Tangles by Seanan McGuire
Started: 8/12/22
Finished: 8/12/22
Short story by an author who never misses. I want more (which is the best and worst feeling I can have about a short story). Dryads (kind of?) and magic and getting lost in a forest.
short story
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Short story by an author I LOVE, and I LOVED this story. The premise is that the lyrics to a traditional ballad are posted online, and the action happens in the comments. It’s great, and everyone should read it. (Also, it won the Hugo Award for short stories this year.)
Unknown Number by Blue Neustifter
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Short story in the form of text messages between a character and their alternate self. Sad, but also not?
Proof By Induction by José Pablo Iriarte
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Sad (all of these short stories are sad, I guess), a little obsessive, neat technology.
Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow
Started: 7/31/22
Finished: 7/31/22
A devastating short story that came through for me at the end. If it hadn’t, I will fully prepared to abandon Alix Harrow, despite how much I have liked her books and stories.
Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer
Started: 11/18/21
Finished: 11/18/21
If only this were a true story! Link: https://www.tor.com/2020/04/08/little-free-library-naomi-kritzer/
Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson
Started: 11/17/21
Finished: 11/18/21
What do you do when you’re about to have a baby but the zombies are attracted to the smell of blood? Isolate and hope you survive! Link: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/badass-moms-in-the-zombie-apocalypse/
Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 11/17/21
Finished: 11/17/21
Creepy and interesting, like many of her short stories. Link: https://www.tor.com/2020/06/17/two-truths-and-a-lie-sarah-pinsker/
Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell
Started: 11/17/21
Finished: 11/17/21
Aw, even haunted houses want to be loved. Cute story. Link: https://www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-64a-open-house-on-haunted-hill-by-john-wiswell/
Helicopter Story by Isabel Fall
Started: 11/16/21
Finished: 11/17/21
A really interesting take on the trans experience, using a meme to start with and providing a nuanced view of it. Not my favorite short story, but still a good one. (The internet exploded on the author, and the internet was wrong, from what I can tell.)
Monster by Naomi Kritzer
Started: 11/16/21
Finished: 11/16/21
Cool, calculating, GOOD. She writes GOOD stories. I haven’t read one of hers yet that I didn’t love. Here’s the link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_20/
The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Started: 10/28/21
Finished: 10/28/21
I read this one several years ago, cried, emailed the author. I read it again, cried, almost emailed the author. Good story, and I love that she was inspired to write the Lady Astronaut series.
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Started: 10/27/21
Finished: 10/27/21
Ah, laughs, action, love, all in a short story about robots. I should read short stories other than just the Hugo-nominated ones. I like them.
Never Yawn Under a Banyan Tree by Nibedita Sen
Started: 7/23/20
Finished: 7/23/20
I LOVED this story. I had just read several heavier stories, some horror, and then I found this, and it’s funny, it’s light, and it’s lovely. Here’s a link:
Leviathan Sings to Me in the Deep by Nibedita Sen
Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/23/20
I don’t think I can say I liked this story (about a whaling ship and its crew), but I keep remembering parts of it randomly. It won’t leave me alone.
A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde
Started: 7/22/20
Gave Up: 7/22/20
I tried to read this one, and it had an interesting premise, but the writing style got to me. I stopped reading Fran Wilde’s second book – maybe I finished it, and I don’t care to the third? – and this short story had a similar style.
Blood is Another Word for Hunger by Rivers Solomon
Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/22/20
Weird and disturbing and think-y, like all three pieces I have read by Rivers Solomon now, so at least they have a pattern. 🙂 Available online, link below. Worth reading.
And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas
Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/22/20
SO GOOD. It’s fantasy, it’s horror (even though I heard on a horror panel that the author doesn’t think of it as horror, so maybe I should just say it has an element that depending on what you’re afraid of, you could absoLUTEly think it’s scary), it’s historical fiction, and it’s emotional (I cried). SO. GOOD.
As the Last I May Know by S.L. Huang
Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/22/20
I read this one on Tor.com a few months ago and just re-read it this morning. It’s so good. And it made me cry, too, more sad horrified tears, but better ones than the last story.
Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix E. Harrow
Started: 7/21/20
Finished: 7/22/20
I was not enjoying this story, and then it made me cry (sad horrified tears, not happy tears), so it had clearly gotten to me, but I’m still not sure I liked it.