Inner Worlds
@innerworlds.bsky.social
Inner Worlds is a quarterly digital zine of speculative stories about our inner lives. Issue 9 out now! Issue 10 submissions will open in January.
https://inner-worlds.ghost.io/
https://inner-worlds.ghost.io/
Pinned
Issue 10 will be our last issue
I'm sad to say that after our next issue Inner Worlds will be on indefinite hiatus 😔
When I started the zine I made myself a promise that if it harmed my health in any way, I would stop. That hasn't ...
inner-worlds.ghost.io
I have some sad news to share, folks 😔
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
A very fond farewell to 2025, year of my first publications at @innerworlds.bsky.social and @nightshadesmag.bsky.social
If you missed them the first time around:
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-wond...
www.nightshadesmag.com/the-wound-i-...
If you missed them the first time around:
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-wond...
www.nightshadesmag.com/the-wound-i-...
January 2, 2026 at 3:16 AM
A very fond farewell to 2025, year of my first publications at @innerworlds.bsky.social and @nightshadesmag.bsky.social
If you missed them the first time around:
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-wond...
www.nightshadesmag.com/the-wound-i-...
If you missed them the first time around:
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-wond...
www.nightshadesmag.com/the-wound-i-...
Submissions are open now for our final issue! The theme for this issue is 'endings'
inner-worlds.ghost.io/submission-g...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/submission-g...
Submission guidelines
Our next issue will be our last one, so we are looking for stories on the theme of endings. We'd like to read about loss, change, grief, relief, hope, and possibility.
What to submit
* Sci...
inner-worlds.ghost.io
January 1, 2026 at 10:58 AM
Submissions are open now for our final issue! The theme for this issue is 'endings'
inner-worlds.ghost.io/submission-g...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/submission-g...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
My spooky post-apocalypse short story, "Home on the Hillside," was published by @innerworlds.bsky.social in their March issue.
Free to read here: inner-worlds.ghost.io/home-on-the-...
Free to read here: inner-worlds.ghost.io/home-on-the-...
Home on the Hillside, by Emmylou Kotzé
Something had eaten Jana’s chickens. She stood in the cold red dawn with the smell of blood and cypress sap rich in the air after rain, transfixed in horror.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 31, 2025 at 5:32 PM
My spooky post-apocalypse short story, "Home on the Hillside," was published by @innerworlds.bsky.social in their March issue.
Free to read here: inner-worlds.ghost.io/home-on-the-...
Free to read here: inner-worlds.ghost.io/home-on-the-...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
It’s New Year’s Eve, and 2025 has been A Year. I thought everyone might appreciate a cozy gift. Please get the Worlds of Possibility Volume 2 ebook for free, if you would like it! www.juliarios.com/a-gift-to-en...
A gift to end 2025 — Worlds of Possibility Volume 2!
This second volume collects short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles from the August 2023 to June 2025 issue run of Worlds of Possibility.
www.juliarios.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:18 PM
It’s New Year’s Eve, and 2025 has been A Year. I thought everyone might appreciate a cozy gift. Please get the Worlds of Possibility Volume 2 ebook for free, if you would like it! www.juliarios.com/a-gift-to-en...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
I did have 2 of those stories published this year. inner-worlds.ghost.io/i-am-become-... is the most experimental thing I have written all year, and also my first SF publication!
I am become death, by Nishka Dasgupta
You arrived at Nav Ur on an emergency shuttle, the Ikosion, at time 26.33.48 by the lunar cycle, on the 403rd day of the planetary year 919 PS.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 31, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I did have 2 of those stories published this year. inner-worlds.ghost.io/i-am-become-... is the most experimental thing I have written all year, and also my first SF publication!
Submissions for issue 10 are open a few hours early!
For this, our last issue, we're looking for stories which explore the theme of endings 🥲
1-14 January: open to authors who are members of marginalised groups only
15-31 January: open to everyone
For this, our last issue, we're looking for stories which explore the theme of endings 🥲
1-14 January: open to authors who are members of marginalised groups only
15-31 January: open to everyone
Inner Worlds @innerworlds.bsky.social is open to submissions for Issue Ten: Marginalised Groups. #CallforSubmissions
Opened to Submissions on Duosuma: Inner Worlds @innerworlds.bsky.social
Inner Worlds @innerworlds.bsky.social is open to submissions for Issue Ten: Marginalised Groups. #CallforSubmissions
duotrope.com
December 31, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Submissions for issue 10 are open a few hours early!
For this, our last issue, we're looking for stories which explore the theme of endings 🥲
1-14 January: open to authors who are members of marginalised groups only
15-31 January: open to everyone
For this, our last issue, we're looking for stories which explore the theme of endings 🥲
1-14 January: open to authors who are members of marginalised groups only
15-31 January: open to everyone
"'Isn’t it funny', the words ring in your head relentlessly incessant, like a child sobbing loudly nearby whose wails you cannot ignore, you cannot ignore, 'I have felt your grief... but not my own'."
Read 'I Haven't Felt My Grief' by @blehwtongue.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-i-ha...
Read 'I Haven't Felt My Grief' by @blehwtongue.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-i-ha...
I Haven't Felt My Grief by Bleh 👅
Isn’t it funny, the words ring in your head relentlessly incessant, like a child sobbing loudly nearby whose wails you cannot ignore.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 31, 2025 at 11:47 AM
"'Isn’t it funny', the words ring in your head relentlessly incessant, like a child sobbing loudly nearby whose wails you cannot ignore, you cannot ignore, 'I have felt your grief... but not my own'."
Read 'I Haven't Felt My Grief' by @blehwtongue.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-i-ha...
Read 'I Haven't Felt My Grief' by @blehwtongue.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-i-ha...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
Calling all Inner Worlds writers and readers: please tell me your thoughts about mental health and speculative fiction! 🧠❤️
I've made a short survey with some prompt questions. If you have time and inclination to add any answers I would be very grateful indeed. Here's the link! www.cognitoforms.com/InnerWorlds1...
December 6, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Calling all Inner Worlds writers and readers: please tell me your thoughts about mental health and speculative fiction! 🧠❤️
Reposted by Inner Worlds
hellitself.com/pala/
Go check this out. It's my latest published short story, and it's free to read. :)
Go check this out. It's my latest published short story, and it's free to read. :)
Pala – Hell Itself
hellitself.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
hellitself.com/pala/
Go check this out. It's my latest published short story, and it's free to read. :)
Go check this out. It's my latest published short story, and it's free to read. :)
Reposted by Inner Worlds
I’ve been so excited to share this one.
Much gratitude to @nightshadesmag.bsky.social for making the blend of English/Arabic dialogue work on the page (not easy, it turns out).
It’s a tale of gaps (between languages, between worlds, and between who we are and who we ought to be). Hope you enjoy.
Much gratitude to @nightshadesmag.bsky.social for making the blend of English/Arabic dialogue work on the page (not easy, it turns out).
It’s a tale of gaps (between languages, between worlds, and between who we are and who we ought to be). Hope you enjoy.
The Wound I Watch
by Yasmeen Fahmy
Mama asks on the phone “شو شكلها؟” What does it look like?
I’m not sure how to respond.
So I start scribbling in my A6 notebook in between shifts: like a glistening wound at sunris...
www.nightshadesmag.com
December 28, 2025 at 7:47 PM
I’ve been so excited to share this one.
Much gratitude to @nightshadesmag.bsky.social for making the blend of English/Arabic dialogue work on the page (not easy, it turns out).
It’s a tale of gaps (between languages, between worlds, and between who we are and who we ought to be). Hope you enjoy.
Much gratitude to @nightshadesmag.bsky.social for making the blend of English/Arabic dialogue work on the page (not easy, it turns out).
It’s a tale of gaps (between languages, between worlds, and between who we are and who we ought to be). Hope you enjoy.
Reposted by Inner Worlds
I too have made an Awards Eligibility graphic. I had to install new software. Go me.
Here it is. I would like three of my stories from 2025 considered in 2026.
Here it is. I would like three of my stories from 2025 considered in 2026.
December 28, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I too have made an Awards Eligibility graphic. I had to install new software. Go me.
Here it is. I would like three of my stories from 2025 considered in 2026.
Here it is. I would like three of my stories from 2025 considered in 2026.
Reposted by Inner Worlds
Here's my 2025 Awards Eligibility post. 🦄✨ Thank you so much to everyone who read, published, or supported my writing journey this year! Feel free to nominate anything you liked. Thank you for your consideration.
December 22, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Here's my 2025 Awards Eligibility post. 🦄✨ Thank you so much to everyone who read, published, or supported my writing journey this year! Feel free to nominate anything you liked. Thank you for your consideration.
Reposted by Inner Worlds
"I am the oldest daughter. To look after my family, I will have to bring a leopard home. Or be married off to a man with a string of leopard teeth laced around his neck. But I am not interested in men."
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Ghost Leopard by Crystal Koo
Here in Blazing Mound, we are not adults until we have brought home a leopard.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 22, 2025 at 7:48 AM
"I am the oldest daughter. To look after my family, I will have to bring a leopard home. Or be married off to a man with a string of leopard teeth laced around his neck. But I am not interested in men."
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
"I am the oldest daughter. To look after my family, I will have to bring a leopard home. Or be married off to a man with a string of leopard teeth laced around his neck. But I am not interested in men."
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Ghost Leopard by Crystal Koo
Here in Blazing Mound, we are not adults until we have brought home a leopard.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 22, 2025 at 7:48 AM
"I am the oldest daughter. To look after my family, I will have to bring a leopard home. Or be married off to a man with a string of leopard teeth laced around his neck. But I am not interested in men."
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Read 'Ghost Leopard' by @crystalkoo.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-ghos...
#SFF
Reposted by Inner Worlds
"What do you do when you’re expected to honor the memory of someone who didn’t care for you the way you deserved?"
You can read my Reactor-recommended (!!!!) story, "If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine" in @innerworlds.bsky.social issue 9!
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-if-y...
You can read my Reactor-recommended (!!!!) story, "If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine" in @innerworlds.bsky.social issue 9!
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-if-y...
December 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
"What do you do when you’re expected to honor the memory of someone who didn’t care for you the way you deserved?"
You can read my Reactor-recommended (!!!!) story, "If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine" in @innerworlds.bsky.social issue 9!
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-if-y...
You can read my Reactor-recommended (!!!!) story, "If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine" in @innerworlds.bsky.social issue 9!
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-if-y...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
So sad to hear about @innerworlds.bsky.social closing.
It's a beautiful zine that's showcased all aspects of mental health in its stories.
They published my OCD story, "Flash/Flash/Flash". inner-worlds.ghost.io/flash-flash-...
I'll forever be grateful. Check it out.
💙📚
It's a beautiful zine that's showcased all aspects of mental health in its stories.
They published my OCD story, "Flash/Flash/Flash". inner-worlds.ghost.io/flash-flash-...
I'll forever be grateful. Check it out.
💙📚
Flash/Flash/Flash by C.J. Subko
People think OCD is hand washing and checking, counting and rubbing. That it’s all about cute quirks and endearing eccentricities. The compulsions. What bothered Helen most were the images.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 19, 2025 at 4:55 PM
So sad to hear about @innerworlds.bsky.social closing.
It's a beautiful zine that's showcased all aspects of mental health in its stories.
They published my OCD story, "Flash/Flash/Flash". inner-worlds.ghost.io/flash-flash-...
I'll forever be grateful. Check it out.
💙📚
It's a beautiful zine that's showcased all aspects of mental health in its stories.
They published my OCD story, "Flash/Flash/Flash". inner-worlds.ghost.io/flash-flash-...
I'll forever be grateful. Check it out.
💙📚
Fabulous picks, including 'If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine' by @rjaurand.bsky.social from our latest issue!
It's my last short speculative fiction spotlight column of 2025 (my Dec picks will come out in Jan). I have 10 stories to tide you through the long, dark nights and short, cold days. reactormag.com/must-read-sh...
Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: November 2025 - Reactor
Add some of the best new short fiction stories to your end of year reading lists!
reactormag.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Fabulous picks, including 'If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine' by @rjaurand.bsky.social from our latest issue!
Reposted by Inner Worlds
I have some sad news to share, folks 😔
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
Issue 10 will be our last issue
I'm sad to say that after our next issue Inner Worlds will be on indefinite hiatus 😔
When I started the zine I made myself a promise that if it harmed my health in any way, I would stop. That hasn't ...
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 18, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have some sad news to share, folks 😔
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
More sad news. It's tough to balance our need for paying jobs with the desire to share beautiful words from incredible authors. But until publishers can make a living, magazines will continue to struggle. Bills gotta get paid somehow.
You can help: go subscribe to a short fiction mag TODAY!!!
You can help: go subscribe to a short fiction mag TODAY!!!
I have some sad news to share, folks 😔
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
Issue 10 will be our last issue
I'm sad to say that after our next issue Inner Worlds will be on indefinite hiatus 😔
When I started the zine I made myself a promise that if it harmed my health in any way, I would stop. That hasn't ...
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 19, 2025 at 8:04 AM
More sad news. It's tough to balance our need for paying jobs with the desire to share beautiful words from incredible authors. But until publishers can make a living, magazines will continue to struggle. Bills gotta get paid somehow.
You can help: go subscribe to a short fiction mag TODAY!!!
You can help: go subscribe to a short fiction mag TODAY!!!
Reposted by Inner Worlds
We're reopening to submissions on January 1st.
Writers, ready your most depressing, unnerving, dislocating, horrible stories.
Writers, ready your most depressing, unnerving, dislocating, horrible stories.
December 17, 2025 at 4:36 PM
We're reopening to submissions on January 1st.
Writers, ready your most depressing, unnerving, dislocating, horrible stories.
Writers, ready your most depressing, unnerving, dislocating, horrible stories.
Reposted by Inner Worlds
Inner Worlds was full of truly thought provoking and *profoundly* moving stories that we were lucky to read, stories that expanded the limits of genre fiction.
I'm grateful to have been a part of it and wish you all the best, Sarah.
❤️
I'm grateful to have been a part of it and wish you all the best, Sarah.
❤️
December 18, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Inner Worlds was full of truly thought provoking and *profoundly* moving stories that we were lucky to read, stories that expanded the limits of genre fiction.
I'm grateful to have been a part of it and wish you all the best, Sarah.
❤️
I'm grateful to have been a part of it and wish you all the best, Sarah.
❤️
I have some sad news to share, folks 😔
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
Issue 10 will be our last issue
I'm sad to say that after our next issue Inner Worlds will be on indefinite hiatus 😔
When I started the zine I made myself a promise that if it harmed my health in any way, I would stop. That hasn't ...
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 18, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have some sad news to share, folks 😔
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-10-wil...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
"We do not know if Lepidoptera have episodic memories, or if it, too, would endure.
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Puparium by J. Y. Zhang
Jie, are you listening? I want to tell you this story the way you would want to hear it.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 18, 2025 at 9:01 AM
"We do not know if Lepidoptera have episodic memories, or if it, too, would endure.
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
"We do not know if Lepidoptera have episodic memories, or if it, too, would endure.
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Puparium by J. Y. Zhang
Jie, are you listening? I want to tell you this story the way you would want to hear it.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 18, 2025 at 9:01 AM
"We do not know if Lepidoptera have episodic memories, or if it, too, would endure.
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Ma has always believed that it would—that the caterpillar remembered itself. She had to, if she found metamorphosis beautiful at all."
Read 'Puparium' by @jyzh.bsky.social
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-pupa...
Reposted by Inner Worlds
"To nine-year-old Mumbi, this chaos was normal, a soundtrack she’d grown up inside. But deep in her chest, she knew that Jesus would come like a thief."
Read 'Mumbi and the Second Coming' by Celestine Ndanu K.
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-mumb...
Read 'Mumbi and the Second Coming' by Celestine Ndanu K.
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-mumb...
Mumbi and the Second Coming by Celestine Ndanu K.
In this part of the city, the air pulsed with noise, raw, metallic, and alive.
inner-worlds.ghost.io
December 17, 2025 at 9:33 AM
"To nine-year-old Mumbi, this chaos was normal, a soundtrack she’d grown up inside. But deep in her chest, she knew that Jesus would come like a thief."
Read 'Mumbi and the Second Coming' by Celestine Ndanu K.
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-mumb...
Read 'Mumbi and the Second Coming' by Celestine Ndanu K.
inner-worlds.ghost.io/issue-9-mumb...