“Too Poor to Sin” by H.L. Fullerton (Originally published in Mysterion.) Grandfather squandered our family's fortune on forgiveness, forcing Father to enlist in the Legion and serve the angels. This was before he met Mother and they had me, th...

“Penelope's Song” by Samuel Marzioli (Originally published in The Third Spectral Book of Horror Stories.) Penelope gazed through her bedroom window, mesmerized by the motion of the night. Flowers trembled, grass ruffled and trees swayed, flail...

“Avarice” by Michael Rimar (Originally published in Darwin's Evolutions.) Shadow blocked the glare of Uttum’s twin suns. Saleem looked up at the source, a man dressed in robes pale as bleached bone. “Offering for the poor?” Saleem kept his t...

“In the Late December” by Greg van Eekhout (Originally published in Strange Horizons.) Here's a secret of the North Pole: Santa powders his hands with talc before donning his thick red mittens. It is a small secret, true, but some would give...

“M” by Russell Hemmell (Originally published in Not One of Us.) We look like them, Christian thought, admiring the fresco in the charnel house and its ghastly figures, scary and eerily beautiful. He adjusted the heavy cloak over his shoulders. The ...

“Customer Service Hobgoblin” by Paul R. Hardy (Originally published in Unidentified Funny Objects 5.) Beeep. "Good morning, you're through to Robin. How may I receive your prayer?" "Oh. Hello? My name is Bishop Augusto de Figuer...

“The Man Who Did Nothing” by Karen Traviss (Originally published in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection.) Hursley Rise, May 2 There was a boy – five, maybe six – sitting on half a discarded mattress by the ker...

“Psychopomps” by Judith Field (Originally published in The Colored Lens, Summer 2014.) Mark’s next door neighbour and business partner Pat kept telling him that power flowed through his veins. He took a breath and closed his eyes, trying to will the...

“The Tavern at the Ford” by Dave Smeds (Originally published in Sword and Sorceress XXVIII.) Until that awful night, Azure had always assumed she would live out her entire life in the village. That’s how it had been for generations. Grandpa had...

Unraveling byK.G. Anderson(Originally published inTriangulation: Beneath the Surface.)"Sarah -- he's using you!" My voice rose into the whine my daughter loathed, but I couldn't stop. I pressed th