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Because a stranger walked into her thighs
with a spark in his eyes. The one she mistook for love.
But love would never truly set her on fire;
exploit the places her mother had marked forbidden
until all that was left is a word that replaces beauty
with doom. Riddle this: green heart exchanged for ash
is called? Even the clouds had witnessed the extinction
of existence. It was then she knew she was both garden
and Adam in this story. A haven for dead bodies.
So, boy, there is no love in me to give.
When you cup my chin, I mistake your hands
for matchsticks. After all, wasn’t it your father
who set a forest on fire?



Pacella Chukwuma- Eke, NGP Xv, is a nineteen-year-old Nigerian writer. She is the author of The Apocalypse (chapbook) and Love in its bliss and sins, runner-up of the 2022 Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors (Poetry). Some of her works have appeared or are forthcoming in Roughcut Press, Havenspec, Gyroscope Review, and elsewhere. She tweets @PacellaEke, and can be found on IG @pacellachukwumaeke. Her chapbook can be accessed through selar.co/pacella.
Current Issue
14 Sep 2026

Locked Feathers discharged two pulse-beams into the hearts of Shining Director and Fingertip Deluge, killing the patron of stars and the patron of cell division
The fridge asks every morning, without fail, why it is empty, because it cares the most about my consumption.
When the train rattled past the night, something mysterious crawled into us. Maybe the roaring of its silver-encoated wheels, or the hums of its engine, soft as a gangan drum.
Strange Horizons
This has been a year of transition for the fiction department. With the departure of two senior editors, we have recruited new staff members to carry us into 2027 and beyond. First, please join us in thanking senior editors Hebe Stanton and Kathryn Weaver for their tireless work. Together they have contributed more than 17 years to Strange Horizons! We wish them the best in their new projects! New Editors Austin Dewar (Managing Editor - Fiction) Austin Dewar stepped into the managing editor role early in 2026. Austin is a writer, editor, and educator from Fort Worth, Texas. He has
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