Table of Contents January 2026

A new crop of stories to start off the new year with!

It's a new year, and that means that we have 12 months of stories to look forward to in 2026. I don't have many resolutions, other than to read 52 books in 2026, but I am hoping to carve out more time to read more short stories. I used to read a lot more, and I've just fallen out of that habit. This column has helped me start that again, and I'll encourage you to do the same, and let me know in the comments what you've enjoyed reading.

You can check out last month's installment here – it's been newly updated with the stories that came out over the course of December, and you can check out prior installments of this column here.

Okay, here are the short stories coming out this month:

Analog Science Fact and Fiction (January/February 2026 Vol. XCVI No. 1 & 2)

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Fiction

"Sin Eaters" by Mark W. Tiedemann
"The Origami Man" by Doug Franklin
"Monkey Trap" by Geoffrey Hart
"Salary Man" by Matt Mchugh
"You Who Sought The Stars’ Distant Light" by Stewart C. Baker
"Artificial Cupidity" by Hayden Trenholm
"Still Cold, Still Losing Air" by Sean Monaghan
"A Goodbye At The End Of The Universe" by Ian Baaske
"Silver Hands" by E.l. Mellor
"Unsung" by Derrick Boden
"A Future Full Of Glaciers" by Peter Medeiros
"Flag Lamp" by Jonathan Olfert
"Recognition, Memory" by Benjamin C. Kinney
"Jack Cade’s Rebellion" by Philip Brian Hall
"A Chatbot’s Guide To Self-respect" by Jo Miles
"Like Father, Like Son" by Theodora Sutcliffe
"And She Is Content" by Frank Ward
"Linka’s Out" by Rich Larson
"Iron Star Swing" by Kate Orman
"Jiggity Jog" by Don Mark Baldridge

Poetry

"Escape Pod" by S.l. Johnson
The Bones They Left" by Shanley Poole

Nonfiction

Editorial: The State Of The Union by Trevor Quachri
Nor Any Drop To Drink by Kevin Walsh
The War, Astounding, And Campbell by Edward M. Wysocki
Me-n-you-genics by Howard V. Hendrix
In Times To Come
The Alternate View by John G. Cramer
In Memorian: J.t. Sharrah by Emily Hockaday
In Memorian: Bruce Boston by Emily Hockaday
Unknowns: Time Lapse by Todd Mcclary, Edited By Alec Nevala-lee
The Reference Library by Sean Cw Korsgaard
Brass Tacks

Asimov's Science Fiction (January/February 2026 Vol. 50 Nos. 1 & 2)

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Fiction

"The Lady in Camo" by John Richard Trtek
"Ecobomb" by Alexander Jablokov
"Stay" by William Preston
"The Tourist" by R.T. Ester
"As Long as We’re Still Here, We Might as Well Dance" by Adam-Troy Castro
"The Greenway" by Susan Palwick
"The Man with the Ruined Hand" by Sean Monaghan
Replacement Theory" by Jack Skillingstead
The Imaginative Youngster’s Handbook to UFOs" by Will Ludwigsen
All My Birds" by K.A. Teryna (translated by Alex Shvartsman)
The Moribund" by Lavie Tidhar
And We Shall Find Rest" by James Sallis

Poetry

"Monster" by Megan Branning
"The Freetown Bar and Bookstore" by M.C. Childs
"Thirty-Six Views of the Milky Way" by Connor Yeck
"Closing Time" by Brian U. Garrison
"Humans Make Anything Their Pets" by Dawn Vogel

Nonfiction

Editorial: WorldCon Extravaganza by Sheila Williams
Reflections: The Multiplicity of Mermaids by Robert Silverberg
On the Net: Welcome to Just Okay by James Patrick Kelly
Thought Experiment: Bradbury and Truffaut’s Empathy in Fahrenheit 451 by Kelly Lagor
Asimov’s Readers’ Award Ballot
On Books by Kelly Jennings

Clarkesworld Magazine (January 2026, Issue 232)

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Fiction

'The Stars You Can't See by Looking Directly" by Samantha Murray
"Down We Go Gently" by M. L. Clark
"Donor Unknown" by Nika Murphy
"Je Ne Regrette Rien" by James Patrick Kelly
"Tomorrow's Beautiful Dream" by Ju Chu, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan
"The Desolate Order of the Head in the Water" by A. W. Prihandita
"Space is Deep" by Seth Chambers

Nonfiction

Destination: The Asteroid Belt by Andrew Liptak
Extraordinary Things: A Conversation with Nicola Griffith by Arley Sorg
Indomitable Persistence: A Conversation with Alastair Reynolds by Arley Sorg
Editor's Desk: 2025 in Review by Neil Clarke

The Dark (January 2026, Issue 128)

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Fiction

"The (Mis)Fortunes of Saint Ilia’s School for Gifted Girls, In No Particular Order" by Catherine Tavares
"Three on a Match" by Joanne Anderton
"Rehearsals for the End" by Steve Rasnic Tem
"The Earth Inside Us" by Abigail Kemske

Dark Horses Magazine (January 2026, No. 48)

Fiction

"Dr. Potato Head" by Jd Hoggatt
"Breakthrough" by Jenn Ellis
"Three Day Drunk" by Todd Reissmann
"Reigndeer" by Wayne Kyle Spitzer
"Knock, Knock" by George Larson
"The Good, The Bad, And The Digital" by Bud Pharo
"The Spiritual Apocalypse Of Horatio Murdoch" by Michael Mcstay
"The Shadowlands" by Cy Hill
"Wolves In The Wilderness" by Eric J. Juneau
"Watchdog" by Jaryd Porter

Flash Fiction Online (January 2026, Issue 146)

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Fiction

"What to buy your husband of thirty seven-years for his birthday" by Jay McKenzie

Nonfiction

Editorial: The Best We Can Hope For by Ai Jiang

GigaNotoSaurus (January 2026)

Fiction

"The Last God of Talam Dor" by M.R. Robinson

Kaleidotrope (January 2026)

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Fiction

“Confessions of the Little Seer” by Emily Linstrom
“Water Softener People” by EC Dorgan
“Bearing the Good Fruit” by R.K. Duncan
“More Than Feathers” by Phoebe Barton
“Take Flight” by Dan Peacock
“Magie Vol, Ogies Toe” by CL Hellisen
“Full Fathom Five” by Gwendolyn Maia Hicks
“Anything Not Impossible” by Jayde Holmes
“Rewilding the Many Tethered Winds” by Allison Mulder
“You Visit a Witch” by Jay Kang Romanus
“The Savior of the Three Lands” by K.M. Veohongs
“The Mixling Mare” by Anneke Schwob

Poetry

"Demons in Glass" by Jennifer Crow
the visitor" by Marisca Pichette
"From Water" by Michelle Koubek
"It Could Worm Inside Your Ear" by Akis Linardos
"The Palms that Tear Through Human Thought" by Daniel Ausema
"Face to face" by Brian Hugenbruch
"Dali Dancing" by Gretchen Tessmer

Lightspeed Magazine (Issue 188, January 2026)

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Fiction

"Mother’s Hip" by Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff
"Choose Your Own Damnation" by Kehkashan Khalid
"Bots All the Way Down" by Effie Seiberg (1/15)
"Where the Chicken-Footed Dwell" by Marisca Pichette (1/15)
"Hunter, Hunter" by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe (1/22)
"Academic Neutrality" by M.R. Robinson (1/22)
"A Brief Public Announcement" by Eli Brown (1/29)
"The Moving Finger" by Adam-Troy Castro (1/29)

Nonfiction

Editorial: January 2026 by John Joseph Adams
Author Spotlight: Corey Jae White and Maddison Stoff by Phoebe Barton
Author Spotlight: Effie Seiberg by Robin Jeffrey (1/15)
Author Spotlight: Marisca Pichette by Erik Grove (1/15)
Book Review: Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms by Darcie Little Badger, Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, and Kinsale Drake, eds. by Arley Sorg (1/15)
Author Spotlight: Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe by A Humphrey Lanham (1/22)
Book Review: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole by Melissa A Watkins (1/22)
Book Review: Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson by Chris Kluwe (1/29)

Nightmare Magazine (Issue 160, January 2026)

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Fiction

"The Tailors by Kurt Fawver
"Dregs" by R. Diego Martinez (1/14)
"Jennifer’s Daughter" by Sara S. Messenger (1/21)
"At the Sight of My Grave, I Stumble" by April Elaine Carson (1/28)

Nonfiction

Editorial: January 2026 by Wendy N. Wagner
Author Spotlight: Kurt Fawver by Kevin Figueroa Quiñones
The H Word: The Merry Macabre of the Renaissance Faire by Barbara Barnett (1/14)
Author Spotlight: Sara S. Messenger by Clay Vermulm (1/21)
Interview: Johnny Compton by Alex Puncekar (1/28)