“Misericorde,” forthcoming from Kaleidotrope, 2023
“From Identifying the Tripoda: A Preliminary Report,” forthcoming from Tree and Stone, 2022/2023 (A Silververse story.)
Enchanted mirrors are making a comeback. That’s not necessarily a good thing, Fantasy, 2023.
Carnival Ever After, Apex, January 2023. Dark fantasy.
Notes on The Seventh Battle of the Queen of the Ruby Mists, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2023. (A Silververse story.) Fantasy.
Wallers, Nightmare, December 2022. Horror.
Recommended, Paula Guran, Locus
Footnotes from “Phosphates, Nitrates and the Lake A Incident: A Review, Reckoning 6, August 2022. (A Silververse story.) Science fantasy.
A Very Little Something, in Lamplight, June 2021. Horror.
This Is the Moment, Or One of Them, Apex Magazine, May 2021
An intimate examination of relationships and loss…Beautifully and sensitively told. Lora Grey.
…a story with both subtle nuance and profound consideration of life choices. Just read it. Paula Guran, Locus.
…creates a tangible claustrophobia with words and actions, with this oppressive sense of destiny caused by the illusion of choice. Really fantastic story, it actually kept me up at night thinking about the repercussions. Paul Jessup, Vernacular Books
…one of the more viscerally heartbreaking things I have read in the last year. So relatable. So real, even steeped in sci-fi. Jordan Kurella.
A gutting and visceral story about a person trying to change their life….a gripping, shattering read that’s powerfully and beautifully told. Charles Payseur.
Tweeting, Translunar Travelers Lounge, February 2021
Adorable and hilarious and just amazing. Charles Payseur.
This is great. Naomi Kritzer.
It’s a neat experiment with form, but also a fun story in its own right. Fred Coppersmith.
Oh, I loved this! It’s so clever, and also manages to be a bit poignant? Vanessa Fogg.
I’m a big fan of stories that play with form and medium, and this one is excellent and great fun! David Levine.
Wonderfully fun, experimental story in Twitter format. Read, read, read! R.S.A. Garcia
Rockshell, Dim Shores, February 2021
….once in the rhythm of it it really won me over; ran a very real risk of crossing from nicely sad to abjectly miserable but kept just this side of it. Grows on me the more I think about it. Goodreads commenter.
Listed on Ellen Datlow’s “Recommendations for Best Horror #14.”
“A Preliminary Study of Humans Under Beastly Enchantments and Covid-19,” Departure Mirror Quarterly, January 2021. Now available at Medium. A Silververse story.
It’s a great imaginary romp covering a bunch of capsule scenarios. Karen Burnham, Locus.
I’ve been avoiding covid-related fiction, but this one had such a sense of humor and intriguing setup that I couldn’t step away. Gabrielle Bleu.
And the Green Water Waiting, Fusion Fragment, September 2020
The Ruby of the Summer King, Uncanny, July/August 2020
Locus Recommended: ….another strange and lovely weird piece, with very much the flavor of a fairy tale. Rich Horton
…an enchanting fairy tale…Charmingly melancholy. Paula Guran, Locus.
And it’s a lovely, strange, magical read that’s just delightful while being tinged in a certain grimness. A great read! Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews.
…such a gorgeous fairy tale….This is exactly what I wanted to read tonight. Eleanor Glewwe.
An absolutely gorgeous fairy….about a Summer King and a Winter Queen, about seasons and months and impossible love. Vanessa Fogg.
It’s a story that takes fairly well-worn tropes and makes something that feels fairly timeless, but which nevertheless had me feeling that I genuinely didn’t know how everything was going to turn out. Adri Joy, Nerds of a Feather.
I loved this story. Our Thoughts Precisely.
On the 2020 Locus Recommended Reading List
Great Gerta and the Mermaid, Lightspeed, July 2020
The authorial voice in this story was amazing and I loved how meta it was. The CuriousSFFReader.
It’s a jaunty and boisterous tale, lively and fun, steamy and just a bit tragic (like all the best Peter Pan stories). Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews.
…a delightful romp about lady pirate love, Peter Pan, and of course… mermaids. Sam J. Miller.
… perfectly written, even if you know how it’s going to end. Sam Tomaino, SFRevu
The style of an academic continually interrogating different sources will work better for some readers than others, but the denouement fleshes out the story quite well. Karen Burnham, Locus.
A fun story about about one of Hook’s pirates, Great Gerta. KindleWorm.
A Selection of Drinks from the Courts of the Five Silver Moons and the Seven Red Stars, Lackingtons, June 2020. Fantasy. A Silververse story.
Not what I anticipated when I began reading it. Very surprised by my own reaction by the time I finished. Has a sprightful impact, something ethereal. The overall effect is both charming and delightful. Struck me as highly original, a teasing glimpse of the fantasy setting imagined by the author. Very satisfying prose poetry. Left me smiling.
R. Graeme Cameron, Amazing Stories
And it’s a great fairy story, full of magic and sharp shadows that will cut the unwary, that will devour the unprepared.
Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews.
A “Five Silver Moons” story.
The Girl and the House, Nightmare, April 2019. Horror.
….a delightful and dark take on haunted houses and in some ways on tropes and genres. It steers a course through the troubled waters of literary baggage with confidence and power and doesn’t bother looking back. A fine read!
Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews
I’ve reread this story several times over the last month because it’s just so damn good… It’s wonderfully refreshing, particularly the fierce feminist undercurrent.
Alex Brown, Tor.com
An interesting look at the gothic novel clichés with a bizarre conclusion.
Sam Tomaino, SFRevu.
…both protagonist and author are able to bring something new, dark and wonderful into the world.
Tara Grimravn, Tangent Online.
both subverts and glorifies the clichés and tropes of every gothic novel ever written, in less than 1,800 words, with the delightful “The Girl and the House“.
Paula Guran, Locus
Gorilla in the Streets, Diabolical Plots, April 2019. Science fiction/weird fiction. Available in Diabolical Plots, Year Five at Amazon and Kobo.
….there’s a certain charm throughout, through the framing of the journalist’s interview, through the way the voice works to capture just the kind of article that would look at the celebrity of wealth and try in turn to make money off it. It’s a fascinating read, and definitely one to spend some time with!
Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Previews
“Purchases,” in The Internet is Where the Robots Live Now, Paper Dog Books, November 2018. Science fiction.
Shadows and Bells, Kaleidotrope, January 2018.
Every sentence is gorgeously shaped and polished.Myth and fantasy, fairy tale and reality, combine to create a deeply moving story about death and life, love and longing, and making choices that change everything—even who and what you are. A dark, gleaming gem of a story. – Maria Haskins, Barnes and Noble.
This is one of those stories which it is just a pleasure to savor the words. Beautiful. Sam Tomaino, SFRevu
You Will Never Know What Opens, Lightspeed, December 2017. Fantasy. (This previously had the awful title of “The Doors.”) Also available in ebook form here.
The standout in the December Lightspeed is “You Will Never Know What Opens” by Mari Ness, a portal fantasy about a house with many doors to many worlds. – Rich Horton, Locus.
…it’s a fun piece with a sort of yearning pull to it, a want to find something that will be perfect, and yet also being okay if that never happens, because the looking is its own reward. A fantastic way to close out the issue! – Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews
…a delightful, thoughtful portal story about all the doors that lead elsewhere. And it has cookies! I love this. – A. Merc Rustad.
The Cat Signal, Daily Science Fiction, September 2016. Mostly fantasy/humor.
Dragonbone, Daily Science Fiction, July 2016. Fantasy.
Coffee, Love, and Leaves, Capricious SF, July 2016. Contemporary fantasy.
“Mistletoe and Copper,” An Alphabet of Embers, Stone Bird Press, July 2016. Fairy tale. Available through Amazon here.
“… strike[s] with a ragged edge, the character’s desperation and grief thick as congealing blood.” – Charles Payseur, Nerds of a Feather.
Deathlight, Lightspeed, May 2016. Science fiction. Links for purchasing the issue here.
It’s a subtle story, layering relationships and care, and building a scene that is claustrophobic and expansive at the same time. – Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews.
Brilliant writing, an original idea, and fantastic prose – Maria Haskins.
…does an excellent job of portraying the loneliness of being trapped in an inescapable situation – Nicky Magas, Tangent Online
The Middle Child’s Practical Guide to Surviving a Fairy Tale, Fireside Fiction, May 2016. Fantasy.
My Own Damn Heaven, Bourbon Penn, March 2016. Weird fiction. Also available for Kindle or in paperback here.
The Huntsmen, part one, in Truancy, March 2016. Part two, December 2016. Fantasy.
Cat Play, Metaphorosis Magazine, January 2016. Fantasy.
Sometimes Heron, Lackington’s, July 2015. Surreal/weird.
Short and sweet, there is a depth to it that makes it…a compelling experience. Nerds of a Feather.
The Dollmaker’s Rage, Daily Science Fiction, June 2015. Fantasy.
Inhabiting Your Skin, Apex Magazine, June 2015. Weird fiction/science fiction.
It’s a story that probably deserves more than one reading, but even at one it manages to be interesting and creep out. A rather disturbing story told well. Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews.
The Fox Bride, Daily Science Fiction, March 2015. Fairy tale. Also available as a podcast from Podcastle here.
Mari Ness makes this short story as elegant as possible, wrapping up her fable with an ending both earned and thoughtful. Gillian Daniels, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination.
Chosen by io9.com as a speculative short story of the week.
Offgrid, Three Lobed Burning Eye, December 2014. Science fiction.
Memories and Wire, Upgraded, edited by Neil Clarke, October 2014. Available for purchase at multiple U.S./international locations; for a list, check here. Science fiction.
Death and Death Again, Nightmare Magazine, July 2014, available for purchase here. Horror.
You won’t find all that many dark stories on my list of favorites. The ones I do like tend to be etched in beautiful language or have some element of revenge to them (I love a good revenge story). This is not revenge story. – K. Tempest Bradford, io9.com
Coffin, Daily Science Fiction, May 2014. Magic realism.
Short but engrossing. Ness relates the history of a familiar fairy tale artifact in an original way. But first she builds a real-feeling world around the artifact — so well realized that it’s not clear that this is a fairy tale take-off until well into the story. – Matthew Bennardo
Ink, Journal of Unlikely Cryptography, February 2014. Mostly fantasy.
A chillingly Kafkaesque tale – Lois Tilton
Recommended, Locus
The tension is almost entirely in the imagination of the reader. The text has told us nothing about what makes this world so dangerous, and yet we are absolutely certain that it must be because we can feel it lurking just beyond what has been said. The world building is in what has not been, or cannot be, explained. Ness has done a masterful job of manipulating the reader into doing the work. We can imagine far worse than what could ever be said. – Charlotte Ashley, Apex Magazine.
In the Greenwood, Tor.com, December 2013; also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the Apple I-Tunes store, and other online booksellers. Folklore retelling.
…strong emotional resonance, this is re-imagination of a familiar story done right. — Carl V. Anderson, SF Signal.
Honorable Mention, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois
The Dragon and the Bond, Daily Science Fiction, December 2013. Fantasy.
An Assault of Color, Apex Magazine, October 2013. Fantasy, science fiction undertone.
The Gifts, Daily Science Fiction, September 2013: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three Retold fairy tale.
Stronger than the Wind, Stronger than the Sea, Demeter’s Spicebox, July 2013. Fairy tale/science fiction; contemporary setting.
“Godmother,” “Marmalette,” and “Palatina,” in Missing Links and Secret Histories (Aquaduct Press, July 2013) Retold fairy tales; other works in this anthology are science fiction, fantasy and alternate history.
The Princess and Her Tale, Daily Science Fiction, May 2013. Fairy tale.
Labyrinth, Apex Magazine, December 2012. Dark fantasy.
“Nicely done story with a good sting at the end.” – SFRevu.
“Lovely and crunchy and dark…” – K. Tempest Bradford
Honorable Mention, Best Horror of the Year 5, Ellen Datlow
“Safe,” in Beast Within 3: Oceans Unleashed, Graveside Tales, December 2012. Folklore retelling.
A Cellar of Terrible Things, Shimmer, July 2012. Very dark fantasy.
Nameless, Daily Science Fiction, April 2012. Fantasy.
Copper, Iron, Blood and Love, Apex Magazine, March 2012. Fantasy.
“…the most beautiful, strange thing I’ve read all day.” — Tiny Cat Pants
“…packed with all the things I love a short story to have; and that is rare.” Terri-Lynne DeFino
And the Hollow Space Inside, Clarkesworld, February 2012. Science fiction.
Selected as a storySouth Million Writers Award notable story of 2012
“….beautiful and haunting”, Ken Liu.
“I do not know how Mari manages to make her stories THIS devastating.” Ada Hoffman
Honorable Mention, Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.
In the Pits of Isfhan, Red Penny Papers, December 2011. Fantasy.
The Woods, Their Hearts, My Blood, Jabberwocky, October 2011. Very dark fantasy, edging into horror.
Honorable Mention, Ellen Datlow’s The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
“transfixed from the first line….strange and dark and lovely…” Robert E.Stutts
Twelve Days of Dragons, Fantastique Unfettered, Issue 3. September 2011. Fantasy. The original link seems to have vanished, but I later posted the story up on Livejournal for free here.
Trickster, Clarkesworld, June 2011. Fantasy/science fiction.
“The story was incredible.” SFF Portal.
Love in the Absence of Mosquitoes, Journal of Unlikely Entomology, June 2011. Science fiction.
A storySouth Million Writers 2011 Notable Story
Sister and Bones, Demeter’s Spicebox, Cabinet des Fees, April 2011. Fairy tale.
“…excellent…” Terri Windling.
Mademoiselle and the Chevalier, Fantasy Magazine, November 2010. Fairy tale.
A Million Writers Notable Story, 2010
“…vivid, engaging and sad, all at once.” The World SF Blog
“….sly, quite well-written…Ness really delivers.” Tangent Online
Twittering the Stars, Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic SF, Solaris Books, March 2010. Hard science fiction.
“…a very clever piece of writing, and one I’d recommend.” SFRevu.
“….immediately engulfs you in the drama” Charles Tan.
“…a grippingly personal narrative.” New Scientist.
“…absorbing and complex,” Huffington Post
“One of the most original stories I’ve read in years…” The BN SciFi and Fantasy Blog
Ravens, The Phantom Queen Awakes, Morrigan Books, January 2010. Fantasy.
The Fuddles of Oz, Shadows of the Emerald City, Northern Fights Publishing, October 2009. Oz. Horror.
“…made me smile in delight of such strange creatures and shiver at their eventual fate.” Jennifer Brozek (originally published in Apex Magazine.)
Playing With Spades, Fantasy Magazine, August 2009. Contemporary fantasy/magic realism.
“Understated, confidently written, and pretty elegant,” The Black Letters.
Wooden Apologies, Farrago’s Wainscot, July 2009. Surrealism.
Choking on Red Flowers, The Edge of Propinquity, May 2009. Weird fiction.
Dreams of Elephants and Ice, The Three Lobe Burning Eye, October 2008, issue 18 (also available for sale here in very limited quantities). Weird fiction.
End of Time, Desolate Places, Hadley Rille Books, October 2008. Weird fiction.
The Shadow in the Mirror, Fantasy Magazine, May 2008. Dark fantasy.
A Convenient Removal, Fictitious Force, April 2008 (out of print and fairly unavailable) Contemporary fantasy. Now available at Medium.
Remembering Sara, Coyote Wild, Summer 2007. Science fiction.
Assistant, Reflection’s Edge, May 2007. Science fiction.
Kittensplodge and the Awful Correspondence, Reflection’s Edge, 2007. Science fiction.
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