2026 started with an unexceptional month for my usual short fiction magazines, but the reason they’re my usual magazines is that they don’t tend to miss many times in a row. And I’m pleased to report that I had a lot of fun with my February reading. Let’s take a look at this month’s Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. 

Clarkesworld

All seven fiction entries in the February 2026 issue of Clarkesworld come from authors making at least their third appearance in the magazine, so there’s no shortage of established track records this month. It opens with Remember Me in the Meat by Sarah Pauling, a twisting cyberpunk revenge tale in a world where most people outsource their memory to digital augmentations and the use of organic memory is often considered an invasion of privacy. The lead has her traumas to work through after abusive past relationships, and these lead her to join with a revolutionary group seeking to strike out against the rich and powerful. But not only is her mission fraught, her relationship with the revolutionary leader may be just as much so. 

Next up is Chip by D.A. Xiaolin Spires. The first few times I read her work, I was impressed by the ambition but found myself struggling to connect the dots. The last couple entries have been a bit more straightforward, and “Chip” is no exception. It’s a friendly AI tale featuring a smart car struggling to serve its clients in the midst of stifling contractual obligations. The result is a story that’s heartwarming but doesn’t come too easily—my favorite of her work so far. 

The issue’s first novelette, Think of Me Before I Disappear by Raahem Alvi, also takes on the subject of friendly AI, only in a much more complicated manner. It’s split between two perspectives, that of a human who had unwittingly fallen in love with a hyperrealistic companion bot and that of the bot itself. While it may not deliver the clean, emotional satisfaction of the Spires tale, it’s well worth reading for the way it digs into the psychological distress of two people struggling to tell whether the love between them is real or merely programmed—and whether or not it matters. 

It’s the second novelette, however, that’s the crown jewel of the issue. Claire Jia-Wen has been writing fascinating stories for the better part of the last two years, but A Sleeper Ship Is Like a Game of Go takes it to another level. It can be difficult to parse, with significant chunks written in second-person future tense, but while it may not be a quick read, it pays off the ambitious structural choice in spades. The bulk of the story tells of a talented programmer who finds herself stuck babysitting the child of an egomaniacal tech billionaire with designs on interstellar travel. But that timeline is merely the foundation of a complex narrative of past, present, and future, structurally daring and emotionally devastating. A true gem. 

The issue returns to short stories with The Iron Piper, the eighth installment in Fiona Moore’s postapocalyptic Morag series. As with previous stories, it’s well-written and features a lead who uses her wits rather than her brawn to shepherd her community. For series regulars, it’s a solid read but not one that breaks new ground. 

Painstaking by Rich Larson stars a fugitive trying to keep himself and his brother safe from those who seek to take advantage of the organism living inside their body and giving them mind-boggling regenerative abilities. But the lead’s brother struggles to remember the most basic safety measures, and the lead has his own internal demons to fight. The result is an engaging piece that’s well-balanced between action and introspection. 

Finally, Three Fortunes on Alcestis as Told by the Fraud Baeliss Shudal by Louis Inglis Hall follows a soothsayer disguising the loss of her knack with theater and good guessing as to what her customers want to hear. But when the imperial sovereign comes for his fortune, misdirection won’t be close to sufficient. What follows is a time of heart-rending violence, punctuated by a focus on one or two individuals caught up in the maelstrom, providing a spark of hope in the midst of destruction. For those who read Hall’s “Numismatic Archetypes in the Year of Five Regents,” the focus on the fringe players in a large-scale conflict comes off similarly here, though the story here follows a little bit more traditional structure and offers a bit more light at the finish. 

The nonfiction starts with a science article about dark matter and the increasingly popular theory that it consists of myriad microscopic black holes. There are interviews with a couple veteran short fiction authors in James Sallis and Michael Swanwick. And the editorial introduces the finalists for the Clarkesworld reader poll. It’s usually a good list, but there are very few weak points this year—the Novelette/Novella shortlist in particular doesn’t include anything I rated below 16/20. Clarkesworld readers have good taste. I’m eagerly anticipating the reveal of the winners in the March editorial. 

GigaNotoSaurus 

The longish short constituting this month’s GigaNotoSaurus is the novelette The Winter of the Icebergirl by Renan Bernardo, which tackles the topic of aging superheroes. I don’t regularly read in the superhero subgenre, so I’m sure this isn’t as new to everyone as it is to me, but I found the premise fascinating. It’s told from the perspective of the granddaughter of one of Brazil’s most powerful superheroes—now living in an assisted living facility designed for superpowered individuals. But her grandmother is struggling to put aside old grudges and suspicions toward her reformed arch-nemesis, and resolving their rivalry may mean revisiting some of the most destructive bouts from the past. 

February favorites

• Three Fortunes on Alcestis as Told by the Fraud Baeliss Shudal by Louis Inglis Hall (short story, Clarkesworld)
• A Sleeper Ship Is Like a Game of Go by Claire Jia-Wen (novelette, Clarkesworld)
• Chip by D.A. Xiaolin Spires (short story, Clarkesworld)