“Progress has to do with all mankind, not alone with the calm, the wise, and the patient. There is youth in the world, and youth is generally neither calm nor patient; it does not like to sit in the rear rows and listen to mature considerations rendered in the tone of a stock-market quotation concerning questions that are burning up its heart, itself silent; if it did, it might learn to be wise and calm,—and also ashy and inert. There is feeling in the world, and a very great quantity of it; and those who do the suffering and the sympathizing may be expected to say and to do many things not within the limits of logic.”

—Voltairine de Cleyre (1907)

Issue 2025.73

Short stories

• ‘Born of the Mountain's Chill’, Louise Hughes - art by L.E. Badillo
• ‘Bright Bleeding Girls’, J.L. George - art by Sebastian Timpe
• ‘Dare Seize the Fire’, Jennifer R. Donohue - art by L.E. Badillo
• ‘Treading Invisible Threads’, Juliet Kemp - art by Sebastian Timpe

Novelettes

• ‘The Anarchivist’, Owen Leddy - art by Ellis Bray
• ‘Wishes Slick Like Eels’, Irene Liang - art by Peter Harrison

Poetry

• ‘Dissolution’, Danielle Levsky - art by Ellis Bray
• ‘The Cassandra Effect’, M. Frost - art by Chourabitaher

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Voltairine did not write the epigraph above as an editorial for TFF, but she touches on a lot of the themes that our authors, poets and artists return to in this issue. Whether we’re talking about allegorical fantasy in which the young dare to be different even where their elders thought safety came in conformance. Or a deadly dystopian that is the setting for life-affirming need to be yourself, whatever the cost. Or existential body horror where the self-mutilating may have a chance of learning to fit in. Or indeed revisionist histories that help us fend off hopelessness, rural fantasy of magical powers sacrificed to serve the rich, irreverent mythical technohorrors, monsters who become lifesaving daredevils in the ecopocalypse, and post-apocalyptic cosy solarpunk… In any and all of these, and the art that accompanies them, we are reminded that being “calm, wise and patient” is not always the best strategy in the face of oppression. We may admonish ourselves that those who are at the hard edge of the assault on our world and our liberties don’t always have the luxury of resisting politely and conveniently. That being nice is not always a virtue.

This is the resistance we need in the harsh and frightening times in which we find ourselves. And it is beautiful.

We need fierce and brave creators like Danielle, Ellis, Irene, Jennifer, J.L., Juliet, L.E., Louise, M., Owen and Sebastian, and we’re delighted that they’re willing to use The Future Fire as the vehicle for these wonderful works.

Djibril al-Ayad, May 2025

Comment on the stories in this issue on the TFF Press blog.