Short Fiction Extravaganza!
Sort of. Also, I'm back.
Back from Philcon! More about how it went on Friday. And there will be pictures from Weston eventually.
Short fiction roundup:
“A World Unto Myself” by P.A. Cornell (Apex Magazine) – a sad, sweet story about a decommissioned robot who’s owner leaves him to die outside. It’s about facing death, I guess. Nothing much happens, it’s a mood piece. Link: https://apex-magazine.com/short-fiction/a-world-unto-myself/
“The Leaves Dead Are Driven” by F. Brett Cox (The Dark Magazine) – the world ends. Or it’s a nightmare. Or… I found this horror piece a little bit too surreal, but people who like surrealism will no doubt like it. CW: Spiders. Link: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/the-leaves-dead-are-driven/
“On Planetary Palliative Care” by Thomas Ha (Interzone Digital) – oh, this one is interesting. But sad. It’s an analogy about hospice and I have a feeling the author has some personal experience here. Recommended. Might be going on my Nebulas long list. Link: https://interzone.digital/on-planetary-palliative-care/
“One Eye Opened In That Other Place” by Christi Nogle (Three-Lobed Burning Eye). A weird horror story about a guy who has a third eye to see into a parallel universe and thinks his lover has the same thing… Recommended for New Weird fans. Link: https://www.3lobedmag.com/issue38/3lbe38_story4.html
“Permissions” by Christi Nogle (Dark Matter Magazine). If you were raising AI children, what would you let them do? It’s about parenting and AI and the extinction of humanity. Recommended. Link: https://darkmattermagazine.shop/blogs/issue-015/permissions
“Every Quiver of Each of Them by Simon Christiansen (Amazing Stories Online). I’m not sure how to react to this story. It definitely has a message of “not accepting refugees is bad” but it also has a strain of nihilism I can’t get with right now. I think that humanity would react quite differently to the end of the world than this story. Or perhaps not. Or maybe I am just not in the mood for tragedy today. Recommended for people who need some catharsis. Link: https://amazingstories.com/2023/06/every-quiver-of-each-of-them-by-simon-christiansen-free-story/
“The Bullet In My Pocket Has Your Name On It” by P.A. Cornell (Cossmass Infinities). Earth has been evacuated. There wasn’t room for everyone. Civilization collapses. But the story is about somebody who got herself and her husband taken off the manifest. He wants to kill her. I don’t buy the civilizational collapse part, but this story isn’t about that. It’s about love. Link: https://www.cossmass.com/stories/the-bullet-in-my-pocket-has-your-name-on-it/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
“A Chronicle of the Mole-Year” by Christi Nogle (Strange Horizons). An entire settlement goes into conscious stasis which is never explained. It’s about growing up, but I was personally unsatisfied by not knowing whether the “mole-year” is magic, technology, or what. Shades of Clarke, perhaps? Recommended if you like really weird stuff. Link: http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/a-chronicle-of-the-mole-year/