Editor's note
Welcome to issue three of Inner Worlds.
These fourteen short stories explore subjects including trauma, psychosis, dissociation, and compulsion, as
Things Elan Reacquainted Himself With After Breaking Out of His Single-Day Time Loop, by D. A. Straith
Content warnings
Parental emotional abuse; Trauma; Food.
1. The colour ochre, painted by the city mageguard around his front door
New Immortals, by Lex Chamberlin
Content warnings
Apocalypse; Gender dysphoria.
The steel bodies are all beautiful, and I see myself in none of them.
“It’
Written in Lace, by Samantha Rich
Guardswoman Ysris brought her along to the captain’s tent, which was exciting in a way. Teys had never been
Subsume, by Chase Anderson
Content warnings
Dissociation; Anxiety; Divided sense of self.
The advent of You was foretold by the spectral whinging of springs
Nexus, by Xan van Rooyen
Content warnings
Self harm; Alcohol; Drug use; Mentions of death.
The entry fee is paid in blood, carried in thimble-vials
Halogen Lullaby, by Shubh Mamtora
Two machines meet after a decade apart.
“I brought your things.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m leaving for the Moon tomorrow.
Inconvenient Anxiety Fish, by Priya Sridhar
Content warnings
Anxiety; Parasites mention.
Anxiety woke me with sharp nibbles. I cracked an eye open. Piranha teeth latched onto
I march—we march the Mushroom street, by Akis Linardos
Content warnings
Plague; Dissociation; Mentions of death.
We know we’ve reached the right street by the Mushrooms squeezing from
Brine and Possibility, by Devan Barlow
Familiar shouts echoed behind her as she raced through thick patches of yellow gorse, heading for the sea.
Experience had
