His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light

His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light

[ad_1] An act of compassion puts a trapeze master in India on a collision course with a terrifying supernatural power.     I am not a fighter. I am a trapeze master. At the Majestic Oriental Circus, which had been my home for two years, I had climbed the ropes deft and fast, till I … Read more

Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy

Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy

[ad_1] As an orphaned sixteen-year-old, Lynette was haunted by the ghost of Mirror Boy, the drowned child who replaced her reflection. Ten years later, she’s built herself a new life, but all that is threatened when Mirror Boy returns, warning of danger. A hunter has come for both of them, and unless Lynette can figure … Read more

Deriving Life | Tor.com

Deriving Life | Tor.com

[ad_1] Love has no time limits, but life does. Elizabeth Bear gives us a future where life and love and identity have so many more options than they do today.   Man and animals are in reality vehicles and conduits of food, tombs of animals, hostels of Death, coverings that consume, deriving life by the … Read more

Articulated Restraint | Tor.com

Articulated Restraint | Tor.com

[ad_1] Being a Lady Astronaut means being twice as dedicated, and twice as good as everyone else. And sometimes, handling a test run that has turned deadly serious. Mary Robinette Kowal visits an off-stage incident in her The Calculating Stars series.     MOON COLONY EXPANDS TO 100 COLONISTS Sep. 26, 1960 (AP) — The … Read more

The Song | Tor.com

The Song | Tor.com

[ad_1] A powerful near future story about two people on a whale-processing rig: one a researcher, the other a worker—and the discovery they make by listening to whale song.     Whale song echoed through the water in long, wistful moans. A pod calling to one another, repeating the same refrain. Dan paused in his … Read more

Old Media | Tor.com

Old Media | Tor.com

[ad_1] The story of a freed slave and a robot professor, trying to figure out what it means to be in love while they watch old anime from the 21st century.     August 2, 2145 They were in the back room making out. What else were they supposed to do on a slow afternoon … Read more

Knowledgeable Creatures | Tor.com

Knowledgeable Creatures | Tor.com

[ad_1] A dog detective is hired by a female human to investigate a murder that she committed. But of course, all is not as it seems.     Before I take on an investigation for someone, I first make at least a cursory investigation of that someone. I did not adopt this practice out of … Read more

How to Move Spheres and Influence People

How to Move Spheres and Influence People

[ad_1] For over 25 years, the Wild Cards universe has been entertaining readers with stories of superpowered people in an alternate history. An outcast learns how fit in at her school and much more in Marko Kloos’s short story “How to Move Spheres and Influence People.” T. K. hates a lot of things, but at … Read more

One/Zero | Tor.com

One/Zero | Tor.com

[ad_1] In war-torn Kurdistan, a group of traumatized orphans is given a gift that could change their lives and the lives of everyone in the world, while in Washington, DC, an elderly woman undergoes medical procedures that radically change her life.     Vida ZilanKurdistan My brother struggles as I crush him to my side. … Read more

Blue Morphos in the Garden

Blue Morphos in the Garden

[ad_1] When Vivian and her daughter witness the family matriarch die without leaving a corpse, Vivian can no longer ignore the family “gift” or the choice that lies before her.     I am elbows-deep in dishwater and morning sunlight when Lily brings me the news. “Gray-Granna’s down by the river,” Lily says. “She’s turning … Read more