Some argue existence is an exercise in futility. They claim there are no winners in life. Ultimately, we are insignificant in the face of vast cosmic intelligences that were old when the Universe began.The best minds gibber at the incomprehensibility of it all. Other minds lose themselves in strange geometries because they can't comprehend any alternative.Whatever. The rest of us have to get up in the morning, feed the cat, and go to work.The Cozy Cosmic contains 3...

Jellyfish whims change human lives.Moon witches communicate with bees, lizards, and fungi.A house keeps getting smaller.Sting of the Shore collects stories and poems of the sun, moon, sea, and beyond, including the Hugo Award-nominated poem "Your Visiting Dragon."

Susan never intended to be the villain in someone else's fairy tale.Except it turns out her fiancé is a cursed prince, whose true love just showed up to restore his memory.Now, their story has been made into a musical, with Susan as a tap dancing enemy of true love. And the musical is only days away from performing in a magical theatre that will make the show's version of events into reality.With the help of friends both old and new, Susan must find the mage who cas...

Happiness isn't guaranteed after a Beauty breaks a Beast's curseThree sisters are trapped on the Brokenstar estate, producer of magical fruit and honey:Desperate Hester, retaining her grip on stolen magic;Murdered Julie, haunting the estate;And prisoner Cora, the pawn fighting for control.When Cora escapes, seeking the ingredients for a ritual to regain her magic, all three sisters will learn that the ties of magic -- like the ties of family – are not...

Cursed siblings sing forever on a spaceship.Enchanted pumpkins wreak havoc.Baba Yaga and the Firebird take tea.Sometimes silly, sometimes scary, sometimes startling, dozens of poems and stories – many published here for the first time – await in this second collection from Hugo Award nominee Devan Barlow.

Perdita's reputation is in shambles, and the curses she casts are at risk of hurting others. To make matters worse, she can't fix either problem without support from other curse casters, but that comes at a high price.If Perdita is going to set her world back in order, she must organize a successful theatrical festival and keep a magical dessert contest from wrecking too much havoc, on top of rehearsing for her own return to the stage.All of which she could manage, if it wa...

At the end, when the last star dies and the cold begins to seep in, what will be the totality of our accomplishments? What will have been the point? And will anyone notice that we're gone? If the true terror at the center of cosmic horror is the vast indifference the universe has for us, does that mean the closest thing we have to any sort of compassionate connection is . . . our cats? Ah, we may be doomed.But, in the interim, perhaps there may still be some spark that can illumina...

We arrive yet again at the end of it all: the dreaded holiday season, where everything is too bright, nothing is where it should be, and you will be constantly hounded by the persistent dread of having forgotten something very important. And traffic will be totally and utterly f*cked all the way to the mall. We are doomed.But there may still be some spark in these fading minutes before the heat death of the universe, before the last tear is shed, and before the last present is unwr...

This issue of HyphenPunk brings you six new stories in four different -punk genres!Cyberpunk by Anna Treffer, Aditya Sundararajan, and John R. MuthAtompunk by Stephen FrameSteampunk by Matt HandleLunarpunk by Devan Barlow

This issue is a revival, a call to the sweet sweat of the summer celebration. This is the breath of wind that sweeps before the storm, that tells us of things to come and of things that will disappear when we look away. These stories are the seeds and fruits that have lain dormant for some time, and now they are all sprouting.Here are stories about revenge, stories about justice, stories about what we get when we ask for too much without understanding the triumverate of suggestion,...

A girl bargains with a dragon. A woman dons the Green Knight's armor. A princess atop a glass hill hurls fruit at would-be rescuers.Humorous, terrifying, and downright strange retellings lurk in these poems and stories – many published for the first time in this collection, including the all-new Arthurian timeloop novella "All The Ways We Drown" in which Elaine of Astolat and Elaine of Corbenic take matters into their own hands.

This issue of HyphenPunk brings you 7 stories in three different -punks.Cyberpunk by Elizabeth Broadbent, Alan J. Wahnefried, Mark DiStefano, and Cesar EsparzaMythpunk by Spencer Avocet-Van HorneSolarpunk by e rathke, and Devan Barlow