“The Flowers I Grew for Her” • by Avra Margariti

Ciara asks me to the summer festival a month after my adoption from foster care. All growth spurts and brown eyes, she’s the first of my classmates to welcome me to my new town. When we first kiss under an awning strung with fairylights, the flowers in the pots and wreaths around us bloom wild and fragrant. The night before her parents ship her off to boarding school,...

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“Symbiosis” • by Jeannie Marschall

It was almost time. Tension saturated the air, thick as treacle and just as stickily sweet. Soon the trees would make their move and then all hell would break loose, with heaven nipping, razor-toothed, at its heels. We should be safe at home, as Leadership had decreed, behind the locked sliding doors and steel-shuttered windows of our settlement’s domed houses, while the almost-palm-leafed...

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The Week in Review • 28 April 2024

Welcome to The Week in Review, the weekly round-up for those too busy to follow Stupefying Stories on a daily basis. This week we published five stories, opened a can of worms, and said goodbye to a friend.  “One for the Road,” by Sean MacKendrickIn celebration of Earth Day, we need a good stiff drink. Maybe two.Published: April 22, 2024 “Is There Anybody Out There?”...

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Vaya con Dios, Ray Daley

Ray Daley passed away on Friday, 19 April 2024.He had a heart attack on 28th March and was still in hospital, anticipating a long recovery. Apparently that was not to be. This is as much as I know at this time.If you’ve been following Stupefying Stories, his name should seem familiar. Ray was a frequent contributor to SHOWCASE in the past few years, and his byline has shown...

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“The Last of its Kind” • by Nyki Blatchley

Galash awoke, wondering how long she’d slept this time. It had been happening more frequently of late, and it worried her. Not only did she fear what might happen to the Museum while she was asleep; she also knew the time would come when she wouldn’t wake up. Her sluggish wandering took her through dark, deserted galleries, checking each item for signs of damage or disintegration....

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“Ragnarök on Ice” • by Probert Dean

There were always death parties in the city; you just had to know where to look. Sometimes this was as easy as hearing bad karaoke through an open window. Other times you had to stalk some gregarious friend on social media (one of mine would indiscriminately click ‘going’ to every event, even ones happening simultaneously). This time I was lucky because my upstairs neighbors...

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“The Heartbeat of Ashentown” • by Michael M. Jones

Ashentown is a dying city, a place of grey skies, cracked cement, and diminished fortunes. A place where dreams fade away, devoid of hope and joy. And yet, even in its twilight, the city persists… somehow. People are born in Ashentown, grow up, fall in love, raise families. They go to school, go to work, and go home at night. Something keeps the city going. Ashentown...

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The Never-ending FAQ: A.I. and U

Welcome to this week’s installment of The Never-ending FAQ, the constantly evolving adjunct to our Submission Guidelines. If you have a question you’d like to ask about Stupefying Stories or Rampant Loon Press, feel free to post it as a comment here or to email it to our submissions address. I can’t guarantee we’ll post a public answer, but can promise every question we...

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“Is There Anybody Out There?” • by L.N. Hunter

Interstellar Probe #1571, timestamp 0-0-0.Transit of Kuiper Belt completed. Journey begins. Distance to stellar designation AZ-113a: 612 light years. Estimated journey time: 753 years. Engaging preventative maintenance program; exercising neural substrate via random catalogue selection, entertainment mode. ### End report ### Interstellar Probe #1571, timestamp 188-0-0. First...

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“One for the Road” • by Sean MacKendrick

The sirens amplified as the door opened and a man limped in, ash falling from his hair. He blinked while his eyes adjusted to the dim interior; only one window remained unbroken and not yet boarded up. “You’re actually open?” Salim shrugged, behind the bar. “Shelters were full, and I had no place else to be. What brings you in?” “Same,” the man said. “Well, I did have...

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