Fiction

Eleven Songs for Another Lover

Every once in a while I am lucky enough to disgorge a story almost fully formed from the get go. This one was born from a stew of rising fury with ambient misogyny, irritation with discourse about the declining art of music playlist design.

In June 2025 (Issue 153)

Fiction

Here I Go Again

by Lindz McLeod

Author spotlight

This woman—walking alone, at night—is going to be killed. Here I go again. Watch my finger. See how the passive voice takes you by the hand? See how it leads you to understand the object and the verb? The trouble is, it leaves out the deliverer of the sentence.

In June 2025 (Issue 153)

Fiction

Notes from the Graft Failure

by R. Diego Martinez

Author spotlight

Important Note About Kindle Periodicals/Unlimited Subscriptions Nightmare is withdrawing from the Kindle Periodicals Program on Kindle Unlimited due to the draconian terms and conditions. If you’re a subscriber via Kindle Unlimited and wish to continue your subscription (and we really hope you will!), you can subscribe directly via our website or via Weightless Books; all […]

In May 2025 (Issue 152)

Fiction

Blood of the Idugan

by Lilia Zhang

What do the wicked stepmother and the innocent princess have in common? In this retelling, a lot more than you might think. I love a good fairy tale retelling, especially those that subvert the narrative in unexpected ways, and it’s high time for the jealous villainess archetype to be rewritten.

In May 2025 (Issue 152)

Fiction

Beak

by Ian Muneshwar

Author spotlight

The landlord requires proof of the infestation, and proof—per clause twelve, subsection three of the lease—must come in the form of a living specimen, safely contained. A dead specimen is insufficient, he has repeatedly explained.

In May 2025 (Issue 152)

Fiction

Glory Hole

by Neal Auch

Author spotlight

“Happy birthday, my love. You deserve this.” Bruce lifted the blindfold and waited, counting the heartbeats, as my eyes acclimated to the harsh lighting. Above us, bare fluorescent bulbs flickered and sputtered in their aluminum housing.

In Apr. 2025 (Issue 151)

Fiction

A Girl Goes on a Date Alone at Night

by Cynthia Gómez

he found the first man on Tinder, or maybe on Hinge, and the restaurant where they met was glowing with antique lamps and green brocade wallpaper and velvet couches, everything soft and inviting, not a single hint of what was to unfold in an hour or two.

In Apr. 2025 (Issue 151)

Fiction

The Witch-Doctor’s Revenge

by Nuzo Onoh

Author spotlight

My grandmother used to say that all fingers are unequal, yet equal. There are long fingers, short fingers, fat fingers, thin fingers, straight fingers and crooked fingers. She said that each finger has a function, and all the fingers work in harmony.

In Apr. 2025 (Issue 151)

Fiction

Pezcara

by Ana Hurtado

Author spotlight

It hides from me deep below. Amidst bubbles and foam, a skull of gills and scales and spine stashes away under waves of blue. Do we share the same creases beneath our eyes, the ones that feel like gashes in the mornings? Is salt buried above its cheeks? When it swims and breathes does it choke like me, now? Like me, before? And when it cries and screams does the ocean swallow it all up, too?

In Mar. 2025 (Issue 150)

Fiction

sharp house

by Samir Sirk Morató

Little is more crushing than the idea that no matter what you do, you are only capable of destruction, and everyone knows it. I wanted to weave that fear into this story, and to push tenderness and violence up against each other. How can we understand one without understanding the other?

In Mar. 2025 (Issue 150)