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Introducing ‘Puestes pa’l futuro’: words and images from a future,...
Hi everyone! On Monday we launched a new project on Kickstarter — Puestes pa’l futuro is an anthology of English and Spanish short stories, written by Puerto Rican authors from the island as well as...
View ArticleUnmended
My dad is made of metal but you’re not supposed to know. Mom says the people who come to the show would feel cheated if they knew the truth, so I have to stay quiet or it’s money out of our pockets....
View ArticleMandragora
The mandrake root is the same deep brown as Kavya’s skin. Its limbs are chunky and tuberous, and its fibrous skull has the weight and feel of a coconut in her palm as she scoops it gently from the...
View ArticleThe Words I Starved For
Someone made me invisible, when I was small, and no one ever saw me again. I’ve been here in my house ever since.Right now, I’m in the soft orange light over the kitchen sink. It’s the best place to...
View ArticleRotting Flowers
I’m going to tell you a story, a true story. A black man with a black wife and a black son calls himself pro-black…. Then, twists his mouth to set my womanhood on fire, says he does not want a...
View ArticleGender and Other Faulty Software
Log001: This is my eighty-first ship reclamation in four weeks for UniClaim. I never knew there were so many abandoned vessels in the asteroid belt. They’re going to make a killing reselling them.This...
View ArticleThe Intergalactic Shoemaker’s Revenge
Space pirates get all the attention. They get the chromeware clink of toasts in the station’s coolest underdeck bars. They get the echo-whispers of gossip in the civilian quarter, though there’s...
View ArticleFoie Gras
“We’ve been seeing a marked uptick in Napoleons,” Dora says. “Isn’t that strange? I blame the recent fascination with ancient British culture. They had a real hard-on for hating Napoleon. And so….”She...
View ArticleAkhulume
The first time they ask you your name, you say it quickly.You say it naturally, with the throaty Kosobé accent your Mama raised you to master, to covet like a second tongue between your lips.And what...
View ArticleDirt Under the Nails
Douglas dug deep into the sack of thumbs, sowing handfuls as he walked the muddy field. He kicked a few strays into the furrows, nudging dirt over wrinkles and cuticles and hair, and when his bag ran...
View ArticleFor Change is the Moon’s Domain, and Tonight She Watches
Deborah smoothed out her skirt, scratched at the wiry hairs on her chin, and prayed for the wind to die. The midsummer moon’s reflection rippled and danced on the waves. If only the lake would still....
View ArticleAnd For My Next Universe…
A thousand rabbits poured from the hat. Something had gone very wrong. They hopped straight off the stage and through the petrified crowd. White rabbits, black rabbits, grey and brown rabbits, big...
View ArticleThe Last Librarian
I’m in the library, inches from my target, when I get shot in the back. A real library, for chrissake. Who knows why it’s even here? The last one bold enough to be public, after others were reduced to...
View ArticleSun, Moon, and Wretched Star
Willow’s family thanks the dead with food. They revere them with gifts, a mix of clementines, rationed chicken on rice, and incense, before an altar filled with portraits and covered in scrolls. She...
View ArticleDog Years
There was an incessant bumblebee buzzing in Kim’s ear. She couldn’t hear what the doctor was saying, even though this was the second time she’d asked him to repeat himself. She couldn’t seem to drag...
View ArticleAnnouncing Ryan Boyd as the Editor for our Spring 2021 Issue
Between child care, contagion, and emotional exhaustion, the coronavirus pandemic has put a strain on everyone, and I’ve found it challenging to keep Fireside Quarterly production on schedule....
View ArticleAbolish the Police
These last couple of weeks have been dominated by news of the worldwide protests against police violence and anti-Black systemic racism, kicked off by the vile murder of George Floyd at the hands of...
View ArticleOn Lore
Local news was abuzz with stories of the new restaurant on Second Street that folded wishes for demonic possession into their phyllo dough, rinsed lettuce with cursed water, and prescribed personalized...
View ArticleThe Liberation of Ghost City
“Let me go,” the condemned woman sighed, “or I’ll have no choice but to end the world.”Responses to her ultimatum were mixed. An anonymous laugh barked out over the sea of frayed coveralls and shock...
View ArticleHow to Build a Unicorn
Step One.Visit all the butcher shops with your purse jingling a pretty tune.They’ll try to sell you the tender cuts perfect for sizzling on the grill or for cooking slow over the fires of the eternal...
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