Size / / /

we were going to start an artists' commune

we were going to start an avant-garde artists' commune

we were going to live on youth good looks and music

we were going to cook over a charcoal stove

we were going to make our furniture entirely out of beads

we were going to dig a wine cellar with spades

we were going to see if we could run a ski resort

we were going to knit sweaters and scarves of raw wool

the first time the snow came we thought it was a werewolf

the second time the snow came we sat up with rifles

the third time the snow came we nailed a cross above the door

the last time the snow came we opened all the windows

i am thinking you are somewhere around in these mountains

i guess you would probably recognize me if you saw me

i remember sitting up with you watching the forest burn and how

we asked each other if we were still breathing




Sofia Samatar is the author of the novels A Stranger in Olondria and The Winged Histories. She is the recipient of the William L. Crawford Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the World Fantasy Award. Her first short story collection, Tender, is now available from Small Beer Press.
Current Issue
13 Apr 2026

...fury tongued, we lash the breeze with our foxing song
From my broken streets and crumbling towers; Sterilized my self-haunted hospitals
Every single time, the Skiin™ gave me a rash. I scratched. I scratched so deeply that I clawed through the aug and into my own skin and then I tore out chunks of that too.
Wednesday: Book of Potions by Lauren K. Watel 
Friday: Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures edited by Joey Eschrich and Ed Finn 
Issue 6 Apr 2026
Issue 30 Mar 2026
Issue 23 Mar 2026
Issue 16 Mar 2026
Issue 9 Mar 2026
By: Lio Abendan
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Strange Horizons
2 Mar 2026
Strange Horizons invites non-fiction submissions for our March 30 special issue on “Fungi in SFF.”
Issue 2 Mar 2026
Strange Horizons
Issue 23 Feb 2026
Issue 16 Feb 2026
Issue 9 Feb 2026
Load More