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Table of Contents, July 2026

Summer readin'

Table of Contents, July 2026
Images: Analog, Clarkesworld and Uncanny Magazines

We're somehow over the halfway point of the year, and with it comes a new batch of short SF/F fiction. Something I didn't anticipate when I launched this column back in May 2025 was how dynamic it's been: I've steadily added a handful of magazines as I've come across them, and the list gets bigger and bigger each month.

You can check out last month's (newly updated!) installment here, and the prior installments here.

There's a wealth of short fiction out there, and if you find a story that you like, or a publication that calls to you: help them out. Subscribe, buy an issue, post about it on social media and encourage your friends and followers to check it out.

Here are the short stories coming out this month:

Analog Science Fact and Fiction (July/August 2026 Vol. XCVI No. 7 & 8)

Subscribe here.

Fiction

  • "Red Ships" by Tom R. Pike
  • "Go Forth And Multiply" by Meg Elison
  • "Casual Brutality" by Michael T. Kuester
  • "Dead God’s Algorithm" by Auston Habershaw
  • "The Inheritance" by Alyssa Abigail Aquino
  • "Conversations With Callie, Or The Synthesis Of Disdain And Love" by Lettie Prell
  • "The Elegant Test" by David Horn
  • "Variables In The Drake Equation" by William Preston
  • "Sightseers" by Nikolai Lofving Hersfeldt
  • "Disaster Relief" by Jennifer R. Povey
  • "And Her Bones Made The Hills" by Mel Hubahib Loja
  • "Falling" by Jen Downes
  • "The Eemian" by J.A. Schultz
  • "Churn" by Andrew Dana Hudson
  • "The End Of The Line" by William Paul Jones
  • "A Sky For The End Of The World" by Gregor Hartmann
  • "Along the Farthest Shore" by Robert Frazier
  • "Hope is an Illogical Concept" by Fiona Perry

Nonfiction

  • When a Greenhouse Goes Wild by Kevin Walsh
  • Guest Editorial: As Above, So Below—and Closer Than They Appear by Howard V. Hendrix
  • Unknowns, a Slice of Pi by Alec Nevala-lee
  • Alternate View by John G. Cramer
  • In Times to Come
  • The Reference Library by Rosemary Claire Smith
  • Brass Tacks

Asimov's Science Fiction (July/August 2026 Vol. 50 Nos. 7 & 8)

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Fiction

  • "A Flame in the Dark" by Sam W. Pisciotta
  • "Better the Devil You Know" by Allen M. Steele
  • "Roma Delenda Est" by Alan Smale
  • "Oliana’s Skull" by Robert Reed
  • "Gumchew" by Zack Be
  • "Last Train to Gertrude Stein" by Sandra McDonald
  • "Brother Adalbert’s Last Shift" by Karol Lagodzki
  • "Seeking" by Gregory Marlow
  • "The Translation of the Sirens" by Matthew De Abaitua
  • "The Hydrological Cycle of Souls" by Minister Faust
  • "The Cosmic Knot" by Geoffrey A. Landis
  • "Ghazal" by Joshua Gage
  • "The Mussel Shell" by Marianne Hoffard
  • "Someday We’ll Look Back on This and Laugh" by Marissa Lingen
  • "So This Is The Middle Kingdom" by Mary Soon Lee

Nonfiction

  • Editorial: The 2026 Must Read Books Award by Emily Hockaday
  • Reflections: One Thing Happens by Robert Silverberg
  • On the Net: Worldwide Editors by James Patrick Kelly
  • On Books by Paul Di Filippo

Aurealis (July 2026, #191)

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Fiction

Nonfiction

Clarkesworld Magazine (July 2026, Issue #238)

Subscribe here.

Fiction

Nonfiction

The Dark (July 2026, 134)

Subscribe here.

Fiction

Flash Fiction Online (July 2026, Issue 154)

Donate here.

Fiction

  • "End of the World" by Nick Ekkizogloy
  • "Seastrand Beyond" by Anna Clark
  • "Fragments Recovered from the Wreck of the Seaglass" by E. M. Linden
  • "A Perfect Light" by Laura Duerr
  • "Kingdom of Steve" by Nick Badot

Nonfiction

Forever Magazine (July 2026, Issue #138)

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Fiction

  • Proof of Concept” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
  • “We Are the Cloud” by Sam J. Miller
  • “Mender of Sparrows” by Ray Nayler

GigaNotoSaurus (July 2026)

Fiction

Grimdark Magazine (Issue 47)

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Fiction

  • "Of Beasts and Bindings" by Ken McEwen
  • "The Path to Kahinae" by R.R. Virdi
  • "Cold Comforts" by Matthew Ward
  • "A Hunter in Arin-Qin" by Daniel Abraham
  • "That When I Waked I Cried to Dream Again" by Ken Scholes
  • "Black Hearts and Bloody Murder" by Josh Roundtree
  • "Reconnaissance Notes Episode IV. Scarper" by Miles Cameron and Emma Burnett

Nonfiction

  • The Pebble That Starts the Landslide: Richard Swan on The Infinite State. Interview by Adrian Collins
  • REVIEW: Infinite State by Richard Swan by Adrian Collins
  • REVIEW: Killswitch Protocol by M.J. Kuhn by Krystle Matar
  • The Art of the Framed Narrative by Z.B. Steele
  • REVIEW: The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon by Pete Barnable
  • The Art of Awe: Jeff Brown on Fantasy Covers, Dragons, and Epic Scale. Interview by William MccLelland
  • REVIEW: Dust of the Dead by Michael R. Fletcher by Z.B. Steele
  • Hope Is the Teeth: Daniel Abraham on Compromise, Power, and Dark Fiction. Interview by Beth Tabler
  • REVIEW: The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley by Fiona Denton

Kaleidotrope (Summer 2026)

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Fiction

Poetry

Lightspeed Magazine (July 2026, Issue 194)

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Fiction

  • "You, Me, Us" by Oyedotun Damilola Muees (7/9)
  • "Waru Waru" by Ruth Joffre (7/9)
  • "Down in the Dim Kingdoms" by Tobias S. Buckell (7/16)
  • "The Assumption of Maria" by Max Gladstone (7/16)
  • "Hungry Like The" by E. Catherine Tobler (7/16)
  • "FETSPACE" by Rhiannon Rasmussen (7/23)
  • "The Punishing Animal" by B. Pladek (7/23)
  • "If a Discarded God Can Change, So Can I" by V.M. Ayala (7/30)
  • "Concerto For Wartime by Sean Williams (7/30)

Nonfiction

  • Editorial: July 2026 by John Joseph Adams (7/9)
  • Author Spotlight: Ruth Joffre by A Humphrey Lanham (7/9)
  • Author Spotlight: Max Gladstone by Erik Grove (7/16)
  • Book Review: Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., eds. by Arley Sorg (7/16)
  • Author Spotlight: B. Pladek by Erik Grove (7/23)
  • Author Spotlight: V.M. Ayala by Robin Jeffrey (7/30)
  • Book Review: We Interrupt This Program by Randee Dawn by Chris Kluwe (7/30))

Nature Futures (July 2026)

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Fiction

  • "RS-232 and other forms of grief" by C. A. Russell

Nightmare Magazine (July 2026, Issue 166)

Subscribe here.

Fiction

  • "The Plague Comes from Chinatown" by Claire Jia-Wen (7/8)
  • "A Nebraskan Choir" by Steve Toase (7/15)
  • "Annette Funicello Is My Dream Mouse" by S. L. Coney (7/22)
  • "A Bargain Made in the Monster’s Shadow by Sam W. Pisciotta (7/29)

Nonfiction

  • Editorial: July 2026 by Wendy N. Wagner (7/8)
  • Author Spotlight: Claire Jia-Wen by Carrie Finch (7/8)
  • The H Word: The Walls of the Box by Mary Berman (7/15)
  • Author Spotlight: S. L. Coney by Devin Marcus (7/22)
  • Interview: Chloe Lauter by Alex Puncekar (7/29)

Uncanny Magazine (July/August 2026, Issue #71)

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Fiction

  • “Leavetaking” by Tia Tashiro (7/7)
  • “Learning the Loom” by P. Djèlí Clark (7/7)
  • “This Is Just Another Carnaval Love Story” by Jana Bianchi (7/7)
  • “White Lines on a Green Field” by Catherynne M. Valente (7/7)
  • “Instructions for Becoming Fire” by Chisomaga Umenyi (7/7)
  • “Six Views of a Speedster” by Gwendolyn Hicks (7/7)

Nonfiction

  • “The Uncanny Valley” by Michael Damian Thomas
  • “The Strange Worlds Among Us—of Turing, Trans People, and the Road to Laniakea” by Ryka Aoki (7/7)
  • “Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with AI Slop 1969 AD” by Lizbeth Myles (7/7)
  • Interview: P. Djèlí Clark by Caroline M. Yoachim (7/7)

As always, let me know in the comments what you end up reading, and what you'd recommend to your fellow readers!