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Cory O'Brien

Cory O'Brien is a writer, primarily of words, but also computer code and faces. He has an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes: A No-Bullshit Guide to World Mythology. He retells mythology and his life story at bettermyths.com.


Cory O'Brien in our archives
Current Issue
9 Mar 2026
Fiction
This Obituary Has Been Redacted 
By: P.C. Verrone
Roger “Rod” Jefferson died on April 8 at home, surrounded by his many dear friends. Rod was a fierce advocate for gay rights and served as the head of the Gay and Lesbian Liberation Coalition for seven years.
Poetry
An Inheritance of Air; or, You Are Cordially Invited to Attend My Presentation on Genealogy 
By: Sophia Zhao
and we let loose our dragon by the sun of a thousand fireflies
Podcasts
Podcast: I Wish You Died Laughing 
By: Lio Abendan
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presentsLio Abendan's 'I Wish You Died Laughing' read by Jenna Hanchey. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠
Reviews
Monday: ECO24: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction edited by Marissa van Uden 
By: Octavia Cade
Wednesday: This Brutal Moon by Bethany Jacobs 
By: Roseanna Pendlebury
Friday: The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains by Reena McCarty 
By: Anushree Nande
Read Issue
Azimuth, Azimuth Highlights
Call for Non-Fiction Submissions: Special Issue on Fungi in SFF
Strange Horizons
2 Mar 2026
Strange Horizons invites non-fiction submissions for our March 30 special issue on “Fungi in SFF.”
Read More
Issue 2 Mar 2026
Azimuth, Azimuth Highlights
Call for Non-Fiction Submissions: Special Issue on Fungi in SFF 
Strange Horizons
Fiction
Bitter as the Sea 
By: M.E. Bronstein
Poetry
Afterstory 
By: Janet McAdams
Poetry
You Will Disembowel the Bird (Viator) 
By: Dacey Eliot
Critical Friends, Podcasts
Critical Friends Episode 21: On Style 
By: Dan Hartland
By: Paul Kincaid
By: Dawn Macdonald
Reviews
Monday: The Inescapable March by Hana Carolina 
By: Nick Hubble
,
Wednesday: Into the Midnight Wood by Alexandra McCollum 
By: Jenny Hamilton
,
Friday: The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim Fu 
By: Tina S. Zhu
Read Issue
Issue 23 Feb 2026
Poetry
bones and bones and bones and 
By: IM Shulman
Poetry
Secondary Filters 
By: Ursula Whitcher
Articles
Rewilding Human Purpose in Becky Chambers's A Psalm for the Wild-Built 
By: Elizabeth Bush-Peel
Columns, Non-Fiction
Spec Fic and the Politics of Identity 
By: Eugen Bacon
Columns, Non-Fiction
Stories From The Radio 
By: Kuzhali Manickavel
Columns, Non-Fiction
Why All Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Are Historians 
By: Ada Palmer
Reviews
Monday: The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip 
By: Roy Salzman-Cohen
,
Wednesday: New Meat in a Clean Room edited by Ira Rat 
By: Subham Rai
,
Friday: The House of Illusionists and Other Stories by Vanessa Fogg 
By: Stephen Case
Read Issue
Issue 16 Feb 2026
Fiction
The River Speaks My Name 
By: Ocoxōchitl la Coyota
Poetry
They Leave 
By: Garth Upshaw
Poetry
The Secret to Being a Dragon 
By: Carolina Marchioro
Reviews
Monday: Into the Sun by C.F. Ramuz, translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan 
By: Dawn Macdonald
,
Wednesday: Lies Weeping by Glen Cook 
By: Roz Kaveney
,
Friday: Slow Gods by Claire North 
By: Ian J. Simpson
Read Issue
Issue 9 Feb 2026
Fiction
A Night with Hui ‘Enehana ‘Ike 
By: Maʻemaʻeolehua Matsumoto
Poetry
Why You Don't Buy Your Wife a Dishwasher for Her Birthday 
By: Larina Warnock
Poetry
The Point 
By: Darius Jones
Reviews
Monday: Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud 
By: Matt Holder
,
Wednesday: Arctic Knot by Ivan Leonov 
By: Tristan Beiter
,
Friday: Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905–1989 by Andrea Horbinski 
By: Rachel Cordasco
Read Issue
Issue 2 Feb 2026
Poetry
Plastic Paradise Awaits 
By: Josh Pearce
Poetry
The Sunfish Considers Flotation Therapy 
By: Alison Clara Tan
Fiction
Mother, Darling 
By: Allison Pottern
Azimuth, Editorials
Statement on ICE Operations in the USA 
By: the Strange Horizons staff
Podcasts
Podcast: The Aquarium for Lost Souls 
By: Natasha King
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Reviews
Monday: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
By: Andy Sawyer
,
Wednesday: Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree 
By: Anushree Nande
,
Friday: Hazelthorn by C. G. Drews 
By: Cameron Miguel
Read Issue
Issue 26 Jan 2026
Azimuth, Editorials, Non-Fiction
Who Is It For? 
By: Dan Hartland
By: Aishwarya Subramanian
Articles, Non-Fiction
The Brackish Pool: Towards a Critical Practice of Reading Weird Fiction 
By: Zachary Gillan
Articles, Non-Fiction
Axiomatic Scaffolds of Speculative Fiction 
By: Ruthanna Emrys
By: Lila Garrott
By: Alexis Shotwell
Articles, Non-Fiction
Francophone Speculative Fiction and the Challenge of Politics 
By: Alexander Dickow
Articles, Non-Fiction
Quacking Like A Genre 
By: Roseanna Pendlebury
Articles, Non-Fiction
Structural Functionalism and Fantasy Fiction 
By: O. F. Cieri
Poetry
Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues 
By: Seth Wade
Non-Fiction, Poetry
Poem Analysis: Wild Women Don't Have the Blues 
By: Seth Wade
Poetry
Dulle Griet Stages a New Assault 
By: Marie Brennan
Non-Fiction, Poetry
Poem Analysis: Dulle Griet Stages a New Assault 
By: Marie Brennan
Articles, Non-Fiction
Giving Permission: A Roundtable on the Obscurity of Influence 
By: Kristen Bell
By: Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
By: Charles Payseur
By: Daniel A. Rabuzzi
Critical Friends, Podcasts
Critical Friends Episode 20: On Book Clubs 
By: Tristan Beiter, Emma Bee Pernudi-Moon, Tymek Chrzanowski, and Jude Beiter
Reviews
Monday: The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson 
By: Hana Carolina
,
Tuesday: That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film by Payton McCarty-Simas 
By: Sally Parlier
,
Wednesday: No Life Forsaken by Steven Erikson 
By: Bill Capossere
,
Thursday: The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes 
By: Phoenix Scholz
,
Friday: Murderbot Season One 
By: Amritesh Mukherjee
Read Issue
Issue 19 Jan 2026
Poetry
Chang’e in Exile 
By: Allison Zhang
Poetry
Priestess IV 
By: Akua Lezli Hope
Fiction
Fingerprints on Glass and Clay 
By: Fernanda Coutinho Teixeira
Reviews
Monday: Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan 
By: Sneha Pathak
,
Wednesday: Predators, Reapers, and Deadlier Creatures by Matthew James Jones 
By: James K. Moran
,
Friday: Dear Stupid Penpal by Rascal Hartley 
By: Nataliia Sova
Read Issue
Issue 12 Jan 2026
Fiction
The Song of a Non-Human Intelligence 
By: Mical Garcia
Poetry
Creature With the Ticking Heart 
By: Nico Martinez Nocito
Poetry
Questions I Could Not Ask the Giant in Her Presence 
By: R. C. Sherbrooke
Articles, Non-Fiction
Feminist Futurism Versus Project 2025: An Empowering Speculative Salon 
By: Ada Palmer
By: Charlie Jane Anders
By: Andrea Hairston
By: Annalee Newitz
By: Isis Asare
Reviews
Monday: Syncopation by Whitney French 
By: Paul Kincaid
,
Wednesday: We Will Rise Again edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older 
By: Alex Kingsley
,
Friday: An Instruction in Shadow by Benedict Jacka 
By: Eric Primm
Read Issue
Issue 5 Jan 2026
Poetry
Blurbs for forthcoming genre poetry books 
By: David Clink
By: Troy Harkin
Poetry
The History of the Playa Michigan Lake Mining Company 
By: Steve Wheat
Critical Friends, Podcasts
Critical Friends Episode 19: On Cozy Horrors 
By: Dan Hartland
By: Shannon Fay
By: Marisa Mercurio
Reviews
Monday: 2025 In Review: Part One 
By: Our Reviewers
,
Wednesday: 2025 In Review: Part Two 
By: Our Reviewers
,
Friday: 2025 In Review: Part Three 
Strange Horizons
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Strange Horizons is a weekly magazine of and about speculative fiction. We publish fiction, poetry, reviews, essays, interviews, and art. For more information, see our about page. All material in Strange Horizons is copyrighted to the original authors and may not be reproduced without permission.

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