If the aged of different worlds gathered in one place for rest and care, what kind of place would it be? John Grey's "On a Planet for the Aged" (Sci-Fi) is the answer:

"In green air,
lorbals flutter their purple foliage
..."

Continue reading at crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/i....

In Conner Martin's "Zeralore: Fallen Realm Expansion", Nora has an impossible quest: find a small (magical?) object in a world she hardly understands. Is it worth it?

"Nora scrambled across ladders laid flat on moonlit..."

Continue reading at crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/i....

Rhythmic, stylistic, and colorful, Nicholas De Marino's poem "No Fly List" (sci-fi) takes anti gravity boots for a spin in the unlikeliest of places.

"My tiny alien
green anti gravity
boots fizz and
fume as I
... "

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In a place so personified it loses its grip on reality, Mario Senzale's "Cleveland, Ohio." (horror) paints a picture of discomfort.

"Ahead was the structure. It rose in a series of sterile plateaus, a ziggurat of decay..."

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For all heroes who fell for a beautiful song, @blackcattales.bsky.social's "Siren" (fantasy/horror) is a twist on the monster of myth.

"Bless me, lover, for I have swallowed deep
and drowned in the whole of you, felt..."

Continue reading at crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/i....

@therrien.bsky.social's "Miniature Sandworm" (sci-fi/fantasy) explores what a divorced parent would pay for a relationship with his kid.

"I followed my son’s lead through The Bizarre’s endless tables. The ChopWow sat next..."

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Simon MacCulloch's poem "What the Stork Brought" (fantasy) playfully asks, what if the baby was born with wings?

"New babies sometimes come with funny things
A tiny stub of tail, an extra eye
..."

Continue reading at crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/i....

Cozy—if not slightly unsettling—Pamela Jean Herber's "Seen" (fantasy) is a flash story about seeing a familiar face.

"They don’t seem to register that you don’t have a mouth, or ears. ..."

Continue reading at crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/.../issue1-s....

In a world where no one sleeps, an idyllic life can decline quite suddenly.

"Tyler Sands gritted his teeth in frustration. The last thing he had wanted to hear after an eighteen hour flight was that his bags had disappeared..."

Read Retnahin at crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/i....

Good news!

Cryptic Frog #1 is available in print and digital formats on Amazon! Click the link below to check it out.

a.co/d/1zrbTN5

The wait is over: Issue 1 of Cryptic Frog Quarterly is here! Click the link to find four short stories, two flash fictions, and five poems full of speculative goodness. We are confident that these works will entertain, entrance, and enlighten you.

crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/cryptic-frog...

Stay tuned for our inaugural issue, coming December 21, 2025!

crypticfrogpublishing.wordpress.com/issues/