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What the elf prince whispered
to his ivy vine bride
when the last ancient glacier
gleamed blue in twilight gloom

What the fire-haired youth
and his raven-haired match
swore to each other
beneath the twisted cypress

That secret the wind kept
from the surface of the sea
as they wrestled a dance older
than the shape of human bone

   roaring, breaking
   murmuring, flattening

That word I dreamed
that lost, stardust word
glowing black

   not mine
      not yours
         not ours



Gabriel Ertsgaard is interviews editor for The Peace Chronicle and copy editor for the literary journal Drifting Sands. A former university English lecturer, he earned his Doctor of Letters from Drew University with a dissertation on environmental themes in a medieval legend. His poetry, criticism, and fairy tales have appeared in numerous publications.
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.
Friday: The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang 
Issue 31 Aug 2026
Issue 24 Aug 2026
Issue 17 Aug 2026
Issue 10 Aug 2026
Issue 3 Aug 2026
Issue 27 Jul 2026
Issue 20 Jul 2026
Issue 13 Jul 2026
By: Aimee Ogden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 6 Jul 2026
Issue 29 Jun 2026
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