Metaphorosis magazine - beautifully written science fiction and fantasy

The Fool Who Sings You To Your Grave — Katie Cervenec

At the next light, I pull over and hyperventilate in a Rite Aid parking lot, because I saw it as soon as the song started. Tomorrow, he's going to die.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 03 November 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

Translations for a Dead Sea — Corey Farrenkopf

Laura’s father has left her with a partially translated manuscript that will either save the world from climate disaster or speed up the coming apocalypse. She holes up in a seaside cabin to finish the work, but each night, creatures emerge from the sea and attempt to stop her. Will she finish the text in time to save the world, or will the creatures break through her cabin walls? Only time will tell.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 27 October 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

Hard Sunset — Sam Griffin

How do you make peace with the inevitable end of everything? As the knowledge of an entire civilisation hangs on the edge of oblivion, the last Curator hums a jolly tune and accidentally loses a foot.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 20 October 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

Salaatu — Lisa Short

Few in the Empire of Oun know of the salaatu, mysterious sea-dwelling folk from somewhere beyond the Empire's eastern northeastern shores, and fewer still know of their magic. But when the dying Emperor learns that the salaatu may have cured a member of his own court, an obscure underlibrarian, of her terrible injuries years ago, he orders her to take him to them, no matter the cost.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 13 October 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

Any Day Now — K.E. Redmond

Not everyone is thrilled by the prospect of houseguests. But what if these particular guests were coming a long way? Say, a few thousand light years? Well, they did try to warn us.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 06 October 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

The Antidote for Longing III — Karl Dandenell

When Lars Bjornsen learns the young Empress Anna is finally pregnant after years of trying, it confirms his suspicions that the Emperor Gustavus was inadvertently poisoned by an overdose of the aphrodisiac Sweet Agony. Lars provides an antidote, but before he can petition the emperor for his freedom, he is taken prisoner. Now, Lars faces a choice: does he join the spymaster’s conspiracy and return to the splendors of the imperial court, or denounce her actions and put his own life—and that of his friend Fredrik–in jeopardy?
Narrated by Thomas Baxter. Published in Metaphorosis on 29 September 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

She Was the Universe — Damian Stockli

It’s Thursday night in a Reykjavík bar. Arni, coming down from a recent loss, is hoping for a good thing. He takes a chance on a bartender’s smile, just as a series of strange, bright objects enter the solar system from interstellar space.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 22 September 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

Astrid Underwater — J.J. Eskelin

One summer day, on the shore of an island in the Pacific Northwest where the wild and the otherworldly are intimately entwined, Sigun falls asleep, leaving her son playing alone by the cusp of a deep channel of water. What they encounter there shakes Sigun, awakening her grief and challenging her to reclaim her own fierce nature.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 15 September 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

Arborify — Cadence Mandybura

Yvonne is living her dream career: tending to clients at an arborification facility, where people can choose to turn themselves into trees. When the program is threatened by an act of vandalism, Yvonne must face her own fear and anger at the prospect of arborification being shut down for good.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 08 September 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.

That Lonesome, Restless Feeling — B. Morris Allen

Bettina has always been the explorer, the collector; Madhup the homemaker and tinkerer. But now Madhup is gone, and all that's left to Bettina is memory and the alien artifacts she brought home and Madhup made sense of.
Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 01 September 2023. Find the original at magazine.metaphorosis.com.