Short Stories

Free Online

Mulberry and Owl

A Xuya story about a deadly mindship, an oath of sisterhood and a long-gone rebellion that still left indelible marks.

The Long Tail

A story about memory and war and transfers of memories between shifts (and statistics!).

The Inaccessibility of Heaven

A noir novelette about Fallen angels, exile, and a serial killer on the loose. Ignyte Award Winner. Hugo Award finalist and Locus Award finalist.

Court of Birth, Court of Strength

A Dominion of the Fallen story (standalone). In the ruins of a Gothic Paris, a city devastated in the wake of a magical war, a young and sheltered Fallen angel goes to an older one for help in finding a missing child...

Free story: Children of Thorns, Children of Water

A Dominion of the Fallen story. Dragons infiltrating a decaying Parisian Mansion--creepy magic, banter, and chocolate eclairs! In Uncanny Magazine. 2018 Locus Award Finalist, 2018 Hugo Award Finalist.

A Salvaging of Ghosts

A Xuya story about loss, ghosts, and diving into the wrecks of mindships. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, special Science Fantasy issue, March 2016. 2017 Locus Award Finalist.

Crossing the Midday Gate

A Xuya universe story, published in Athena Andreadis's To Shape the Dark. Reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine.

Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight

A Xuya universe story, published in Clarkesworld Magazine in January 2015. Winner of the BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction. Locus Award Finalist, Best Short Story.

The Breath of War

A Xuya science fantasy story published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, March 2014. Finalist for a Nebula Award for Best Short Story (2014).

The Moon Over Red Trees

Historical fantasy set in colonial Indochina, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies October 2014

Ship’s Brother

A Xuya universe story, reprinted in Clarkesworld, January 2014.

Immersion

A Xuya universe story. Winner, Locus and Nebula Award, 2012; shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the British Science Fiction Association Award, 2012.

The Shipmaker

A Xuya universe story. Winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award, 2010.

The Lonely Heart

A retelling of "The Painted Skin" set in modern-day China, reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine January 2015.

The Waiting Stars

A Xuya universe story. Nebula Award for Best Novelette, 2013. Shortlisted for the Hugo and Locus Award, 2013.

Stories for Purchase

Pearl

A Xuya short story about low-level artificial intelligences, in Navah Wolfe's and Dominik Parisien's The Starlit Wood.. 2017 Locus Award Finalist.

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The Dust Queen

A near-future science fiction story, published in Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan, Solaris Books (June 2014). Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2014.

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Where to buy

Amazon US

Other Stories