Wyldblood: Science Fiction and Fantasy

Next new free fiction on 9th October.

Glowbugs

Emily Dow

                                      

Hours had passed since we first set up camp, and by now the sky had darkened from its typical warm, yellow glow to a pitch-black night. It was dark, it was cold, and yet despite all I’ve had to endure, I whispered to Myra as I snuggled in closer, I’m really glad we made this trip.

The sleeping bag made it tricky, but after a minute of wrestling with the fabric, Myra managed to put an arm around me and squeeze. “Aww, baby,” she teased. “Is it your undying love for me that’s keeping you warm?

I snorted. “Who said it was for you?” I asked. Then I sighed, dropped my voice to a sultry croon, and declared where my true feelings lay. “I’m in love with them,” I said, as I pointed upwards. I watched Myra’s face closely as she followed my hand to the sky, which currently wasn’t much to behold all by itself. The clouds, which were once so pink and lovely, had transformed into ugly, intrusive shadows that kept us from seeing the stars.

But we didn’t need the stars. We had glowbugs.

It looked as if there were hundreds of them swirling around us, their spots—and if there really were hundreds of them, then there must have been thousands of those—lighting up our campsite with their multicolored glows.

I watched those rainbow lights dance through the reflection in Myra’s eyes, and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “They’re aliens, did you know that?”

“Yeah?” She exhaled softly, still transfixed. “How do you know?”

“Uhh…” I tried to remember where I heard that. “I think they did a study on them,” I explained. “This was a few years ago, and I guess the scientists found some DNA or something that doesn’t come from here.”

Myra sat up straighter. “So, where do they come from?”

Again, I pointed to the sky. “They come from above,” I intoned, then giggled. “Some far-off planet, where the sky is purple instead of yellow and they only got two suns instead of three, who knows?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two glowbugs circle around each other, lights flashing, and smiled. “I bet they shine even brighter there, too.”

“No way,” Myra said, and she shook her head to prove it. “I refuse to believe that. Just look at them.” Her hand joined mine in the air, and I laced my fingers through hers. She was right; the glowbugs were especially bright tonight.

“It’s good luck to see them glow, you know,” I told her.

“So?” She laughed, then gestured for me to continue. “Go!”

“They only show,” I said, just to finish the rhyme. “I mean, they only shine when they’re around people who are in love. And—” I gazed up at the sky— “for every spot that lights up, that means one more love-filled year for that lucky couple to look forward to.”

I looked back towards Myra, who was still looking up. “Look,” she whispered, as she brought our clasped hands closer. A glowbug was perched on the very tip of her index finger, and it was glowing bright. Together, we watched as it crawled from her hand to mine, sat there for a moment, and then took off in a rainbow streak.

“So?” Myra whispered. “How many years of luck was that?”

Our eyes met, and I didn’t answer. When we kissed, we glowed, and that was all we needed.

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Emily Dow enjoys writing and reading speculative fiction of all kinds. She has never met the Loch Ness monster.

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Glowbugs first published September 25th, 2026

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Steven French – Just a Little Chat
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Jason P. Burnham – The Water is Lava
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Erin Enley – Immunity
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Akis Linardos – Rose Loaded Gun
Sarah Jackson – Canary Glass
KT Wagner – Promise Me You’ll Stay
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Liam Hogan – Man from Mars
David Contara – My Flesh, Your Blood
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Anna Vinogradov Neidle – The Planet’s Gone to the Dogs
Julia Leef- Don’t Leave the Grim Reaper on Read
D.K. Latta – Greetings, Distant Travellers
Diego Lama – Vendetta
Sean MacKendrick – Keepers
Karl Dandenell – Ruby Throat and Gold
Laura Blackwell – In My Forest of Inky Night
Dana Vickerson – Entertain, Embrace, Eat
Emmie Christie – Appealing Skin Model
Leila Murton Poole – The Hanging VIne
Kai Delmas – Under Fire, Under Steel
Austin Shirey – Feels Like the End of the World
Rosalind Goldsmith – Weeper
J. P. Relph – Declawed
Anna Clark – Ice in the Furnace
Madalena Daleziou – Master Craftsman’s Apology
Lyndsey Croal – Space for One
Holley Cornetto – The Orchard of Dreams
Kit Campbell – Coming Home
Y.M. Resnik – Magic Is Like a Box of Chocolates
Robert Bagnall – I Was Just Doing What You Asked
Megan Baffoe – Away with the Mermaids
B.A. Booher – High Stakes
Matt Bliss – Penny Rutherford’s Super-Awesome Adventure Journal
Devan Barlow – Shaping
Jessica Andrewartha – Without a Step
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Mike Adamson – Rain Girl
Nina Kiriki Hoffman – Shifters
M. Shedric Simpson – Gods Once
Anna Madden –Broken Wing Syndrome
André Geleynse –Last-Minute Shopping List for your First Space Road Trip
Kai Delmas – Once Upon a Time
Lara Slabber – The Garment Dragon
C.C. Rayne – Days of Creation
Sandra Skalski – Dancing in the Treetops
Erin McQuaig –Fish
Linda McMullen – The Diagnostician
Eliane Boey – Scrap
Meirav Seifert – Better Than Nate
Avra Margariti – Mercurial, Like the Ocean
Lindsay Mcdonald – Faceless
Andrew Fraknoi – The Listener Between Worlds
O.S. Curran – Squandered, Spent
Elizabeth Broadbent – Atop dead Trees
Kai Delmas – All the Time in the World
Susan Cornford – Death and the Maiden
Holley Cornetto – Queen of Flowers
Tara Campbell – In the City of Chuckling Roses
Addison Smith – An Itemized List of Charitable Contributions
B. Zelkovich – Lifelike
Elizabeth Broadbent – A Map Like Constellations
Matt Krizan – Swallowed by Darkness
Dawn Vogel – Patience
David J. Thirteen – My Foolish Heart
Rick Danforth – Strawberries in Spring
Robert Bagnall – The Naming of HMS Ark Royal
Amanda Pica – After They’d Gone
Joshua Grasso – Feeding the Dark
Maura Yzmore – Barry
Jason Burnham – Just Ask Clio
Nick Wisseman – You Are What You Mage
Taylor Rae –Run with the Hunted
Eric Fomley – Intervention
Helena Pantsis – Artificial Autonomy
Daniel Lidman – Ship Astray
Andrew Kozma – The Tower of Seed and Promise
Bridget Haug – Unbounded
Jessica Wilcox – Hephaestus Clockwork
AR Turner –Drift
MM Schreier –A Mathematical Betrayal
Jason P. Burnham – Today’s Daytime Tasks
Jon Lasser – Pictures from a Hotel Room on Fire
Jacey Bedford –Mort’s Laws
Kai Delmas – A World of Broken Things
Tiffani Angus – If Wishes Were Horses
Eric Fomley – Download Day
Thomas Griffin – Pickup Artist
Judy Darley – Milk Tooth
Dylan Kwok – Vicky Cooper
Joachim Heijndermans – Please Remain Calm
Karl Dandenell –Five Things You Should Know Before Summoning a Demon
Lyndsey Croal – Nuckelavee Winter
Julie Pitzel – The Breach
Marissa James – Bite Back
Brett Abrahamsen – The Fermi Paradox
Katie jordan – When Time Runs Out
Eric Fomley – Fragmented
Tara Campbell – Ghost Wolf
Emmie Christie – Craving for Another Summer
Maura Yzmore – Custom Welding
Robert Stahl – The Trouble with Goblins
Ash Jones – New Year’s Dawn
Liam Hogan – Beginnings
Emma Lewin – Carbon Dating
David Zweifler – I Like to be Hit
Francesca Lembregts – A Line on the Map
Brick Marlin – The Rep
Charlotte Langtree – That Was Unexpected
Bridget Haug – Butterflies
Mike Murphy –Joey Salami’s Halloween
Jason Lane – Captain, Please Respond
Karl Dandenell – Final Exam, Demonology
Marge Simon – Pilgrims
Claire McNerny – Slowing Down
MM Schreier – City of Lights
Trey Dowell – Head Games
Chrissie Rohrman – The Long Way Home
J.D. Harlock –Sariya Grants a Wish
G. Ekman – Willow
Maura Yzmore – Among the Monsters
Sam Winner – Friday the 13th
Alyson Tait – A Little Monster
Brian Maycock – Curfew
Lynne Lumsden-Green – The Wager
Eric Fomley – Clone Care
Natalie Burrows – Within These Walls
Tim McDaniel – Black Friday
Liam Hogan – The Dragon Hunter
James Cato –It’s Free to Laugh
Aeryn Rudel – Rhymes With Dead
John Adams – Even Bad Guys Have Good Days in Excelsior City
Holly Schofield – Special Delivery
Danielle C. Chen – Excurmania
Eilidh Spence – Cameo
Cathleen Davies – Frankie Says Relax
Marc Ruvolo – Posthensile
Andrew Kozma – The One with the Red Door
Carys Crossen – Blood Wolf Moon
Aeryn Rudel – News from Home
Ian C Douglas – The Instant Karma Vending Machine
Craig Aitchison –Hearken
Adria Bailton – Submerged
Fija Callaghan – Last Wish
Melion Traverse – Salt and Moonlight
David J. Rank – Walking Dog
Holly Barratt –Rabbit Ears in the Laundry
Holly Rae Garcia – A Werewolf’s Lament
MK Roney – Cornerstone
Malina Douglas – The Needlecraft Guide to Averting Doom
Tova Hope-Liel – Palingenesis
Sam Winner – The Silence of the Owl
Jennifer Loring – Burn
N.E. Rule – Eye Candy
Jane Saunders – looking Back
Eric Fomley – War Crimes
Sarah Gallego –The Final Voyage of Amos
David Rogers – What We Found on the Way to Alpha Centauri
Robert Bagnall – Felis Sarcasticus
Alexander Xavier Urpi – The Pit
Russell Hemmell – Bird Masks and Leather Butterflies
Ephiny Gale –Light and Sleek and Strong
Richard Wren – In My Image
Bob Johnston – Debt
Michelle Muenzler –Neither Sleeping, nor Alive, nor Dead
Cheryl Sonnier – Wolf Whistle
Marisca Pichette – The Tail
A. P. Howell – Purple Lizard Skin
Adam Knight – Parts
Avra Margariti – College Survival Tips for Girls and Wolves
Ian Robert Krueger –It Lives
Chrissie Rohrman – Small Packages
Abigail Celeste –The Bees
Jacey Bedford – The Loneliness of the Long Distance Panda
Dawn Vogel – The Dark Forest Takes
Vaughan Stanger – In Every Dream Home

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