From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #415 by Scott Andrews
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From Each One, the Strength-of-All by Timothy Mudie. Joy, or A Humble Orbit Through the Celestial City by Will McMahon.
#sff #litmag #fantasy #shortstory
on Sep 5
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Oracle and the Sea by Megan Arkenberg
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When she plays, it’s the old songs—not her heavy concertos but brisk two-fingered melodies, folk tunes and old hymns, the first songs her youngest students would master. Every month when the soldiers bring her supply of flour and milk, they also bring waterproofed parcels of manuscript paper and...
on Jan 20
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #420 by Scott Andrews
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Featuring new cover art: "Distant Ruins" by returning BCS artist Nele Diel. Another Tide by Will Greatwich. In Memory of the Daihani Revolution by Miranda Rain.
on Thu, 5PM
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Tithe the Bones, Sell the Blood by Auston Habershaw
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The cards were crisp, almost brittle in Cédric’s hands; he ran his thumbs along the corners as he shuffled, feeling where he’d marked them during the game with the same needle in his ring he’d used to draw the blood to let him keep gambling. It all came down to this hand, this moment. The moment...
on Mon, 8PM
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - <i>BCS</i> Ebook Prices to Increase, Jan. 2025 by Scott Andrews
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The price of new Beneath Ceaseless Skies ebooks–single-issue and annual subscription–will be increasing, starting with BCS #423 on January 1, 2025. Why? To fund longer fiction, a larger staff, and higher staff pay. In 2024, of the 56 pieces of fiction we published, 20 were novelettes...
on Nov 5
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Things Lost Forever by Auston Habershaw
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The terror kept Lucas from sleeping, so he worked for hours, losing himself in the scent of the wood. Ordinarily he might make a basic chair in two days, but Adelard would expect perfection, and with perfection would come rewards. For once, he envisioned a time where he would not be afraid...
on Nov 5
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Linden Honey, Blackcurrant Wine by M.R. Robinson
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What a fool to hope for more than silence—to think she might be welcomed, much less forgiven, after all this time! Irena stands alone in the heart of the grove, where she has never stood alone before, and lets disappointment settle like snow on her shoulders.
on Oct 31
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #419 by Scott Andrews
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A special scary issue for Halloween... Things Lost Forever by Auston Habershaw. Where They Sleep by Heather Clitheroe.
on Oct 31
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Street Theater by Jon Hansen
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Hired praise was not honest work, but it paid and was legal. A starving actress had few options. Ashle had an excellent voice with startling projection, easily heard from any seat in The Royale. Still, The Royale was now a burned-out shell after the Cultural Purge, and this was not a matinee of...
on Oct 29
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Three Drops in the River by Marissa Lingen
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Alor could not be bothered with a lecture series when there were no naiads in the river. He was like a beast caged, pacing up and down the banks, haunting the city's bridges, peering in the marsh grass. Every turning, every wave, might hold an answer. They did not, but they might. Then there was...
on Oct 17
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #417, Sixteenth Anniversary Double-Issue by Scott Andrews
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Featuring two bonus stories, including a novella by Chris Willrich, a bonus podcast episode, and new cover art: "Many Rivers" by Philip A. Urlich. Nine Tenths of the Law by K.J. Parker. BCS 338: Nine Tenths of the Law by K.J. Parker. To Hunt the Grey Lady by Chris Willrich. Black Wine From the...
on Oct 3
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - BCS 338: Nine Tenths of the Law by K.J. Parker
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I wish she wouldn't shout. Someone yelling inside my head gives me a migraine for the rest of the day. I should be used to it, after fifteen years of what I guess you could call demonic possession, but it still annoys me. Sometimes being a lawyer is its own punishment.
on Oct 3
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - We Shall Drink Wine by Andrew K Hoe
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Until then, there is Fate Cutter, weeping the blood of an old love, sharp and silent. There is poisoned wine in a celadon cup, not unlike the Elixir of Immortality the queen-wife drank. There is this cold, cold moon to which the queen-wife ascended only to find that bone-white home infested—this...
on Sep 27
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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Ari volunteers to row first. We knew they would; we expected it. Mir, as she has intended to, says, “No, I’ll row, I’m the strongest,” and she is, with the thickest arms, so she takes the oars. Cal curls in the stern at her feet, so close she hardly has space to row but trembling so hard that...
on Sep 25
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #416 by Scott Andrews
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The Thirteenth Dancer by Leah Cypess. After We Kill Our Father and Before We Reach the Mainland by Max Franciscovich. BCS 336: After We Kill Our Father and Before We Reach the Mainland by Max Franciscovich.
on Sep 19
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim
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The train took us to the maker's bench, and we laid out our son's body, chest open. Tonight the maker would give him a mainspring and wind him for the very first time. "Should we name him now, or after we've gotten to know him?" My parents had waited to name me until my second day, because they...
on Aug 30
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Love, Resurrected by Cat Rambo
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This half-life dragged at her. She felt weary all the time, a chilled-bone sluggishness of motion that belied the quickness of her thoughts. It was not painful to breathe, but it was tiring, and she began to eschew it when alone and unworried about frightening the living.
on Aug 26
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #414 by Scott Andrews
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Conversation with a Dragon by Cat Rambo. At the Stopping Place by Grace Seybold. BCS 335: Conversation with a Dragon by Cat Rambo. BCS 336: At the Stopping Place by Grace Seybold.
on Aug 23
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - One Ear Left Over by Jonathan Olfert
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But you couldn't swim in deep ecclesiastical water without the skill of projecting calm dignity, and she trusted her skill. The prisoner shackled in the Hall of Welcome would see only the two golden pits burned into the white of her right eye—the mark of a Second Steward—and a robe and...
on Aug 13
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #413 by Scott Andrews
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Featuring new cover art: “Queen of Forest” by Michal Kváč. One Ear Left Over by Jonathan Olfert. An Isle in a Sea of Ghosts by J.A. Prentice.
on Aug 8
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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Alongside “A Witch’s Transition In The City Of Ghosts” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe from BCS #380 named a finalist for the 2024 Ignyte Awards in Outstanding Short Story, several BCS authors had work from other venues named finalist: P. Djèlí Clark (A Tale of Woe in BCS #253) in Outstanding Middle...
on Aug 6
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - God’s Breath by W.A. Hamilton
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“But you will enthrall her!” Georn called to the star-god, a terrible certainty tearing the words from his chest. “Your song will call to her, pull her to your side. You would have us believe she is choosing, when your very breath plants a desire she will not be able to resist.”
on Aug 2
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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“A Witch’s Transition In The City Of Ghosts” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe in BCS #380 has been named a finalist for the 2024 Ignyte Awards in Outstanding Short Story. Congratulations! “A Witch’s Transition In The City Of Ghosts” is a story of love, authority, and defying one in order to cherish the...
on Aug 1
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Godmaker by J.A. Prentice
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The godmaker smiled pleasantly and made his way home quickly as he could. He shut the doors of his shop and lay in his bed, telling himself again and again about the power of coincidence. Belief did strange things to the mind, made patterns appear where there were none, made three incidents seem...
on Jul 29
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #412 by Scott Andrews
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This Unintelligible World by Samuel Chapman. God’s Breath by W.A. Hamilton.
on Jul 26
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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Several BCS authors had dark fiction appear in other venues recently: Derrick Boden (Valor Bones in BCS #354 and podcast BCS 294; The Patron in BCS #312) in Apex, May Bruce McAllister (Holy Water, Holy Blood in BCS #186; Madonna in BCS #167) in Nightmare #141 Steve Rasnic Tem (Dying on the...
on Jul 23
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #411 by Scott Andrews
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The Wicks Whisper by Emily C. Skaftun. Linden Honey, Blackcurrant Wine by M.R. Robinson. BCS 334: The Wicks Whisper by Emily C. Skaftun.
on Jul 11
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - <i>BCS</i> Authors Elsewhere – Curtis, Theodoridou by Scott H. Andrews
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Two BCS authors had work appear in the July issue of Clarkesworld, #214: AnaMaria Curtis (Ten Fruits and Other Memories of Rialynas in BCS #353 and podcast BCS 293) Natalia Theodoridou (Tell the King in BCS #401 – Science-Fantasy Month 7 and podcast BCS 327; What the River Brings, and What It...
on Jul 9
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - <i>BCS</i> Authors Elsewhere – Ha, Larson, Tobler by Scott H. Andrews
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Several BCS authors had work appear in other venues recently: Thomas Ha (To People Who’d Never Known Good in BCS #350 – Science-Fantasy Month 6) in ergot Rich Larson (A Magician Did It in BCS #402; The Sniper and I in BCS #299 – Science-Fantasy Month 5 and podcast BCS 255; Penitents in BCS #245...
on Jul 1
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #410 by Scott Andrews
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Featuring new cover art: "Dragon Tree" by Philipp A. Urlich. Testimony of an Encounter with the Death-Mage, Taken at the Canal Village of Po-Endenn by Stephen Case. The Institute of Harmony by J.C. Snow.
on Jun 28
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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I ordered my apprentices to map the borders of the gray space—and stay well out of its lifeless umbra—while I collected witness reports. They said birds that flew in disappeared and did not return; fire, when thrown across the border, ceased to smoke; and for a brief moment, after something had...
on Jun 26
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Under the Reaching Tree by Jonathan Louis Duckworth
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Suddenly Mika is afraid to go back to the Stead. It strikes her that as long as she is here, in the Tween, standing in the shade of the Reaching Tree beside Birdy, she’s still a free girl. But when she goes back, she’ll be a woman.
on Jun 26
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #409 by Scott Andrews
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Under the Reaching Tree by Jonathan Louis Duckworth. An Uncanny Patch and Uncanny Hole: The Final Account from the Records of Ptaten, Imperial Surveyor by Cara Masten DiGirolamo. BCS 333: An Uncanny Patch and Uncanny Hole: The Final Account from the Records of Ptaten, Imperial Surveyor by Cara...
on Jun 25
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Blood and Desert Dreams by Y.M. Pang
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My twenty-ninth kill. My heart twisted inside me, as if it were tired of pretending to be calm. I’m sorry, I thought, continuing down the hallway. Lord Farand hadn’t seemed like a bad man. He’d even stopped to help a stranger.
on Jun 5
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #408 by Scott Andrews
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Blood and Desert Dreams by Y.M. Pang. We Shall Drink Wine by Andrew K Hoe.
on May 30
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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Several BCS authors have work appearing or forthcoming in other venues recently: Mike Allen (The Butcher, the Baker in BCS #289 and podcast BCS 248; Longsleeves in BCS #190; The Ivy-Smothered Palisade in BCS #93) forthcoming in collection Slow Burn Ephiny Gale (The Candle Queen in BCS #295)...
on May 24
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Gods and Monsters and Brothers by J. Bridges
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I want to put it off for another day. I don’t like watching my brother work—not his blurry form, not his not-quite-right hands, especially not the trap he sets, even if it is to earn back the thing he lost. The thing only fools bargain with.
on May 23
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Sever and Bind by Amanda Helms
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But this is the Dusklands. Its Lord knows all its denizens and trespassers. Despite Koriss requesting that I summon him once I’ve brought my mother, I suspect he’ll find us himself soon enough. Her only hope for escape is to fluster me so I make a mistake. It’s best to keep walking. Makes it...
on May 16
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #407 by Scott Andrews
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Sever and Bind by Amanda Helms. Gods and Monsters and Brothers by J. Bridges. BCS 332: Gods and Monsters and Brothers by J. Bridges.
on May 16
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places by Marissa Lingen
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When I had taken leave from the Archives to go on this pilgrimage, no one had expected that a pilgrimage to the god of high places would cure me. Friends expressed shock that I would even try. From my employer, the Head Archivist, the response I got was more like bewildered chagrin. “But you...
on May 2
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
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She would stand on the footbridge until certain she wouldn’t be seen, then slip away along the riverbank, around the bend to my willow tree. I soon came to expect her and even found myself watching impatiently for her arrival, starting at every snapped twig and rustle of leaves until, laughing,...
on Apr 18
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #405 by Scott Andrews
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Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka by Christine Hanolsy. A Reflection of Sun by Liana Richmond. BCS 330: A Reflection of Sun by Liana Richmond.
on Apr 18
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Speech That God Understands by Jonathan Edelstein
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And suddenly Isaac did understand. The injured man’s words—all the words he’d spoken since regaining consciousness, were in faranji, the vernacular of Tuluz, a language that any scholar would rather die than use in the university’s precincts. And when Isaac put a finger to the man's lips and...
on Apr 12
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Coffee of Torcat by Devin Miller
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Osa's hope was that the memory contained some piece of information about the country and its dukes. If it did, she would offer that memory to the Queen. She had liked Holal, but if Holal had stolen this memory, she could not forgive that violation of her mind, and she would not hesitate to use...
on Apr 9
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #404 by Scott Andrews
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The Coffee of Torcat by Devin Miller. The Speech That God Understands by Jonathan Edelstein. BCS 329: The Coffee of Torcat by Devin Miller.
on Apr 4
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - On Slate and Skin by Jonathan Olfert
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Tyrra was dangling his work and his life over a long fall, and she knew it. And beyond all that, beyond the risks of the moment, she wanted him to give in to the urge he'd fought for years: to write out the burned book in full, to undo one of the few good things he'd done as a city guard....
on Apr 3
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Dust Eater by Adam Breckenridge
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But if the sin engines could deprive us of our souls, then how could we have ever built a civilization so sophisticated that it could simultaneously erase and immortalize a person? A question like this was a waste of time; grief had driven my mother to madness, so off we went to the tangled mass...
on Apr 2
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Issue #403 by Scott Andrews
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On Slate and Skin by Jonathan Olfert. The Dust Eater by Adam Breckenridge. BCS 328: The Dust Eater by Adam Breckenridge.
on Mar 21
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Throw, The Catch, The Swap by Michael Evans
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Not a request. Not asking nicely. Moira cleared her throat. “A charmer never tells, but for you, Judge, I’ll make an exception. I take out a fresh deck of cards, and I peel the Maid off the top. I throw the rest into the fire there. The cards are made specially by a chemist in Iradan with two...
on Mar 19
From beneath-ceaseless-skies.com
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - A Magician Did It by Rich Larson
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Olaf sets to coating himself with the cold and oddly wriggly sludge. The mixture is a sort of protective glamor concocted to render them undetectable to the prison’s guards, but he knows little beyond that. The cockroach was far more insistent about the recipe than about the theory, and since it...
on Mar 12