Remnants of Relics

An Anthology of Loss & Gain

An anthology combining over 16 queer stories and poems
Coming 10 September 2025

Remnants of Relics brings you the work of fifteen authors with a curated selection of short stories and poems around the themes of queerness and the importance of parts; be it body parts or more abstractly, concepts like the part identity plays in our lives.At the heart of this collection are the struggles and joys one works with when losing or gaining a new part of themselves. Pain and joy are close to each other - a constant cycle humanity moves through.Want a taste?

the stories

Remnants of relics
jake vanguard

Poem ● Positive vs Negative ● Humanity

Exploring the different aspects of body parts, be it made of flesh and bone, or synthetic replacements.

love's decay
jaydell

Short Story ● Decay ● Gender Identity Struggles

Returning to their childhood home after years away, Alex is forced to confront the ghosts of girlhood, grief, and impossible expectations. Amid the rot and silence, they uncover fragments of a forgotten self – and begin the slow, painful process of reclaiming who they truly are. A story of memory, gender, and quiet resilience.

The Language of Selves
Obinna Tony-Francis Ochem

Short Story ● Igbo Beliefs ● Queerness & gifted power

“The Language of Selves” explores a mother’s defiance in the face of shame and trauma, choosing love and life over silence and submission. In a world shaped by tradition and survival, Urenna’s choices ripple through generations, starting with her son Ugo to his supernatural powers.

The Fairy's Hues
Minerrale

Short Story ● Fake vs Real ● Wings

Lillian never liked her wings. Too classic, too common, too… blue. But one day, she discovers a comic that will change the way she sees her wings, and life itself, forever.

Immortality in the Marrow
S. Jean

Short Story ● Dark Academia ● Different Lives

An immortal soul has lived countless lifetimes searching for his other half. When he finally finds it, it's in a skeleton on display in a smoky university classroom.

Backbreaking
Annalisa Ely

Short Story ● Dragon ● Community

Nothing can stop a fire breathing dragon, except her own body. When stress and overwork trigger a chronic illness, Fura has to decide whether to give in to despair or find a new way to be in community.

Revenant Heart
Jaydell

Poem ● Grief ● Lost Love

A sensual elegy for a love that lingers beyond its ending, Revenant Heart explores desire turned to grief, memory to haunting. In the hollow spaces of an empty room, longing becomes a spectre that refuses to fade.

Seal, Skinned
Nico Silver

Short Story ● Selkie ● Reclaiming Freedom

A selkie without a sealskin is a tragedy. A selkie whose skin has been stolen is a prisoner. But what is a selkie whose skin was stolen, then returned, but tainted with the stench of the human who stole it in the first place?

eyes are the best part
Jake Vanguard

Short Story ● Body Horror ● Obsession

Obsession leads Miles to seduce and kidnap young Leslie, stealing a part of them for his ever-growing and never-finished collection.

The Finger Painter
Frederick A. Zaberisk

Short Story ● Horror ● Art as Devotion

Using the severed hands of his victims to create “masterpieces”, this “artist” finds himself a new muse…

Peel
Franklyn S. Newton

Short Story ● Healing ● Tattoo

A tattoo can mean so many things, empowerment, armour, a good luck charm...

The Trade
Atlas Laika

Short Story ● Self-Made Body ● Cyberpunk

Born to an impoverished space station and too broke to pay for gender-affirming augmentation, Ian Griswold is forced to make a black market bargain with a Fixer to trade his body for a new one. Set in a sprawling futuristic world, “The Trade” is a cyberpunk foray into becoming self-made and accepting the past.

A Quiet Evolution
A.E. Bratchford

Short Story ● Transition ● Outside Perspective

An observation from the narrator of a friend as they transition physically and emotionally into themself.

Girl/Boy/Other
Jaydell

Poem ● Nature ● Transition

A poem that weaves cinquain and haiku to explore the shifting currents of gender dysphoria.

Sewing Scissors
Ezra Wren

Short Story ● Coming of Age ● Gender Dysphoria

Oscar has always known who he is: papa’s favorite, mother’s nightmare, and a boy.On the day of his top surgery appointment, Oscar finds himself journeying across the defining moments on his quest to becoming Oscar. While he recalls his mother’s vocal resistance to every manifestation of his gender identity, Oscar finds solace in fond recollections of his father’s unwavering support.For Oscar, power is a metal thing, a tool by which he can affirm his own identity, whether that’s through fumbling haircuts in front of the bathroom mirror or life-altering surgeries at last.With an unexpected cozy twist at the end, "Sewing Scissors" is a hard-hitting journey exploring grief, gender dysphoria, and the parts of ourselves we are willing to let go of to break out of our shells and emerge the beautiful butterflies we truly are.

Fallen
Talli L. Morgan

Short Story ● Gender Dysphoria ● Elf & Wizard

In "Fallen," journalist Silvan and his wizard friend investigate the strange disappearance of an entire town. When they discover that a fallen Divine is the cause of the townspeople’s disappearance—thanks to a deal with a demon gone wrong—Silvan steps in to intervene with a tricky deal of his own.

Matters of the Heart
Harper Kinsley

Short Story ● Hyperawareness OCD ● First Date

When Corinne finds herself pressured back into the dating scene by her well-meaning friends, she is forced to come face to face with her OCD and the fear that her own happiness will only end in tragedy for everyone around her. Can she even sit through a simple conversation when it takes everything in her to control her own breathing? And is it even worth it to try?

Lip Service
Kay Claire

Short Story ● Romance ● Trans Joy

Noah might have a crush on the guy he sits next in one of his lectures, and a bit of an obsession with his lip piercing – it's fine, he's managing it. But then they get paired up for a project, and Riley invites Noah over to start working on it, and, well... Noah might not have been as subtle about his crush as he'd hoped.
A short and sweet T4T romance with explicit sexual content.

Loss of a Limb (But not of life)
A.E. Bratchford

Poem ● Losing a Limb ● Love

Beatrice is recovering from the accident that nearly cost her her life, but in which she got away with losing her right arm at her shoulder and the lower half of her left leg.
The short story follows Beatrice as she learns to cope with the absence of those limbs as the new ones are being built.
It is partially an acceptance of self, partially an anxious self reflection.