Worlds Without Warning
Weekly short stories read aloud by their authors. From Cetera Magazine, featuring literary fiction, speculative tales, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and weird fiction exploring memory, rebellion, folklore, and other worlds without warning. Stories edited by Natalia Emmons and Jon Negroni.
Episodes
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, we’re reaching into the Cetera Magazine archive for “Rain Check” by Emily Brown, originally published May 21, 2026. Jon Negroni reads aloud the story of Marge, a woman ninety-two days sober whose carefully planned backpacking trip changes when her sponsor cancels at the last minute. Rather than stay home, Marge takes her permit, shoulders her pack, and heads into ...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud “Carcinization” by Danielle Wilfand, which is a science fiction/speculative story about a chronically ill woman who travels 10,000 years into the future searching for the man she loves and discovers that everything has evolved into crabs. As she waits for him to find his way through time, however, this alien future begins to feel unexpectedly acc...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his short story “What We Were Good At,” a literary story about two longtime friends who finally act on the romantic possibility everyone around them has already noticed. As familiarity gives way to expectation, two people who once knew exactly how to be together have to confront the possibility that changing the relationship has also changed what...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud “Pete” by Jeremy Morris. It's a funny, strange, and perhaps unexpectedly tender speculative story about a widow whose husband dies from cancer, only for another version of him to walk into her life. Blending multiverse science fiction with sex, absurdist comedy, and the mundane rhythms of life after loss, Morris asks whether another version of so...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud “A Little Something” by Vaidhy Mahalingam, which is a literary fiction story about an Indian immigrant trying to build his American Dream one meticulously inspected borehole at a time. When a building inspector’s exacting standards make him wonder whether the man might be waiting for “a little something,” memories return of the ...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud “We All Must Attend the Deathbed of the Lich” by Haden Cross — a dark fantasy story about an immortal ruler finally approaching death and the kingdom ordered to gather at his bedside. Told through a collective “we,” Cross turns a fantasy death vigil into a story about propaganda, obedience, political memory, and the strange mome...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud "The Day Hikaru Died" by Frances Koziar. This is a science fiction story about a family robot given an emotion chip by the man who raised her as his daughter. Blending quiet domestic detail with devastating loss, this story asks what it means to love someone whose life is slipping beyond your reach, and what remains in your hands once they're gone.
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud "Notch: The Lost Years" by Patricia Caspers — a fiction story about a woman named Alicia who has spent her whole life hiding a secret she's carried since infancy: a presence inside her body she calls Notchie, a turtle who has been whispering the word "girlfriend" since before Alicia knew what it meant. Part coming-of-age, part body story, part queer lo...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud "The Closure of St. Jerome's Home for Foundlings" by Tamsin Liddell — a historical literary fiction story set in a Baltimore orphanage in the 1950s. Told from the perspective of Lucy Victoria, a blind girl found as an infant on V-E Day, this story follows three years of quiet transformation as the orphanage slowly empties and Lucy learns Braille, mathe...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new contemporary romance, "Texts after 3." Told entirely through late-night text messages over the course of a year, this story follows Nina, a coffee shop manager who can't sleep, and Adam, a middle school English teacher who can't either. What starts as a post–New Year's check-in between strangers slowly becomes the most honest conversation eithe...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud "The Stranger in Apartment 3A, First Floor" by Mirav Levy — a ghost story told entirely from the ghost's perspective.
You can find the written version right here.
About the Author
Mirav Levy is a speculative and horror Latina-SWANA writer who is passionate about creating emotionally resonant stories that stalk messy boys, chaotic girls, sentient Deaths...
In this special bonus episode of Worlds Without Warning, Jon Negroni reads aloud "The Big Black Square" by Kasey Soska. He also shares Soska's author notes.
You can find the written version right here.
About the Author
Kasey Soska is a professional science nerd and novice fiction writer. His PhD in developmental psychology is from New York University. His academic research has appeared in Developmental Science and Child Development...
In this special bonus episode of Worlds Without Warning, Jon Negroni reads aloud "a Special Bond" by Marco Etheridge. He also shares editor's notes on why this story was published in Cetera Magazine.
You can find the written version right here.
About the Author
Marco Etheridge is a writer of prose, an occasional playwright, and a part-time poet. He lives and writes in Vienna, Austria. His work has been featured in over one hundred ...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new short story "Second Run," which was published on January 15, 2026. He also shares his author's notes on the story behind this story.
You can find the written version right here.
About the Author
Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author and illustrator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015) and ...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud "Hành Tinh Thu Doesn’t Welcome You" by C. Inanen. He also shares editor's notes on why this story was published on Cetera Magazine.
You can find the written version right here.
About the Author
C. Inanen lives in the Midwest, USA. His work has been most recently published in Yellow Mama magazine. It will also be featured in the March 2026 iss...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new speculative romance story, "No Regrets."
You can find the written version right here.
About the Author
Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author and illustrator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015) and his debut fantasy novel Killerjoy (5050 Press, 2017). He's published short fiction for IHRAM...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new literary fiction story, "You're the Best."
You can find the written version of "You're the Best" right here.
About the Author
Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015), a pop culture nonfiction, and his debut fantasy novel Killerjoy (5050 Press, 2017). His ...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new literary fiction story, "Holiday Party."
You can find the written version of "Holiday Party" right here.
About the Author
Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015), a pop culture nonfiction, and his debut fantasy novel Killerjoy (5050 Press, 2017). His...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni, Natalia Emmons, and Bridget Serdock present their collaborative cozy ghost story, "Someone Lived There Too." Set in an off-season Cape Cod rental cottage, this story follows Rena, an artist struggling with creative paralysis, who discovers that the old house she's staying in hasn't quite let go of its previous inhabitants. Blending slice-of-life grief with gentle super...
Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new atmospheric horror story, "The Caller Isn't Human." Set during the graveyard shift at an all-night laundromat, this story follows Ray, a night-shift worker, through the hours between 2 and 4 a.m. when a payphone outside begins ringing at precise intervals, people start vanishing without explanation, and something begins testing the boundaries of the ...
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