Clockwork Phoenix 5

“Allen’s strange and lovely fifth genre-melding fantasy anthology selects 20 new short stories of unusual variety, texture, compassion, and perception. . . . All the stories afford thought-provoking glimpses into alternative realities that linger, sparking unconventional thoughts, long after they are first encountered.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

The Clockwork Phoenix anthologies offer homes to “well-written stories occupying multiple subgenres, usually in the same story, often ambiguously,” as Locus Magazine once put it.

In April, the ground-breaking, boundary-pushing, award-nominated series returns for a fifth incarnation, triumphantly risen from the ashes after another successful Kickstarter campaign. This is the largest installment yet, holding twenty new tales of beauty and strangeness.

With original fiction from Jason Kimble, Rachael K. Jones, Patricia Russo, Marie Brennan, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Rob Cameron, A. C. Wise, Gray Rinehart, Sam Fleming, Sunil Patel, C. S. E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez, Holly Heisey, Barbara Krasnoff, Sonya Taaffe, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Shveta Thakrar, Cassandra Khaw, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Rich Larson, and Beth Cato. Cover art by Paula Arwen Owen.

Table of contents:

“The Wind at His Back” by Jason Kimble

“The Fall Shall Further the Flight in Me” by Rachael K. Jones

“The Perfect Happy Family” by Patricia Russo

“The Mirror-City” by Marie Brennan

“The Finch’s Wedding and the Hive That Sings” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

“Squeeze” by Rob Cameron

“A Guide to Birds by Song (After Death)” by A.C. Wise

“The Sorcerer of Etah” by Gray Rinehart

“The Prime Importance of a Happy Number” by Sam Fleming

“Social Visiting” by Sunil Patel

“The Book of May” by C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez

“The Tiger’s Silent Roar” by Holly Heisey

“Sabbath Wine” by Barbara Krasnoff

“The Trinitite Golem” by Sonya Taaffe

“Two Bright Venuses” by Alex Dally MacFarlane

“By Thread of Night and Starlight Needle” by Shveta Thakrar

“The Games We Play” by Cassandra Khaw

“The Road, and the Valley, and the Beasts” by Keffy R.M. Kehrli

“Innumerable Glimmering Lights” by Rich Larson

“The Souls of Horses” by Beth Cato