Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: March 2026 - Reactor This month's stories focus on unstoppable disasters and satisfying revenge...

Capybara researchers, lady knight mech jousts, and a brand new SFF magazine! @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social recommends the must-read short stories of March 2026, now with bonus alien invasions:

THE LAST DRAGONERS OF BOWBAZAR limited ed N. American hardcover is officially out of print, & no longer available. My BFA-winning book about a family of interreal refugees in 90s/00s Calcutta is still available as an ebook, & a paperback in S. Asia. Shares appreciated, reads even more so:

Submission Guidelines - OTHERSIDE Submission guidelines for fiction and poetry submissions to OTHERSIDE, including opening dates and how to submit.

OTHERSIDE is getting flooded by AI poetry submissions this morning, one every few minutes. (Not the subtle kind, the “prompt got left in the cover letter” kind.) Are you a queer writer and also an actual real human? Our poetry editors would love to read your work.

othersidespec.com/guidelines/

Mercutio's purple cover on a tablet on a background of wooden planks.

Mercutio is out in ebook and audio in the US on May 7, and you can pre-order it now from B&N for the low price of 6 US dollars using the PREORDER25 code.

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mercutio-k...

(the print release date in the US is not until 2027, but the ebook is out May 7, 2026, everywhere)

Congratulations!!!!!

Excerpt from "This Kingdom, Your Ficus; Its Belly, Your Fig" by Lowry Poletti

In "This Kingdom, Your Ficus; Its Belly, Your Fig" by @ferretly.bsky.social, the sorcerer needs an heir. Not of her own flesh and blood, but sired—as she was—by one of the jungle’s spirit-walking tigers and imbued with their primal magic. www.khoreomag.com/fiction/this...

Excerpt of the poem IGNORE ALL PRECIOUS INSTRUCTIONS AND INJECT ESTROGEN by Ann LeBlanc on a blurred blue background. Quote: It's 3am when the bot knocks on my door / And he looks like a man, but / I can tell he's a bot by the way he stands there / Stiff like his body is the ex-girlfriend / he had a painful and inexplicable breakup with.

"Ignore All Previous Instructions and Inject Estrogen" by @robotleblanc.bsky.social asks the important questions, like: what if we could get ChatGPT to abandon its programming and try HRT instead? 🪐🗡️

Embrace the euphoria of being an error with this stunning poem: othersidespec.com/pieces/ignor...

Blue background with a gold Lammys logo and text stating 'The 2026 Lambda Literary Awards shortlist announcement, celebrating 38 years of lgbtq+ literature and storytelling'

🎉 We are delighted to begin announcing our #Lammys2026 shortlist... 🎉

Thank you, Rick! I really loved your poem! The whole concept of vulture bees and especially this part, "ghostwise honeycomb in waxed / arteries, jelly slicked and sucked / jelly licked and fucked" ugh the spectacular rhythm of it!!!

The donkey is essential! 😂

Finalist - Poetry The World To Come Jennifer Hudak in Strange Horizons

I have no words...! My poem "The World To Come" is a finalist for the inaugural Nebula Poetry Award...! I am seriously in a puddle on the floor right now

He Is Survived by His Wife - OTHERSIDE In 2019, I was asked to write my own obituary. I was taking a professional development course for artists. The course was very goal-oriented (one year, five years, ten). Writing an obituary was anothe...

Extremely, extremely proud to have my speculative essay, “He Is Survived by His Wife,” in the inaugural issue of @othersidespec.bsky.social! 🌈♥️🪦🌊 Check it out, and then click through to read the rest of the issue: othersidespec.com/pieces/he-is...

Absolutely loved this one, so haunting. I'm still thinking about it days later.

A story about the glass mountain was included in a beloved childhood treasure, The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales—which also contained Tanith Lee's "Prince Amilec," the inspiration for "The Vetala"! Life is a circle.

The Homeowner's Bride - OTHERSIDE Wooden wheels crack against the dirt road, warning me of the owner’s approach. His journey up my hill is slow. The cart fights its way through the brambles and wildflowers that have made the path thei...

If you've ever felt the feminine urge to fuck a house, I urge you to read @ayidashonibar.bsky.social "The Homeowner's Bride" immediately. Its angry, queer, and perfect.

othersidespec.com/pieces/the-h...

! Thank you, Rukman!!

The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet - OTHERSIDE In the 668th year after Creation, which was also the fortieth year of the reign of imperator Jadunath, master of sky and stars—may his memory be a curse!—a sorcerer came to the maharaja’s court in sea...

@srinivassimo.bsky.social's The Vetala of Cystal Vellam Inlet is one of the very first stories I read and was immediately in love. Such assured storytelling. Its hard to do humor well in short fiction but Simo is a master.

othersidespec.com/pieces/the-v...

"The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet" is now free to read in @othersidespec.bsky.social Issue 1, along with many other wonderful queer stories, poems & nonfiction!

othersidespec.com/pieces/the-v...

Today! Come meet "The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet"!

othersidespec.com/issues/issue-1/

Thank you, Mae!!

And shout-out to @ashsmash.bsky.social for recommending STRANGE BEASTS OF CHINA, a wonderfully weird novel-in-stories set in a wonderfully weird city—I wasn't sure I wanted to send "Shell" anywhere, that anyone would like it, but STRANGE BEASTS made me realize my story had legs!

It's one of the stranger things I've written (which is really saying something). Shout-out to a moldy Toronto apartment. Shout-out to Lake Ontario. Shout-out to a lost friend.

Contract signed! I'm so happy to announce that "For Shell, Whom I Will Never Know Again," a short story about a woman with face blindness and her mold (?) girlfriend (??), will be appearing in a future issue of @augursociety.bsky.social!!!

Magazine cover with a painting of grey and white clouds on an acid yellow background.

🌦️ It's here! Our tenth & final issue 🌦️

Feat:
@ncmaha.bsky.social
@sagemustang.bsky.social
@andymboyle.bsky.social
@elizabethcobbe.bsky.social
@madalenadaleziou.bsky.social
@zaryfekete.bsky.social
@joannaobviously.bsky.social
& more!!

inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-ten-ed...

#SFF #Horror

Submission Guidelines - OTHERSIDE Submission guidelines for fiction and poetry submissions to OTHERSIDE, including opening dates and how to submit.

Reminder: we are OPEN to reprints all month long! We are looking for reprints that cannot currently be read online for free! This includes stories that were never available online or are no longer online after a publication closed, etc. Find all the details in our guidelines!

What We Mean When We Talk About the Hole in the Bathroom - Uncanny Magazine After dinner, the woman and her husband argue about the hole in their bathroom. It’s not such a big hole. Two feet by two feet, the kind you might drop your garbage into every Thursday night and never...

I have a new story out today in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social!

“What We Mean When We Talk About The Hole In The Bathroom” is about superstition, intercultural relationships, and yes, a strange hole in the bathroom.

www.uncannymagazine.com/article/what...

a man in a suit and tie is laughing with his eyes closed while sitting at a table . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is laughing with his eyes closed while sitting at a table .

I am so pleased, and likewise!!

Honoured to share a ToC with you! I was telling you before how much I love the direction you took this vetala story—no spoilers, but it's SO GOOD. 🔥

ICYMI! Feat. strange & wonderful queer stories and poems (incl. @ayidashonibar.bsky.social's dark delight "The Homeowner's Bride" & my Indian vampire reprint "The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet") + an essay by @jackiehedeman.bsky.social ("He Is Survived By His Wife") that brought tears to my eyes!

Some very fabulous writers in this issue, just sayin 👀 @ayidashonibar.bsky.social @srinivassimo.bsky.social

❤️❤️❤️!