Size / / /

To frogspawn
an egg is all.
(Together, a raft. A multiverse.)

A fox reads poetry
licks words till they stick to her tongue
(as anyone would).

The wasp makes her nest as soft as ash
a glue of whiskers adhere the layers
(without whiskers the fox cannot measure
herself
her home
the twin bowls her paws make in the snow that is
nothing more than tears
polished smooth as blue mirrors
or silk with a spider's web motif
ice bones beneath).

You splay, frozen in the pond.
Your lashes catch snow
(and sometimes my reflection).

At the end of the thaw
your body, a crescent
your hair a bloom of fox tail.




Jenn Grunigen is a writer, folklorist, and metal drummer. She is a graduate of the 2016 Clarion Writers’ workshop; her writing has appeared in Shimmer, Spolia and elsewhere. Her SF novel, Skyglass, a wild tale of sex, elves and rock ‘n’ roll, is available now from Chromatic Press.
Current Issue
7 Sep 2026

Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons will open to general fiction submissions on October 1, 2026, at 3 p.m. UTC! This window will remain open until we hit our submission cap of 1,000 stories. Our maximum word count for this window will be 5,000 words. We offer payment of 9¢/word USD. We do not read simultaneous or multiple submissions. Response time: Our goal is to respond to all submissions with either a hold notice or rejection within eight weeks. We hope to send acceptances or rejections within one month of hold notices. This is ambitious, and we might fall behind schedule. Please be patient
iii. There are no protocols for plotting to kill the King, so Alise talks about killing the King, whispers her plan in the Queen’s ear while they lie tangled in the Queen’s marital bed, Alise’s fingers tracing bruises that should not be there.
missed his mouth; tongue slipped in
but to live in that dusty old apartment house... crawling with Satanists
In this episode of Critical Friends , the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, AJ Odasso and Electra Pritchett join Dan Hartland to talk about popular fiction.
We’re especially happy to announce some new appointments at the Reviews Department.
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By: Aimee Ogden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
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