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who’d have thought
your grandpa merle

would be the first to turn
into one of those

no-good pests, eating up
the neighborhood

like a june bug, sinking
his teeth into anything

with a pulse.
last night, i found

him in the garden,
tongue lolling

from his mouth,
flesh dangling

from his incisors,
blood dripping

on my begonias.

who’d have thought
a pair of gardening shears

would slice so smooth
through your grandpa’s

forehead.



Emory is a queer Cleveland-born writer currently living in Columbus, Ohio. With a few miscellaneous degrees under her belt, she now scoops gourmet ice cream for a living. When not writing, you can find her trying to keep her plants alive and daydreaming about giant alien robots.
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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By: Aimee Ogden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 6 Jul 2026
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