Something is creeping up the stairs, something is standing outside the door. Something is sobbing, sobbing in the dark; something is sighing across the floor... "The Specialist's Hat" by Kelly Link is one of 27 short horror stories in Nightfire's audio anthology.Come Join Us by the Fire S2 is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.The full Table of Contents is as follows:Cassandra Khaw- "Some Breakable Things"Sarah Langan- "The Changeling"Shaun Hamill- "Music of the Abyss"Caitlín R. Kiernan- "Standing Water"Tade Thompson- "Bone"T. Kingfisher- "Origin Story"Silvia Moreno-Garcia- "The Sound of Footsteps"Laird Barron- "Jōren Falls"Damien Angelica Walters- "Tooth, Tongue, and Claw"Sunny Moraine- "If Living is Seeing I'm Holding My Breath"Matthew Lyons- "Blood Daughter"Jessica Guess- "Mama Tulu"Daniel M. Lavery- "Prodigal Son"Seanan McGuire- "Emergency Landing"Indrapramit Das - "You Will Survive This Night"‘Pemi Aguda- "Things Boys Do"Kelly Link- "The Specialist's Hat"Clay McLeod Chapman- "The Fireplace"Nibedita Sen- "Pigeons"Camilla Grudova- "Ghost Bread"Catherynne M. Valente- "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles"Brian Evenson- "The Cabin"Maria Dahvana Headley- "The Krakatoan"Craig Laurance Gidney- "Spyder Threads"Mariana Enriquez- "Things We Lost in the Fire"Gabino Iglesias- "The Song of the Lady Rose"Nick Antosca- "The Quiet Boy"

    Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 61, the story is now also available online at tor.com as an excerpt of Liu's story collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.

    When a fellow passenger on his usual train goes missing, a man begins to wonder if everything is as it seems.

    

    We love the magical realism of the story, with rich imagery that elicits all senses, and a weight that we think many people can relate to.-- Karissa Chen, Fiction & Poetry Editor

    The stories have been selected and introduced by Haruki Murakami.

    After disappearing from the Deputy Inspector's face, his nose shows up around town before returning to its proper place.

    Content advisory: violence

    A man dies suddenly and is reincarnated as a parrot. As a parrot, he struggles to find the words to say when he runs into his human wife.

    You can find this story in FOUNTAIN OF AGE by Nancy Kress.

    But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

    The longest, loneliest railroad on Earth. A North Korean nuke hitting Tokyo, a hollow asteroid full of automated rice paddies, and a specialist in breaking up “virtual” marriages. And yes, giant robots. These thirteen stories from and about the Land of the Rising Sun run the gamut from fantasy to cyberpunk, and will leave you knowing that the future is Japanese! Contributors:-Pat Cadigan-Toh EnJoe-Project Itoh-Hideyuki Kikuchi-Ken Liu-David Moles-Issui Ogawa-Felicity Savage-Ekaterina Sedia-Bruce Sterling-Rachel Swirsky-TOBI Hirotaka-Catherynne M. Valente

    After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman, and together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side through this Sisyphean of tasks.

    Cover artist: Dominique RamseyProse:GUARDIAN OF THE GODS // TOBI OGUNDIRAN - 5765 WORDSUNIFORM // ERRICK NUNNALLY - 5549 WORDSA TERMINAL KIND OF LOVE // VERONICA HENRY - 3041 WORDSYOUR ROVER IS HERE // LP KINDRED - 3415 WORDSPoetry:"Zombie of Palmares" by Woody Dismukes"Autolysis After Mentor Pursues Me While in a Relationship" by Jacqui Swift