Fiction

I write science fiction, fantasy, horror, humor, and occasionally mystery. Subscribe below for new story updates, or contact me at ronfein.fiction AT gmail dot com. I promise I won’t spam you.

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2025

• The Roman in the Fountain (historical comic mystery) - The Third Black Beacon Book of Mystery anthology, Apr. 2025
• 2025 reprints
• A Line in the Fading Paint (climate fiction in the Middle East), reprinted in Dragon Gems (Spring 2025) anthology, Apr. 2025 (originally published in Nonprofit Quarterly, Oct. 2023)

2024

• Submission Tracking (light dystopia, experimental format) - Neon Dystopia, Oct. 2024
• 1,001 Best Hikes on Mars: The Peterson Historic Trail ('Peterson’s Folly') (hard science fiction, experimental format) - Nature, June 2024
• 2024 reprints
• A Dragon Looks at Four Thousand (character-driven fantasy), reprinted in The Best of MetaStellar Year Three anthology (Sept. 2024), Dragon's Hoard 3 anthology (Aug. 2024), Galaxia 42 (Romanian translation) (May 2024), and Parsek (Croatian translation) (July 2024) (originally published in MetaStellar, May 2023)
• A Daronite Fence (cosmic/folk horror), produced as full-cast audio drama in The NoSleep Podcast (4:15 mark) (Oct. 2024) (originally published in Tales of Fear, Superstition, and Doom anthology, Mar. 2023)
• Upper Beta Great Alcove Very Happy (family/steganography humor), reprinted in Stupefying Stories (Mar. 2024) and Terrific Tomorrows anthology (July 2024) (originally published in Daily Science Fiction, July 2022)
• Excerpts from After-Action Interviews Regarding the Incident at Penn Station (near-future police procedural), reprinted in Troopers anthology (Mar. 2024) (originally published in Nature, June 2023)

2023

• A Line in the Fading Paint (climate fiction in the Middle East) - Nonprofit Quarterly, Oct. 2023; reprinted in Dragon Gems (Spring 2025) anthology, Apr. 2025
• Panache! (time travel murder mystery) - Factor Four, Aug. 2023
• Excerpts from After-Action Interviews Regarding the Incident at Penn Station (near-future police procedural) - Nature, June 2023; reprinted in Troopers anthology, Mar. 2024
• A Dragon Looks at Four Thousand (character-driven fantasy) - MetaStellar, May 2023; reprinted in The Best of MetaStellar Year Three anthology (Sept. 2024), Dragon's Hoard 3 anthology (Aug. 2024), Galaxia 42 (Romanian translation) (May 2024), and Parsek (Croatian translation) (July 2024)
• A Daronite Fence (cosmic/folk horror) – Tales of Fear, Superstition, and Doom anthology, Mar. 2023; produced as full-cast audio drama in The NoSleep Podcast (4:15 mark), Oct. 2024
• Clean Shot (contemporary thriller) - Mystery Tribune, Jan. 2023

2022

• The Magic Box of Le Chat Sauvage de Lyon (dieselpunk crypto)– Phantasmical Contraptions and More Errors anthology, Aug. 2022
• Time-Tested Strategies for Escaping Conversations About Elon Musk - Slackjaw, July 2022
• Upper Beta Great Alcove Very Happy (family/steganography humor) – Daily Science Fiction, July 2022; reprinted in Stupefying Stories (Mar. 2024) and Terrific Tomorrows anthology (July 2024)
• “You Idiots Really Screwed This Up”: A Message from Henry David Thoreau on the Turning of the Seasons, Climate Change, and the Purple Bladderwort – What Would Henry Do? Essays for the 21st Century, Vol. II anthology, July 2022
• Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention Concerning a Council of Oracles – Sci Phi Journal, Mar. 2022

2021

• Another Beloved Show Goes Off the Rails: The Disturbing Seasons 13-18 of “Your Child’s Life” – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Feb. 2021

2020

• Hercule Poirot Solves the Case of the COVID Comorbidities – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Sept. 2020
• Arkham Board of Health Feedback On Miskatonic University’s Draft Plan for a Safe Campus Reopening – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Aug. 2020; reprinted in LOLcraft: A Compendium of Eldritch Humor anthology (2022)
• The Broken Lives Behind the Illustrative Math Word Problems – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, July 2020
• ”Who’s Laughing Now, Assholes?”: A Letter from Henry David Thoreau to Literature Faculties at Cushy Liberal Arts Schools – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Apr. 2020; 13th-most viewed piece of 2020; republished Dec. 2020 with author interview

Older

• The Way of the Unicorn (literary) – Redivider, spring 2004; reprinted in Bookends Review (2022)
• Regrade rocked by ideological assault – Seattle Weekly, 1998