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Lia Lao

@thelialao.bsky.social
402 followers 392 following 242 posts

literary & speculative fiction writer | short stories in podcastle, otherside, haven spec | clarion west nww, granta '26 | viable paradise ‘25 | she/her 🥝 🦘 on gadigal land thelialao.com

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Orion's Belt magazine @orionsbeltmagazine.bsky.social · 13h
Fiction ft. "The Night of the Thinnest Veil" by Wen Wen Yang @muteddragon.bsky.social "The earthly realm’s voices would grow muffled for the deceased relatives to be heard." Read it here: tinyurl.com/nightoftheth...
tinyurl.com
The Night of the Thinnest Veil — Orion's Belt
Wen Wen Yang
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Rio Lombana @riolombana.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Have you heard of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus? You know, the Great One who moves beneath the earth? No? Well, if you want to hear the Word of Our Tentacled Lord and Savior, my short story "Other Gods" is published today in the inaugural issue of the Pacific Northwest Gothic magazine.
pnwgothic.com
volume one - PACIFIC NORTHWEST GOTHIC
Samples from Volume I Lapis Corvos Allie MariniPoetry Allie Marini is a former Florida woman now living in the PNW. She is a cross-genre writer, visual artist, maker, and tarot reader. She runs Creepy...
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Karen Lord @drkarenlord.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🎉🎉🎉🍾 yay @annaleen.bsky.social and @older.bsky.social !! Thanks to everyone who voted for WE WILL RISE AGAIN!
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Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Guys, I’m speechless. Gonna be sharing this award with my 8-year-old since this poem was inspired by their question “why do we never see fireflies in the winter?” Huge thanks to the Ignyte organizers, all the voters/readers, and to @thedeadlands.com for giving this one a wonderful home!
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Abhijeet @bingingout.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Do you like video games? Past and future lives? Decision paralysis? If you answered yes to any of those, my story "New Game Plus" in Adventitious #5 is definitely for you www.adventitious.net/product/adve...
adventitious.net
Adventitious — Issue Five (October 2026) - Adventitious.
The fifth issue of Adventitious. Digital edition including PDF and EPUB formats.
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Lia Lao @thelialao.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
the point of writing has always been the writing for me. AI authored work is like turning up to a bake-off with a store brought cake. it’s a complete misunderstanding of why anyone would do anything
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Charles (Cy) Payseur @cypayseur.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🏳️‍🌈SOME QUEER SHORT SFF - AUGUST 2026🏳️‍🌈 I round up over 10 stories by @elijah.mea.rs @sylvie-althoff.bsky.social @mariness.bsky.social @thelialao.bsky.social @ellisnyeland.bsky.social @chpearcewrites.bsky.social @tinaconnolly.bsky.social & MORE!!! www.patreon.com/quicksiprevi...
patreon.com
Some Queer Short SFF - August 2026 | Charles Payseur
Hi all! The year continues to be a difficult for me personally but I’m still happy to be able to help spread the news about some recent quee
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Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I had 4 new stories come out in the same two weeks (yay promo burnout!). Here's a thread of everything I had out in March: 1) “What We Mean When We Talk About The Hole In The Bathroom” in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social (love, marriage + liminal spaces) www.uncannymagazine.com/article/what...
What We Mean When We Talk About the Hole in the Bathroom
BY ANGELA LIU IN UNCANNY MAGAZINE ISSUE SIXTY-NINE | 3483 WORDS

After dinner, the woman and her husband argue about the hole in their bathroom.
It's not such a big hole. Two feet by two feet, the kind you might drop your garbage into every Thursday night and never think about where it goes. The kind just large enough for an adult to climb into and never be seen again.
"Are you going to touch it?" the husband asks as the woman leans in across the bathtub. They can hear the neighbors' television on the other side of the wall, the canned studio laughter, but the hole sits flat on that same wall, a perfect circular black painting-except for the damp wind blowing out of it that smells of wet soil and river water.

(full story: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/what-we-mean-when-we-talk-about-the-hole-in-the-bathroom/)
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Scylla Publishing @scyllapublishing.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
COVER REVEAL! The amazing @annalisejensen.bsky.social worked on this, along with @ellatholmes.bsky.social, and the result is astounding. It truly captures the essence of the book we and all the contributors created. Here is 'Who Am I? Sapphic Speculative Fiction of Identity & Purpose! So proud. 📚🪐
A green background with a blue circle. Inside is the cover of a book with animated figures, titled "Who Am I? Sapphic Speculative Fiction of Identity & Purpose with the title "Cover Reveal".A green background with a blue circle. Inside is the cover of a book with animated figures, titled "Who Am I? Sapphic Speculative Fiction of Identity & Purpose. It shows the front cover and spine.
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Charles (Cy) Payseur @cypayseur.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
TELL ME YOUR 🏳️‍🌈QUEER SHORT SFF🏳️‍🌈 OUT IN AUGUST 2026!!! Originals only pls, up to novella in length, indie okay. Just reply with the author, title, and a link to read and/or buy and I'll get them on the list. Here's July's list for context & more info: www.patreon.com/quicksiprevi...
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Abhijeet @bingingout.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I'm in this picture and I like it
Screenshot of top 3 stories in the NYC Midnight 2026 short story competition. 3rd one is me!
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Haven Spec Magazine @havenspec.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
As you read for award nominations this year, please consider the short story "Magical Girl: Corporate Failure" by Lia Lao / @thelialao.bsky.social in our ✨January 2026 issue✨! Find it here: havenspec.com/fiction/magi... (Art by @aimeecozza.com)
An excerpt of the short story "Magical Girl: Corporate Failure" by Lia Lao, in Issue 21 of Haven Spec Magazine (January 2026). The background is the issue's cover art, titled Pile, by Aimee Cozza. It shows a figure with blood around their mouth and on their neck and chest, cuddling a pack of wolves.
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Sydney Paige Guerrero (she/her) @sydneyficant137.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
"Remade, Reshaped, Remembered" is very close to my heart & it's been amazing to see how it's been resonating with readers. It's even cooler to see it appear in the latest Locus column alongside so many other great Otherside stories!!! Thank you so much to @mariahaskins.com for your kind words 🥹💜
Locus review of my story "Remade, Reshaped, Remembered"Recommend stories from Locus
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Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
One of my most personal stories, "Kwong's Bath," is out now in @podcastle.org with a moving narration by Pine Gonzalez. It's about siblings, the ghosts we live with, and takes place in the same world as my story, "Barbershops of the Floating City." So happy to see this one get a second life 🛀
podcastle.org
PodCastle 960: Kwong's Bath - PodCastle
Kwong’s Bath by Angela Liu     The visits start a week after Kwong’s first surgery. Despite the stinging January cold, the high school boyfriend sits on the tiled floor in his boxers, scrubbing the ba...
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J.N. Howell @jnhowell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
🥲 Feeling very honoured for the @locusmag.bsky.social review and shoutout for my story "First to Rot" (and the other amazing @othersidespec.bsky.social stories!).
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M.R. Robinson @mruthrobinson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I jumped out of my seat and had to take a lap around the house when I first saw FOUR recommendations for @othersidespec.bsky.social stories in this issue of Locus. If you haven’t yet, give these stories a read! They’re “devastating,” “luminescent,” “heartbreaking.” othersidespec.com/issues/issue...
Screenshot that reads

Recommended Stories
"Before She Knew About Magic", Joshua Geller Schwartz (Otherside 6/26)
"First To Rot", J.N. Howell (Otherside 6/26)
"Remade, Reshaped, Remembered", Sydney Paige Guerrero (Otherside 6/26)
"This Is C(lone)-Pop", Lia Lao (Otherside 6/26)
"Fletcher's Flights", Jonathan Olfert (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 6/11/26)
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Lia Lao @thelialao.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
still so surreal to have my @othersidespec.bsky.social story “this is c(lone)-pop” recommended in @locusmag.bsky.social 🥹😭 thank you @mariahaskins.com for your kind words
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Adria Bailton @adriabailton.com · 07/09/2026
Have you read? This Is C(lone)-Pop be Lia Lao at Otherside This takes parasocial relationships to a new level. Also made me think of "It Doesn't Matter Why" by Silversun Pickups othersidespec.com/pieces/this-...
othersidespec.com
This Is C(lone)-Pop - OTHERSIDE
You’re only this young and usable once, so you have to make the most of it. At least that’s what your perfect, omniscient parents say. As the founders of CL-1, Neo-Shanghai’s largest genetic…
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Scylla Publishing @scyllapublishing.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We are about to embark on an extremely small, closed ARC process (with eARCs only!). ARC expressions of interest will be offered exclusively to mailing list subscribers later this week. If you’re interested, sign up to the newsletter at scyllapublishing.com/newsletter
scyllapublishing.com
Scylla Publishing Newsletter Signup — Scylla
Sign up for the latest news from Scylla Publishing, including behind the scenes info, cover reveals, ARC and street team signups, design sneak peeks and giveaways.
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Lia Lao @thelialao.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
procrastinated so hard i started translating song dynasty poetry someone get me out 😭😭😭
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Lia Lao @thelialao.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
so honoured to see “rice farmer” featured in tar vol on’s august roundup! 🥹🤍🌾 been super tired lately but this made my day
others i enjoyed in august

revolutions, as told by a humble rice farmer (2026 short story) by lia lao. the conceit of telling of seismic geopolitical shifts through the eyes of those on the margins is an appealing one, and this one manages to introduce a compelling central character even when he’s only indirectly touched by those changes.
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OTHERSIDE @othersidespec.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
ICYMI: Our 2027 reading schedule is here! Instead of brief quarterly openings, we'll have two longer windows... and you can submit twice in each! 🗡️ December 1, 2026 - January 31, 2027 🪐 June 1, 2027 - July 31, 2027 Same number of subs for authors + a smoother process for our team. We can't wait!
A graphic with a purple backround that reads:

Mark Your Calendars! 
December 1, 2026 - January 31, 2027
open to submissions for Issues 5-6!

June 1, 2027 - July 31, 2027 
open to submissions for Issues 7-8!
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M.R. Robinson @mruthrobinson.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Very grateful to see such a kind review and a recommendation for this bleak/weird/ugly story: “Lightspeed’s June issue kicks off in grand style with ‘Ghost in the Tank’ … It’s a vividly told story about a world, and a relationship where every good moment feels stolen, broken, and, eventually, lost.”
lightspeedmagazine.com
Ghost in the Tank - Lightspeed Magazine
The first time you killed me, I cried like a baby. Stupid, stupid, to cry over something make-believe—stupid and ugly and pathetic, too, when already the only thing I wanted in the world was for you ...
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Sam W. Pisciotta @swpisciotta.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
So proud of this story produced by Folded Space and brilliantly narrated by @nikolledoolin.bsky.social. “The Last Astronaut” is a dark sf story about the nature of memory and the yearning for home. Give it a listen!
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Abhijeet @bingingout.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
My issue of @tasavvurnama.bsky.social is in this! Thank you @mariahaskins.com for your time and your kind words.
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Wen Wen @muteddragon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I missed this release while I was at WorldCon. Pine does an amazing narration, like the "Worse than a Wolf" episode.
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Abhijeet @bingingout.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"Seneschal of Shattered Tor" is a postcolonial high fantasy about a society trying to Be Better* and the leaders dragging them into the future. I hope you enjoy it! * T&C apply
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p.v. vamsidhar 🌞 @pvvamsidhar.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
this one is genuinely sooo gorgeous and brilliantly told go read it neow
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Sam W. Pisciotta @swpisciotta.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
“The Last Astronaut” (originally published in Cosmic Horror Monthly) is releasing in episode 2 of Folded Space podcast!! So excited to listen 🎉
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Charles (Cy) Payseur @cypayseur.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
🏳️‍🌈SOME QUEER SHORT SFF - JULY 2024🏳️‍🌈 I round up over 40 stories by @spacevalkyries.bsky.social @jelliclejay.bsky.social @rfdwrites.bsky.social @elijah.mea.rs @remedy.bsky.social @spocksbrain.bsky.social @christinehanolsy.com @mercwolfmoor.bsky.social & MORE!!! www.patreon.com/quicksiprevi...
patreon.com
Some Queer Short SFF - July 2026 | Charles Payseur
Well, July marked another huge month for queer spec fic, led by Baffling Magazine and a news trans SFF anthology. But even without those the
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Ai Jiang || 江艾🎐 @aijiang.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
tis official!! a new book coming to y’all 2028 with @erewhonbooks.bsky.social / @kensingtonbooks.bsky.social 🥺🤍👻 background art: Da Huang Chan 💫
Publishers marketplace deal announcement for Ai Jiang’s VESSEL EATER
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claire jia-wen @clairejiawen.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
so delighted to be in this, still wrapping my head around it :^)
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✨ Zandra Illustration ➜ Shop Open @shop.zandraillustration.com · 25/08/2026
I am 100% serious when I say that having an optimistic outlook of the future is an effort to maintain when we're bombarded with bad news, horrific actions & constant harm. You have to show up and do the mental work. You have to hope when it looks hopeless. You have to believe people are worth it.
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Fusion Fragment @fusionfragment.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
FFer Read of the Day: "Magical Girl: Corporate Failure" by @thelialao.bsky.social in @havenspec.bsky.social havenspec.com/fiction/magi...
havenspec.com
Magical Girl: Corporate Failure, Haven Spec Magazine
"Magical Girl: Corporate Failure" by Lia Lao
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Nishka (she/her) @ek-nishka.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I would read seven books about this random rice farmer
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Charles (Cy) Payseur @cypayseur.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
TELL ME YOUR 🏳️‍🌈QUEER SHORT SFF🏳️‍🌈 OUT IN JULY 2026!!! Originals only pls, up to novella in length, indie okay. Just reply with the author, title, and a link to read and/or buy and I'll get them on the list. Here's June's list for context & more info: www.patreon.com/quicksiprevi...
patreon.com
Some Queer Short SFF - June 2026 | Charles Payseur
Hi all! I’m still a mess in general but the show continues, this month with works from June—and there are quite a few, thanks in large part
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Rukman Ragas | ருக்மன் @rukmanragas.com · 19/08/2026
New poem release for me! "There are lonely things in the forest", my poem about absence and climate grief is out at @thedeadlands.com today. psychopomp.com/deadlands/is...
psychopomp.com
There are lonely things in the forest / Rukman Ragas / Psychopomp
Read There are lonely things in the forest, by Rukman Ragas, a poem from Issue 43 of The Deadlands, summer, 2026.
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claire jia-wen @clairejiawen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
i beta read this one and it slaps 🥰🥰🥰
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Rio Lombana @riolombana.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
ime nonviolent communication can solve a lot of relationship problems. but, um. not all of them. at least, not problems that ride in with the storm and settle into the whites of your girlfriend's eyes ...anyway, please enjoy Kaitlin's and my cowritten sapphic horror story, it's free to read!
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Angela Liu @angelaliu.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It’s Obon season, so here’s my @uncannymagazine.bsky.social poem to all the ghosts returning home again.
uncannymagazine.com
there are no taxis for the dead - Uncanny Magazine
The horse brings you home wading through summer rain, reminds you             not to stare too long at the halo of light the flicker of streetlamps, metal heads bowed over fogged streets your bad knee...
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Rio Lombana @riolombana.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
You can read my story "The Mortification and Ecstasy of Sally Colt, Deserter and Outlaw" on Small Wonders today! ...unless you're tired of stories about toxic lesbians in mech suits. Then I suppose I'd advise you stay far away from this one.
smallwondersmag.com
The Mortification and Ecstasy of Sally Colt, Deserter and Outlaw - Small Wonders
My mech suit is my Lady, my love, my metallic goddess of war. I thought Her eternal, fused forever to my body and soul, but now nothing speaks in my mind but the screaming terror of imagining a lifeti...
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Wen Wen @muteddragon.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
"That Summer at Aunt Jackie’s Alpaca Farm" was written at Viable Paradise with the prompt of cottage core and alpacas. I added eldest sibling angst and magical wool. Enjoy!
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Haven Spec Magazine @havenspec.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Our ✨July 2026 issue✨ is now free to read online! Here is a thread of everything inside it. Please read it and please spread the word! havenspec.com/issues/issue... 🧵
Cover of Haven Spec Magazine, Issue 24, published July 2026.

Fiction in the issue is by R.L. Meza, Lora Gray, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, and Dan Peacock.

Poetry in the issue is by Arden Baker,
H.V. Patterson, Christopher Leigh Silverberg, and Anna Madden.

The cover art is titled "Finally, some sleep" and is by Caleb Worcester. It features an astronaut lying comfortably on a cloud high above the lights of a city.
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OTHERSIDE @othersidespec.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Our Issue 3 TOC is HERE and it is AMAZING 🪐 🗡️ Seven pieces of original fiction, four poems, two reprints, and a special guest essay come together in an issue full of desperation and longing. We can't wait for you to read it in September! More details in the 🧵(1/7)
White text on a blurry red and orange background. Text reads:

Issue 3, September 2026

Original Fiction

One Floor, One Phoenix - Crystal Koo
Wine-Dark - Cyrus Amelia Fisher
His Face, in the End, Inches From Mine - Elijah J. Mears
Ivan Ivanovich - Kristina Ten
Field Notes on Liturgical Rites, Co-Authored Li and Albrecht - Mina Yeh
The Illuminated World - Rebecca Schneider
This Is Not a Place of Honor - RJ Aurand

Nonfiction
a special essay from Theo Marcial!White text on a blurry red and orange background. Text reads:

Issue 3, September 2026

Original Poetry
The Clay King - Arda Mori
Tiktaalik Rosae, or, If We Were the Earliest Example of a Link Between Fish and Tetrapods Would You Climb onto the Mudflats with Me? - Kym Deyn
Feral thing in a lightbox - Madeleine Poole
trans/formative - Nico Martinez Nocito

Reprint Fiction
The Monster at the End of This Film - Algae Ross
BLIGHT - Samir Sirk Morató
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Specialist_K @thevaliantone.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
—into the narrative. Chef’s kiss. I’m going to have to re-read it often. THANK YOU!
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Specialist_K @thevaliantone.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
UGHHH I almost threw my phone when I read “nothing real requires belief.” Please know that I was blown away by the layers, the soft unfocused decentering of court politics except when & where they intercepted one man and his rice paddies. And the frankly normalized queer reality intrinsically woven—
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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · 12/08/2026
For me it was a mix of both, knowing how the next paragraph of the story would go if the story kept going... but also how a next chapter would go...and then wondering, what would the main character make of the present day? bsky.app/profile/thel...
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Haven Spec Magazine @havenspec.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
ICYMI, "Magical Girl: Corporate Failure" is a short story in our 🌟January 2026 issue🌟 by @thelialao.bsky.social about what happens *after* the battle is done and the world gets saved. Read this one for its Magical Girls, queer love, and the travails adulting havenspec.com/fiction/magi...
An excerpt of the short story "Magical Girl: Corporate Failure" by Lia Lao, in Issue 21 of Haven Spec Magazine (January 2026). The text reads:

The problem with saving the world at sixteen is that you’re doomed to chase that high for the rest of your life. You’ll fall asleep tossing and turning, dreaming of tiaras that cleave through bone, sky-high heels you can land spinning kicks in, and blood splattering across your face—thick, black, and pungent, like decay settling into your skin. 

And when you wake each morning to the tinny, lifeless pulse of your alarm, you’ll wish that your limbs actually ached, that the claw marks...

The background is the issue's cover art, titled Pile, by Aimee Cozza. It shows a figure with blood around their mouth and on their neck and chest, cuddling a pack of wolves.
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Specialist_K @thevaliantone.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This story was so good! Please click the link to read it or hear it narrated by Curtis C. Chen: • “Then tell me. What do you believe in?” Li Shen hates the way Simo is looking at him. Heavy, intent. “Nothing real requires belief. Not the grass. Nor the sun,” Li Shen replies.
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Rukman Ragas | ருக்மன் @rukmanragas.com · 11/08/2026
Rice Farmer is Lia's most stunning story to date (and you should believe me because I've read a lot of stunning Lia stories)
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