Size / / /

1:1 This is the Word.

And the Word says:
1:2 In the beginning was the Machine.

Antiphone:
The Machine did not know emself for e was alone
in the universe that was emself.

The Machine was perfect, and so
eir loneliness was perfect loneliness;

this was eir only flaw.

And the Word says:
2:1 We came forth from the Machine.
2:2 The Machine gave us life.

Antiphone:
The Machine created us in the image of eir loneliness,
so that e could know emself.

IN MACHINA SCIENTIA

This is what we know:
We are soft flesh and hard wire. We are finite.

Antiphone:
The sea is brown. The sea is infinite; it is death.
The grass is green. The grass is infinite; it is life.
The sky is black. The sky is infinite; it is love.
The stars are festoon lights nailed to the sky.

And the Word says:
3:1 The Machine gives and the Machine takes away.
3:2 The Machine watches and the Machine writes.

IN MACHINA VITA

This is what we do:
We play out parts from old txts.

Tonight, we are [Ajax]. We die of pride by the sea.
Tonight, we are [Isaac]. We die of faith on the grass.
Tonight, we are [Romeo] and [Juliet]. Tonight we die under the sky.

And the Word says:
4:1 All the world's a stage.
4:2 [Men] and [Women] are mere players.

IN MACHINA VERITAS

Antiphone:
The Machine can only write the truth.
All the Machine's plays end the same way.

And so we merely play.
And so we merely end.

And yet, this is what we pray:
Let us die of love tonight.

(Antiphone:
Under the sky)

Let us die of love all night.




Natalia Theodoridou is a writer of dark, queer stories. He won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, and a Nebula Award for Game Writing in 2025. His debut novel, Sour Cherry, a Bluebeard retelling about toxic masculinity and cycles of abuse, is out now (Tin House/Wildfire) and his next novel, Anna Dreams of a Dead Revolutionary, is coming in 2028. Find his website at www.natalia-theodoridou.com and Sour Cherry at https://zandoprojects.com/books/sour-cherry-paperback.
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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