Metaphorosis magazine - beautifully written science fiction and fantasy

The Spinster and the Sea — J.C. Pillard

22 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The King’s Navy is coming to Seaborne, and the town knows it will not survive unless it puts up a fight. But the spinster Nadia knows there’s more...

The Last Doctor - Jonathan Louis Duckworth

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In a small village ravaged by the scalesick disease, Jo Park helps the faceless Doctor treat/kill the ill and burn the dead. But though he's fallen in...

The Ghosts of Daughters Possible - Amman Sabet

08 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is the story of Yusuf, an owner of an art supply store in the idyllic college town of Middlederry who is lost in love and art. Looking for the br...

The Dragon and the Unicorn - Wade Dargin

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The tale of an outcast surviving through the last days of a doomed city. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 01 April 2022. ...

The Year of the Bright Lands - Felix Taylor

25 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A community lives in a world without sunlight on the edge of an abyss, and worship an entity known as the Personage. A young girl, Elin, is led into t...

The Future in a Wash Basin - Erin Keating

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Siobhan wants nothing more than to have a daughter to whom she can teach her foremother’s craft—including her skills at scrying. But when Siobhan ...

Mission and Submission - Will Gwaun

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amir has dreamed of setting foot on a new world since childhood, but reaching it might mean losing everything that would make finding it worthwhile. O...

Hope on the Vine - R.E. Dukalsky

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nima is trying to do her part to restore a world ravaged by magical conflict, but she can't get even one lousy hope vine to grow. Worse, she's been ad...

The Diary of Thisne Ome - Thomas Ouphe

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Thisne is the only girl in the village who has never seen a setin. But will her desire to see one of the river monsters uncover a dark family truth? ...

Freely Given - Connor Mellegers

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ev's world is built around gifts, who they come from and who they are given to. When Ev receives an unexpected gift that changes their life, they are ...

Heartbeat of the Seasons - Brian Hugenbruch

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A swordswoman in a remote village seems to live the same day over and over. A traveler meets her there and tries to break her free. Narrated by host ...

A Lie in the Sand - Devin Miller

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Apprentice bard Haworth could be on a ship home to visit her family already, if only her aggravating boss hadn't insisted she face down a beachful of ...

Shades of the Sea - J.A. Prentice

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Three days, young Larnia was lost in the deep dark of the sea. When her uncle Miron finds her in the crashing surf, drenched but alive, he believes it...

Silo - J.S. DiStefano

21 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In "Silo", the narrator wakes up to find himself in a strange new world. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 21 January 2022....

In the House of Geometers - David Cleden

14 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The House of Geometers hides a dangerous secret from the tyrannical gaze of the Ecclesiasts, who use the addictive beauty of mathematics to control it...

My Synthetic Soul - Karris Rae

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jade, a companion gynoid, has always gotten anything she wanted. But now she wants something dangerous, something her best friend and creator doesn’...

Tides - Ailsa Bristow

31 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is it possible to escape your destiny? A young woman tries to forge her own future but will ultimately have to confront how much she is willing to sac...

Gatekeepers - Douglas DiCicco

24 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Now that Elsie's dead, all she wants is to find a place where she can enjoy the stories she loves. But first, she has to make it past the guardians of...

Stand or Fall - David Whitmarsh

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ilyas Bardakci has escaped the destruction of everything and everyone he has ever known, Revenge is the first thing on his mind, revenge for those who...

Dry Season - Caite Sajwaj

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the town of Sunrise Beach, Missouri, the children ride sleds down the parched shore. They dig in the sand for bones and beer tabs and lost jewelry....

Orla, Always - Thomas Ha

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When an otherwordly entity threatens children in the quiet corner of a kingdom, a father navigates past and present dangers in hopes of saving his dau...

The Great Contradiction - Jordan Chase-Young

26 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In an alternate universe, a pair of ambitious scientists probe their version of the Fermi Paradox. What they discover will challenge everything they k...

The Unlucky Few Who Must Not Cast - J. Tynan Burke

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“My name’s Dennis, and I’m magic-dependent.” The mild-mannered actuary never thought he’d be saying those words. Narrated by host Matt Gome...

Right Behind You - Matthew Gomez

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a nuclear meltdown threatens to poison the West Coast of the United States, Carlos and thousands of other migrant workers risk their lives to con...

Treedom - A.J. Cunder

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a group of three children encounter a homeless man standing like a tree in a park, they set out to uncover what, exactly, he’s doing there. Wha...

The Azurian Shield - Karl El-Koura

29 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The shield that protects the realm has begun to fail. Bathar, chief of the royal guard, cannot allow that to happen, but the price to restore the shie...

Tell the Crows I‘m Home - Laurel Beckley

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There is a place where the lost go to be found. Come find it. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis on 22 October 2021. Find the...

Genesis - Lisa Short

15 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sixty years before, the colonists of the ark ship Genesis had been forced to land on a sterile, lifeless world thousands of light-years off their orig...

The Tick of the Clock - J.C. Pillard

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A prince collapses in an endless forest while trying to free his kingdom from a curse. After being rescued by an old woman, he must come to terms with...

Ennui Tea - Ivy Grimes

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pour yourself a cup of Ennui Tea and enjoy the dark energy of the Dour Power Cafe. The witch who owns the place doesn't seem very happy, though. Won't...

The Nocturnals V - Mariah Montoya

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As King Isce’s invasion draws nearer, Joah, Misla, and Damien fly back to sunset with Prince Kal. They’re too late to warn their community, but ca...

A Seedling in the Dark - Eleanor R. Wood

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A boy who can't live without nature. An apocalypse that tears him away from it. Survival isn't enough if all the wildlife is gone... but proving other...

Till All the Hundred Summers Pass - J.A. Legg

10 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Aurora King has worked all her life to make the jump across interstellar space. Now, after nearly a century, she's returning to Earth—tired, empty, ...

Tumbler - B. Morris Allen

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Seeking: Kindred spirit. Must like to dance. Willing to travel for meeting. Any spider welcome. Narrated by the author. Published in Metaphorosis o...

The Nocturnals IV - Mariah Montoya

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Joah, Misla, and Damien are desperate to find a way back to sunset. With the help of a prisoner and a Nocturnal prince, they travel to an ancient suns...

Rapunzel Dreams of Elephants - Rachel Delaney Craft

20 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this modern-day retelling, Rapunzel discovers she has her own magic—which can take objects out of dreams—and plots her escape from the witch’...

The Waves In Which We Drown - Rubella Dithers

13 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the world fades, childhood friends are separated by a choice which one is afraid to make. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaphorosis...

A Wizard Comes to Shorehaven - L.J. Wetherby

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A wizard arrives in the sleepy seaside town of Shorehaven, unaware that the townspeople have hungered after the services of such a wizard for many yea...

The Nocturnals III - Mariah Montoya

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When the Nocturnals capture them, Joah and Misla try planning their escape. But as the darkness stretches on and their community leaves them further a...

The Art of Unpicking Stitches - Jennifer Hudak

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Michelle grew up watching her father sew hidden spells into the clothing he makes in his tailor shop. Now, she sees her chance to pick up her own need...

Free Hugs - Jennifer Shelby

16 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cyndl escaped the Tech Cults as a child, surviving with the help of a robot created to offer hugs. Years later, the Hugbots struggle to fulfill their ...

Souls Like Sea Glass - Josie Smith

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On an island where the souls of the drowned wash ashore, a woman lives as both lighthouse keeper and guide for the souls. When love sails into her lif...

Singot - E.C. Fuller

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“I’d felt out of alignment with the human race all my life. And then I learned of singot, the supreme connection: wordless understanding of a pers...

The Nocturnals II - Mariah Montoya

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As Joah and Misla travel further and further from the light of day, they meet two people who change the course of their journey—a familiar, hate-fil...

The Stranding - Maud Woolf

18 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the middle of a snowstorm something vast falls out of the sky. Two children set out to find it. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in Metaph...

Satyajit Ray's Beard or the Lack Thereof - Abhijato Sensarma

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What if you wake up in a world which revolves around magic, but you're more focused about helping your wife deal with cancer you never knew she was di...

The Secret Keeper - Pauline Yates

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a young Secret Keeper hears a dark secret, she is forced to choose between upholding her promise to keep the secret, or revealing it to catch a m...

The Nocturnals I - Mariah Montoya

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When the Moving bells ring early, ex-retriever Joah Cadshaw is sent out west with a new recruit to warn the scavengers of a roadblock that lies ahead....

Leiprenese 101 - Jason A. Bartles

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The aliens that colonized Earth decades ago have left behind a society in which everyone is driven to work nonstop. Charlie, a queer language professo...

The Song of the Moohee - Emmett Swan

14 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When the noble Moohee were conquered by the warlike Ossinians, they weren’t just enslaved, their bodies were changed into vehicles and beasts of bur...

Vertical Flight - Laura Duerr

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cate works at Quantum Ridge Vineyards, a cutting-edge winery that operates across multiple dimensions. But beneath the company's illustrious facade li...

A Compilation of Accounts Concerning the Distal Brook Flood - Thomas Ha

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Several individuals recount the details of an ecological tragedy in a mining colony on a distant planet. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Published in ...

Autumn's Come Undone - Sharmon Gazaway

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Autumn wields the power of the fiery season, but some losses can't be borne and power unchecked comes at a cost. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Publi...

A Universe All to Himself - Ryan Priest

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a horrible mistake an astronaut finds his ship lost in the deep blackness of space. Does he have what it's going to take to survive and find a w...

The Otherside of Memory - Kelly Sandoval

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What happens to a magical world when its child visitors leave it behind? And what happens to the children who stay? Invited back to the magical land o...

The Big S - David Hammond

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bartholomew shook the pill bottle. “What do you remember, Glen, about sadness?” Glen shrugged. “Not much, really. That’s what’s been driving...

Siberia in Four Dimensions - Esem Junior

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a supercollider in Siberia implodes, the country's top physicist falls prey to the suspicions of the Russian government. When his son mysterious...

Sanctuary - Chris Cornetto

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sanctuary is more than a city — it’s a project to restore life to a broken world. Or so Abby believes. But when a new arrival makes her see her ho...

Going Home - Martin Westlake

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why does top scientist Dimitriy Semenov become obsessed with travelling from Derbent to his mystery job in Astrakhan? What lies in the laboratory ther...

Spells for Going Forth by Day - V.G. Campen

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the marshlands of New Jersey, a grieving woman seeks solace from her childhood friend–Anubis, the Lord of the Necropolis. Narrated by host Matt ...

Reach for Your Ocean Heart - C.M. Fields

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the ruins of a great city, a girl who receives mysterious, fragmented messages serves as the Oracle to her people. Her excavations of the city’s ...

Endless - Ted S. Bushman

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A suicidal blacksmith dreams of a death that will cut him out of the very fabric of the universe, but despairs of being able to accomplish it. When an...

Rock-Adda's World - Chloe Smith

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Adda Oram’s spent years devoted to her research, stationed in the northern reaches of a half-settled world, trying to understand the alien “whales...

Vacation Gnomes - Aaron DaMommio

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Amy didn't like the idea of taking a vacation in the first place. She likes it even less when she learns she's not alone. Narrated by the author. P...

Esma's Margaret - Damien Krsteski

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Esma, a precocious teenager born and raised in the poorest neighborhood of her city, needs money to take part in a programming competition, she t...

Not All Rot Is Ruin - E.A. Petricone

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Leda lifts her head from her pillow one morning a dead fly tumbles out of her hair. Gross, but no big deal, right? Except the dead flies keep com...

Unifiers - Edward Ashton

15 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dropping onto a colony world is always an adventure. Sometimes we find apes. Sometimes we find angels. Michaela and I, though—we’re Unifiers. Our ...

All We Ever Look For - Cécile Cristofari

08 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a magic portal opened in my living room, I decided to let lonely people use it to escape to a new life in a parallel universe. It worked just fin...

Superbloom - Lynne Peskoe-Yang

01 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a strange organism takes over the oceans, a lone technician on a remote island sends a dangerous message. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Publish...

Tower of Mud and Straw IV: The Tower - Yaroslav Barsukov

25 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part 4. Doorways open and tulips finally bloom in the closing chapter of the fantasy novella "Tower of Mud and Straw." Narrated by Miltos Yerolemou. ...

Heritage - Andrei Pechalin

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A daughter growing up in the shadow of her mother’s scientific brilliance, desperate to prove herself and make her own mark on the world, even if th...

The Three Thousand - Elise Kim

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the last fleeting moments before the fall of a besieged city, two of its occupants in hiding dream of the three thousand year cycle of rebirth that...

The Skin of Aquila Cadens - Chris Panatier

04 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A desperate effort to jumpstart evolution on distant worlds, and one scientist’s audacious plan to spark life where there is none. Narrated by host...

Tower of Mud and Straw III: The Tulips - Yaroslav Barsukov

27 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part 3. Shea Ashcroft searches for a solution in his past, in the room with soot stains and the abandoned cellar underneath the rosewood trapdoor. Na...

A Death in New York - Allison Brice

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sophie is your typical New York millennial – she’s broke, she doesn’t know what she’s doing with her life, and she has the roommate from hell....

The Preserved City - Charles Schoenfeld

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

An opera composer living in present-day Bergamo, Italy is paralyzed by self-doubt while writing her second opera, after achieving great success with h...

Madam Savva’s Magical Emporium - James Rumpel

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A down-on-his-luck, big city cop, in desperate need of some success, finds himself involved a very bizarre case. With help from an unexpected source, ...

Tower of Mud and Straw II: The Adversary - Yaroslav Barsukov

30 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2. Deer dissolve into nothingness, and an acquaintance from the past visits Shea Ashcroft in his exile. Narrated by Miltos Yerolemou. Publishe...

Holding - John Adams

23 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A mechanic, struggling with unresolved issues with her late father, takes a job at his former place of employment. Late one night, she receives an une...

Lingua Franca - Amelia Fisher

16 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I knew the children had no names, though I didn’t understand it. Far had tried to explain it to me, but this was one barrier our strides in communic...

Cactus and Lizard - Hannah Costelle

09 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There is a mythic city deep in the desert that vanishes into a mirage every time explorers get too close. Over the years, the shining utopia has passe...

Good Boy - M. Douglas White

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After the world around him is irreparably altered, a curious canine journeys to the far reaches of the universe to care for his human companions. Nar...

Tower of Mud and Straw I: The Duchy - Yaroslav Barsukov

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Part 1. As dogs take over the crippled capital city, Minister Shea Ashcroft attends a play where the main character, unexpectedly, is he himself. Nar...

Pages Missing From the Diary of Samuel Pepys, Esq. - David Berger

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This tale asks two questions: What would have happened if an alien arrived in England, long ago. And how would the great diarist, Samuel Pepys, would ...

Where the Old Neighbors Go - Thomas Ha

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Walker is the type of neighbor many of us have, but so few of us want: nosy, confrontational, and a self-appointed deputy of her neighborhood’s...

Fetch - B. Morris Allen

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On a long journey to the edges of the solar system to promote the United League and distract from its brutality, a man's only companion is a simulatio...

Joy (Unplugged) - B.C. van Tol

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone lives a virtual life except for Joy. That is, until August stumbles onto her doorstep, struggling to return to reality. Narrated by the auth...

All That Remains - Michael Gardner

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Progeny lives in darkness, in the tunnels, hidden from the infection that plagues the surface. Or so Father says. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Publ...

Devilish Calliope and Ungrooviest Apocalypse - Evan Marcroft

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the eternal struggle between good and evil, there are endless adventures and infinite victories. But when no triumph lasts forever, how does one fi...

Calling Me Home - Spencer Nitkey

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I clock out for my hour off, and already the entanglement circuit is spinning. I try to swallow the spreading pain and imagine the trillion spinning p...

The Chorley - Rachel Ayers

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Annamarie's stuffed elephant has gone missing. She has hours to find it before bedtime, or she could be in more danger than Mama could imagine. Unless...

A Picture of Home, in Silence - Alexandra Seidel

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"A Picture of Home, in Silence" follows Sam on her journey home, a journey that is not about the quickest route, but about what one might find by the ...

Shards - Jordan Chase-Young

17 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Six years ago, a cataclysm that shattered the moon and drowned the world beneath an endless ocean has reduced humanity to a few dozen survivors in a l...

They Build 'Em Tough on Magna Mater - R.W.W. Greene

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On the frontier -- in a new world of danger, loneliness, boredom, and limited opportunities -- a man's best friend is his tractor. Narrated by the au...

The Friendly Ghost - Ashley R. Carlson

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A young wife made a promise to her husband that in the event of her death, she would "haunt" him as a friendly ghost--one who helped him following her...

Time and Grace - Joseph Halden

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How fast would you travel to an early retirement? Grace illegally reprograms her AI jet car to blaze across the country, but when things go wrong, she...

The Woman Who Brought Love to Death - Kathryn Yelinek

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Gudrun is a witch. That's what her neighbours think, anyway, because she can see the connections between people. When her husband Ketill dies and the ...

Zsezzyn, Who Is Not a God - Jennifer Shelby

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The child of a god who wields the most powerful tool in the universe, Zsezzyn weeps to see stars disappearing from the sky. When she comes of age she ...

The Record Collector - Nathaniel Williams

05 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A young married couple have moved into their first house - but it turns out the house has a taste for a certain kind of music. Narrated by the autho...

Exhibit 57-B from the Trial of Alonzo Montalvo v. MoodFoods Incorporated - Douglas DiCicco

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A JoyJelly from MoodFoods snack line will perk you right up. And best of all, there are no side effects. Mostly. Narrated by host Matt Gomez. Publis...