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If you fall in love with a vampire,
you will always feel a keen flicker of fear
when his lips linger
over the pulse point at the crook of your neck.

When dating a werewolf,
it is considered polite to leave a dish of water out
on the night of the full moon.
(A few pieces of raw beef chuck will never go amiss,
either.)

Avoid fallen angels at all costs.
They are sanctimonious.

If you find out that the cute andro-queer barista at your
local coffee shop is a witch,
understand that she has dated at least half of the women in
her coven by this point,
and every one of them will have some nasty piece of gossip
about her.

Running barefoot through the woods with a dryad
is exhilarating at first,
but over time it becomes exhausting.

The Victorian Gentlemen who crashes on your doorstep
in his H.G. Wells time machine
is guaranteed to be charming and debonair
with an impeccable fashion sense and polished manners.
Unfortunately he will also have some very regressive ideas
about gender roles.

If you have a bad breakup with a shape shifter
there is every chance that you will see them again.
But they will always be unrecognizable to you.

You will always feel the sweet, subtle ache of loss
if you choose to love a ghost.



Caroline Cantrell lives in New York.
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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