Content note (click for details) Homophobia, transphobia edited by Hal Y. Zhang On October 19th, 2019, Stonewall Productions released Coming Out to Your Parents on PC and PlayStation 4. While it was the studio’s first major title, it took the gaming community by storm, selling nearly 500,000 units within the first month of its release. … Continue reading DP FICTION #132B: “The History of Coming Out To Your Parents Any% Speedrunning” by Jubilee Finnegan
edited by Amanda Helms The first god on our list wears the skull of a polar bear. The god is shrunk to the width of my little finger and almost transparent. Darkness seeps like squid ink from their eyes. “Sir,” I address the tiny god. “Can you give me an account of—?” ice, the god … Continue reading DP FICTION #131B: “The Book of Fading Gods” by E.M. Linden
written by David Steffen This year we published the long-awaited Long List Anthology Volume 9, which marked a few milestones in the anthology. The previous 8 volumes were edited by me alone, this one was co-edited by me, Chelle Parker, and Hal Y. Zhang. It also marked the first time that a story in the … Continue reading 2025 Retrospective and Award Eligibility
edited by Hal Y. Zhang Content note (click for details) Child neglect, body horror When Mama still isn’t back by morning, I leave our apartment on the twelfth floor and head for the elevator landing. Before I go, I check that my face is clean. I wet my fingers in the faucet and pat down … Continue reading DP FICTION #130A: “Our Lady of the Elevator” by Shiwei Zhou
Content note (click for details) non-consensual medical treatment; suicide and references to suicide attempts; terminal illness; body horror; references harm to children edited by Amanda Helms I ease the corpse of my beloved into the depths of the temple, clutching tightly at the shrouds that cocoon her, descending ancient stone stairs worn smooth and soft, … Continue reading DP FICTION #128B: “Resurrection Scars” by Sheila Massie
Content note (click for details) Death, grieving, medical abuse edited by Ziv Wities When Estelle Irby died (at the young age of 43), her Skin did not. When the last bit of breath left the lungs, when the heart and brain had gone quiet and the limbs still and stiff, a shudder went down the … Continue reading DP FICTION #128A: “(Skin)” by Chelsea Sutton
All Diabolical Plots stories published in 2024. For our most recent stories, click here! Issue 118 – December 2024 “St. Thomas Aquinas Administers the Turing Test,” by Mary Berman On the 25th day of the month of March in this year of our Lord 1265, I was ordered by the Most Holy Father to the … Continue reading 2024 Stories
edited by David Steffen Summer had been unseasonably hot, rats taking refuge in the covered canals where the drunk and homeless hid, and the rat-catchers had unleashed schipperkes, dogs that hunted with flared noses and bared teeth, and then Nicolaas, who had only ruled for a year, abdicated as Rat King. It fell to Hannes … Continue reading DP FICTION #123A: “The Rat King Who Wasn’t” by Stephen Granade
edited by Hal Y. Zhang Content note (click for details) Mass atrocities Date: March 10 Hours worked: 8.0 Project: Mama’s Pizza & Pasta I unmade Mama’s Pizza & Pasta today. Single-story, painted brick exterior, swaddled in garish holiday lights all year round. Same two wrought-iron tables chained out front that I used to pass on … Continue reading DP FICTION #122A: “The Unfactory” by Derrick Boden
edited by Amanda Helms Content note (click for details) This story contains a homophobic slur, misogynistic behavior, threats of violence towards queer people, and elements of body horror. The day I gun my motor, slip my Walkman in the back of my jean overalls, and roar off the dock, Ronald Reagan foots the bill. It’s … Continue reading DP FICTION #121B: “The Witches Who Drowned” by R.J. Becks
