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