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The mower cable's puzzled into knots again

and somewhere, out of sight, a spider freezes

as that dropped screw rolls to a halt. Sadly

there are more ways of being wrong than right.

Adrift for thirty years myself I know

it's easier to be lost than found.

Consider it as manumission from

the rituals of fate and fingers crossed.

There are just less ways of being right than wrong:

that sweet spot missed despite much fumbling;

fruitless hours with tangled words; all those

frogs which just stayed frogs when kissed.




David Barber lives in the UK and hopes his interest in the future is reciprocated. He stares out of windows a lot trying to make sense of stuff. He was a scientist once, though he never stood on the shoulders of any giants. This is his first bio.
Current Issue
9 Feb 2026

“I’ve never actually visited the pā before,” she said out loud. “Is this where they gather lāʻī to make the pūʻolo?” she asked. “Yes,” Benny responded, glancing to see where Nanea was pointing. “Here and in other places as well. Many of these ti have been growing for decades now.” She paused for a moment. “I think about all the work you guys do, you know, up in those offices, and I think that all of that work actually starts from right here, in the ground, all covered in the earth and the pōhaku and the ti. Most people don’t even know it, but it all starts right here.
sometime in the night, we heard rocking and knocking and rapping and tapping, a million trillion tiny feet
The triangles bred and twisted, replicating themselves.
Issue 2 Feb 2026
By: Natasha King
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 26 Jan 2026
Issue 19 Jan 2026
Issue 12 Jan 2026
Issue 5 Jan 2026
Strange Horizons
Issue 22 Dec 2025
Issue 15 Dec 2025
Strange Horizons
Issue 8 Dec 2025
Issue 1 Dec 2025
Issue 24 Nov 2025
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