PseudoPod

PseudoPod 1047: Growing Life is a PseudoPod original. C/W: strong body horror, death of a parent Lucy didn’t immediately notice her dead Mama in the middle of the playground. She had been busy having fun for the first time since Mama’s funeral. Sprinting like a bullet, she was a hand, a finger, a hair away from catching Evan, the fastest runner in her grade when… Source

<p>Annie's Heart is a Haunted House was first published in THE HIDEOUS BOOK OF HIDDEN HORRORS, edited by Doug Murano, and was later published in Todd Keisling’s Stoker-nominated collection, COLD, BLACK & INFINITE</p>

“Turquoise Waters” was first published in Women of the Weird West, edited by KC Grifant, in 2026 C/W: guns, misogyny, strong violence Author’s note: “I lived in New Mexico for six years where I taught Navajo, Zuni, and Hobi students in the Four Corners region. Growing up a fan of westerns, I longed to know about the other people in the West. You can read more weird… Source

“The Yellow Wall Paper” was first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. C/W:emotional abuse/control, medical gaslighting It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that… Source

PseudoPod 1043: Jerry Got Bit – Part 2 is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied child abuse, guns From the author: “One of the questions I’d always left for myself in previous stories in this setting was where Jerry the werewolf had come from. It was clear from the get-go that he was an outsider in Cecily’s family, and because of that he wasn’t necessarily welcome or… Source

PseudoPod 1042: Jerry Got Bit – Part 1 is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied child abuse, guns From the author: “One of the questions I’d always left for myself in previous stories in this setting was where Jerry the werewolf had come from. It was clear from the get-go that he was an outsider in Cecily’s family, and because of that he wasn’t necessarily welcome or… Source

PseudoPod 1041: Graves Basin is a PseudoPod original. From the author: “I’ve heard many times, from people wiser than me, that a horror writer fares best when they don’t waste their time trying to figure out what scares other people, but instead write about what scares them. So, with that in mind: I am terrified of a world where people are unable to find any value in the traditions and… Source

PseudoPod 1040: Flash on the Borderlands LXXIX (79): Ubi amor, ibi dolor is a PseudoPod original. For CWs, please see show notes below Content warnings with timings: 03:56–16:40 ‘A Table Set And Waiting’: graphic sexual content, body horror, homophobia 18:57–26:32 ‘Third Date’: dangers of dating, physical abuse 29:44–40:52 ‘You’re Still Here’: homophobia, religion… Source

“The Song of the Living” was originally published in 2025 in an anthology Tonja edited titled, “If Fists Could Speak: A Black Speculative Fiction Anthology” CW: harm to animals Please see the host commentary below for notes from the author. When the trees start to smell sharp and crisp, I know The Dead Things are coming. That warning scent perfumes the air now. Source

PseudoPod 1038: Red Ripper is a PseudoPod original. C/W reference to alcohol and drug abuse Listen, I could still stretch half you pups if I felt like it. Sit down and learn something about the business. Did I ever tell you about the Red Ripper? I got a special reason for telling about him, because he’s come back to settle up with me. I never cared who he was under… Source

“Playing Tricks” was first published in It Was All A Dream: An Anthology Of Bad Horror Tropes Done Right, edited by Brandon Applegate, and later in Angela Sylvaine’s collection, The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls C/W: mental illness, gaslighting, child abuse Dina had never seen her dad cry until the day he left. His face was puffy and wet with tears when he… Source

PseudoPod 1036: A Greater Dark is a PseudoPod original. C/W: Xenophobia, gun violence, harm to animals Gray sheets of rain as the door bangs in, Willard and his men materializing in that opaque haze and shaking the wet from their long coats. They assess the room with eyes accustomed to staring. Move across the floor and toward a table in the back… Source

“Interstate Mohinis” was originally published in Diabolical Plots (June 2023) C/W: sexual violence, cannibalism, reference to drug abuse In the way of Death runs the Vaitarani river. We are flayed open to its woe. We are always aware of its currents in gurgling lungfuls of unease. Time spun in recursive loops since I died in a scream of metal and flame and… Source

PseudoPod 1034: Only In The Dark is a PseudoPod original. The crackling sound of static fills the room as the screen lights up. We see a simple landscape with some rocks and trees. The outline of a bird appears, its wings flapping softly. The bird takes flight and the scene shifts to a small room. It looks cozy. It has big soft armchairs, shelves full of toys, a desk… Source

“Devil Is Fine” was first published in Cosmic Horror Monthly, in January 2025 C/W: strong body horror, gun violence, animal harm Author notes: “I was still pretty drunk on the experience of playing Red Dead Redemption 2 when I wrote this story and wanted to write a Weird western that took place in the plains where I’m from – and of course, add my touch of Weird/ Source

PseudoPod 1032: Flash on the Borderlands LXXVIII (78): Terraeque urbesque recedant is a PseudoPod original. C/W: racism, xenophobia, road death From the author: “Othertongue” began as a pastiche of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space,” provoked by real political rhetoric about languages from across the American borders. As it developed, it found its own voice and… Source

“Her Skin” first appeared in the anthology, They Walk Among Us: A Collection of Utah Horror (42 Books, April 2020). C/W: intimate partner abuse/control Notes contain possible spoilers: see Host Commentary below He found her in Hells Canyon. After that, my friend Oss liked to brag about how he’d gone fishing in the Snake River and caught a wife instead… Source

PseudoPod 1030: Keeping Up With the Conan Doyles is a PseudoPod original. C/W: disordered eating, fat-shaming May 22nd is Conan Doyle’s birthday and Sherlock Holmes Day Jess Whitecroft’s Patreon Cautionary Tales: Photographing Fairies From the Journals of the Society for Psychical Research. Interview with Angela Patterson, housekeeper of Latham Hall… Source

PseudoPod 1029: Feeding the Choke-Tree is a PseudoPod original. Okja “Straws,” I said. “Why straws?” “Because they’re cute, obviously,” said Foreman. “Don’t you think?” I squinted at them. Nearly a dozen were inching around his feet. As I watched, one flopped onto his boot, looking like a second shoelace. I guessed you could have called them cute—if you happened to be… Source

“All The Eyes That See” was originally published in Cosmic Horror Monthly issue #42 (ed. Charles Tyra, December 2023); it also won the 2023 Australian Shadows Award for Short Fiction. C/W: child abuse, domestic abuse From the author: “This story is me once again exploring the absolute weirdness of rural Australia, like I continue to do in my Tales From The Gulp books… Source