CURRENT ISSUE
AUGUST 2025
SYLVESTER IS AN ASSHOLE
AND MUST DIE
By Calie Voorhis
Grief’s name is Sylvester and he follows me around the room howling. He showed up the week after you died and he won’t leave me alone. Sometimes he pees on things I like (my old leather grimoire, my collection of topaz crystals, the blanket that smelled like you, your stack of letters, tied with a blue ribbon), things you liked (the ratty wizard’s hat you loved so much, your tattered robes, the potted witchwort, your degree from Majicorum University, covered in coffee stains). He just gives me a sideways look out of his giant eyes and pisses great streams that puddle and crystallize.
He howls all night long and the neighbors complain.
He follows me around town, a black shadow behind my back and my neighbors avoid me.
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I hate Sylvester, but the wizard says until we become friends, I’m stuck. That’s how grief works.
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I’m going to kill Sylvester.
Cover Art by Grace Crandall
FICTION
Sylvester is an Asshole and Must Die
by Calie Voorhis
Damage Abatement
by Dawn Vogel
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Speak
by Nico Martinez Nocito
The Black Dragon
by Robert Bagnall
Too Late Never
by Ken Foxe
POETRY
Breathing Mist
by R.K. Duncan
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Of Dawns and New Poems
by Eva Papasoulioti
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Hanging Gardens of the Moon
by Mary Soon Lee
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False Dandelion
by Josh Pearce
Saturn and I
by Kelley Tai
ESSAYS & INTERVIEWS
Interview with Mathew Holness
Interview with Paolo Bacigalupi
THE VAULT
FROM THE EDITOR
Captives of the Theive-Star
by James H Schmitz
Letter from the Editor
by Tristan Evarts
5TH ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY
Utopia is not the end of progress, but the first step on an even bigger journey. Dare to leap into a world where hope defines us.
Utopia Science Fiction Magazine’s mission is to publish stories that shine with a more optimistic future, one we all want to believe in. This anthology collects some of the best stories published from 2019-2023.
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Included in this special five year anthology are exclusive interviews with staff and volunteers, introductions to the stories and poems by the authors themselves, and interviews with amazing talent such as James Gurney and Joe Haldeman. This book also includes gorgeous new artwork commissioned especially for this anthology.
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Authors Included: Krysten Lipp * Jessica Andrewartha * Penny Sebring Leigh * Kara Race-Moore * Dawn Vogel * Gabrielle Bleu * Adam Slavny * Loren Hall * Gwen C. Katz * Patrice Sarath * Raima Larter * Calie Voorhis * Alex Singer * Karl El-Koura * Timothy Hickson * Mahmud El Sayed * Andrew Najberg * Clare L. Deming * Nadine Aurora Tabing * Kelly Kurtzhals Geiger * Sterling Warner * LindaAnn LoSchiavo * Louis Gallo * Carmen Lucía Alvarado * Christopher Collingwood * Lisa Timpf * Elizabeth R. McClellan * Lynn White * Avra Margariti * Colleen Anderson * Lorraine Schein * Kim Whysall-Hammond * Eva Papasoulioti * Januário Esteves * Lauren McBride * Brian Hugenbuch * Jordan Hirsch * Beth Cato and Rhonda Parrish