Dec. 2025 (Issue 159)

This month, enjoy original short fiction from Dante Luiz (“The Short History of a Long-Forgotten, Ill-Fated Telenovela”) and Leyla Hamedi (“Shahmeran”). Our Horror Lab originals include a flash piece (“When the Baby Sleeps”) from Lyndsie Manusos and a poem (“Blacula”) from P.C. Verrone. We also have the latest installment of our column on horror, “The H Word,” plus author spotlights with our authors, and a media review from Adam-Troy Castro.

Cover art by UMB-O / Adobe Stock Images

Dec. 2025 (Issue 159)

Editorial

Editorial: December 2025

by Wendy N. Wagner

Maybe it’s the long dark nights stirring up the imagination, or maybe it’s the strange light you get when sunshine glints off the snow: We might be out of spooky season, but December is the time when our thoughts are often in communication with legends and lore.

Publishes Online on 12/3

Fiction

The Short History of a Long-Forgotten, Ill-Fated Telenovela

by Dante Luiz

The last copy of Senhora (1972–1973) lies, with no identification tag, on the shelves of Cinemateca Brasileira, the largest audiovisual archive in Latin America. If anyone ever opened the tin cans, they would see that its quadruplex tapes are flaky, almost falling apart.

Publishes Online on 12/3

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Dante Luiz

by Clay Vermulm

My main inspiration for this story, however, was the Final Destination franchise, and my own endless fascination with lost films and telenovelas, the latter a media I’m very much in love with. Brazil is a juggernaut in the telenovela industry, and we have an extremely rich history.

Publishes Online on 12/3

Fiction

Review: When the Baby Sleeps

by Lyndsie Manusos

The initial spark for this story was a writing prompt I saw online about writing a review for a horror movie that doesn’t exist. It led me to think about my personal relationship with horror movies. Since having children, my tolerance for some of them has diminished, though my love has not.

Publishes Online on 12/10

Nonfiction

The H Word: Double Dog Dare You

by Kristina Ten

An important feature of childlore is that kids spread it to other kids, independent of adult instruction. Because as soon as parents got involved (or teachers, or adult authors of books marketed for children), that wasn’t really ours anymore, was it? That was somebody else’s lesson, written for us.

Publishes Online on 12/10

Fiction

Shahmeran

by Leyla Hamedi

Up on the hill, past the wrought iron gates, sat the house where twin sisters Sayeh and Roshan lived. As imposing as it looked, the house, like the gate, was kept in elegantly stellar condition. There were no loose shutters banging on windy nights.

Publishes Online on 12/17

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Leyla Hamedi

by Clay Vermulm

I kept a few elements from the myth of the Shahmeran. It’s a mythical creature that is half-woman, half-snake, and whose blood has healing properties. But while the original story is a tale of hope and trust and forgoing sacrifice, this story is about multiple acts of selfish desire.

Publishes Online on 12/17

Nonfiction

Media & Book Review: December 2025

by Adam-Troy Castro

We’re not too cool to admit we love Stephen King. Adam-Troy Castro checks out a new King film adaptation and an anthology inspired by The Stand. Find out why he’s recommending them both!

Publishes Online on 12/24

Poetry

Blacula

by P.C. Verrone

The first line began as the heart of a much larger story about a group of Queer, Black vampires. But the more I ruminated on this question, the more paths I followed that revealed so many different ways death, undeath, and resurrection have been central to being Queer and Black in America.

Publishes Online on 12/24