Table of Contents October 2025
A roundup of the short fiction coming out this month

Here's the latest installment of Table of Contents, which rounds up this month's short fiction releases. You can check out the list of stories from September here (which I've updated with new links) and past installments of this series here.
Here are the short stories coming out this month:
Clarkesworld Magazine (October 2025, Issue 229)
Subscribe here.
Fiction
- "Wire Mother" by Isabel J. Kim
- The Cancer Wolves" by Fiona Moore
- Crabs Don't Scream" by H.H. Pak
- Understudies" by Greg Egan
- Giant Grandmother" by Liu Maijia, translated by Blake Stone-Banks
- The Job Interview" by Carrie Vaughn
- In Luck's Panoply Clad, I Stand" by Phoebe Barton
Nonfiction
- Space Bears and Engineering the Next Generation of Astronauts by Gunnar De Winter
- Memory, Loss, and Memory Loss: A Conversation with Rich Larson by Arley Sorg
- Technology as a Language: A Conversation with Ken Liu by Arley Sorg
- Editor's Desk: Nineteen by Neil Clarke
The Dark (October 2025, Issue 125)
Subscribe here.
Fiction
- "The Island at the End of the World" by S.L. Harris
- "Through the Woods, Due West" by Angela Slatter
- "Enselfening" by NM Whitley
- "Down to the Roots" by Neil Williamson
Dark Horses Magazine (October 2025, Issue 45)
Fiction
- "The Twisted Tale Of Prancess: A Modern Fairy Tale" by Jennifer Foxhoven
- "One Last Time For Marti" by Steven Roisum
- "Say All Before" by Mack W. Mani
- "The Swamp Devil" by Jim Wright
- "The Devil Drives A ‘66" by Wayne Kyle Spitzer
- "Swarm" by David Castlewitz
- "The Gram Directive" by Mike Scofield
- "The Invalid And The Cave" by Ginevra House
- "The Poison Dwarf’s Comeuppance" by George Larson
- "The Highest Court" by Jarek Tomszak
Fantasy Magazine (Autumn 2025, Issue 98)
Fiction
- "All of Our Mothers are Dead" by Eleanor Ball (9/26)
- "The Memory Breach" by Christian Emecheta (10/3)
- "The Dragon and the Bog" by Sunwoo Jeong (10/10)
- Fear is a Dagger" by Mateo Perez Lara (10/17)
- Knife Plus" by Tracie McBride (10/24)
- They Return" by Eleanna Castroianni (10/31)
Flash Fiction Online (October 2025, Issue 145)
Donate here.
Fiction
- “To Breach a Citadel” by Jeannie Marschall
- “A Touch of the Wild” by Anne Wilkins
- “Mushroom Aesthetic” by Aggie Novak
- “Woodsong” by Arthur H. Manners, and
- “This Is What Mouths Are For” by Parker M. O’Neill
Nonfiction
- Editorial: Mother Nature Can Be a Bitch by C.R. Langille
GigaNotoSaurus (October 2025)
Fiction
- "A Good King" by Sarah McGill
Lightspeed Magazine (October 2025, Issue 185)
Subscribe here.
Fiction
- "O Mechfighter, O Starsinger" by Osahon Ize-Iyamu (10/9)
- "At the Bottom of the Bonfire" by Martin Cahill (10/9)
- "The Porniest Porn in Porntown" by Stephen Graham Jones (10/16)
- "Dirge and Gleam" by Micah Dean Hicks (10/16)
- "Everyone Hates the Auditor" by Megan Chee (10/23)
- "Dating Fortune" by Sean McMullen (10/23)
- "Thaw" by An Owomoyela (10/30)
- "Drosera regina" by A.L. Goldfuss (10/30)
Nonfiction
- Editorial: October 2025 by John Joseph Adams (10/9)
- Author Spotlight: Osahon Ize-Iyamu by Phoebe Barton (10/9)
- Author Spotlight: Micah Dean Hicks by Delia Cullity (10/16)
- Book Review: All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu by Melissa A Watkins (10/16)
- Book Review: Signos: A Fiction Anthology of Filipino Supernatural by Tilde Acuña, John Bengan, Daryll Delgado, Amado Anthony G. Mendoza III, and Kristine Ong Muslim, eds. by Arley Sorg (10/23)
- Author Spotlight: An Owomoyela by Mayookh Barua (10/30)
- Author Spotlight: A.L. Goldfuss by Phoebe Barton (10/30)
- Book Review: The Lost Reliquary by Lyndsay Ely by Chris Kluwe (10/30)
Nightmare Magazine (October 2025, Issue 157)
Subscribe here.
Fiction
- "Courtney Lovecraft’s Book of the Dead" by Sam J. Miller (10/8)
- "Stillborn" by Shantell Powell (10/15)
- "Body? Glass" by Osahon Ize-Iyamu (10/22)
- "The Versions of Yourself That You’re Better Off Without" by Aimee Ogden (10/29)
Nonfiction
- Editorial: September 2025 by Wendy N. Wagner (10/8)
- Author Spotlight: Sam J. Miller by Devin Marcus (10/8)
- The H Word: Horror Needs Hoodoo by Beatrice Winifred Iker (10/15)
- Author Spotlight: Osahon Ize-Iyamu by Devin Marcus (10/22)
- Interview: Carson Faust by Alex Puncekar (10/29)
Reactor (October 2025)
Fiction
- "Model Collapse" by Matthew Kressel
Uncanny Magazine (September / October 2025, Issue 66)
Subscribe here.
Fiction
- "Seven Minutes in Heaven with the Electric Seraphim" by Juliet Kahn (10/7)
- "Wend-Way-Go" by Tim Pratt (10/7)
- "The Shadow on the Nest" by Alaya Dawn Johnson (10/7)
- "Caesar Says, Earthquakes Aren’t So Manifest From Space" by Jasmine Leng
(10/7) - "Dear Saturn," by Susan L. Lin
Nonfiction
- Interview: Juliet Kahn by Caroline M. Yoachim (10/7)
- The Evolution of the Vampire Image, from Nosferatu to Sinners by Del Sandeen (10/7)
- Solace in Fantasy Monster Romances and My Trans Body by Theo Kane
(10/7)
Check back at the end of the month: I'll update the links to the stories that haven't come out at the time of publication.