Fusion Fragment Monthly - November 2023
The Latest from Fusion Fragment HQ
FF#18 Reviewed in Locus: I'll be mysterious about it, so as to convince you to support Locus magazine by purchasing their latest issue, but one story from FF#18 landed on a Recommended Reads list! (And if you're not currently a Locus subscriber, I highly recommend it.)
Reading Period News: FF will be open to original fiction submissions starting tomorrow! We'll be accepting submissions through to the end of the weekend. All the details on submitting can be found here: https://www.fusionfragment.com/submissions/
Bristol Prize: The Bristol Short Story Prize winner was none other than FFer Abhishek Sengupta (FF#20) for his story "Things to Do on the Eve of Your Killing". Congrats, Abhishek!
October Published Works by FFers
So many great releases by FFers last month, including the usual plethora of amazing stories, a debut novel release, and a guest editing slot!
Christopher Hawkins released his debut novel, Downpour. If you're up for some dread-filled horror, which Kirkus called "gripping" and "riveting", check it out!
October's Issue #24 of Apparition Lit was guest-edited by FFer Ai Jiang! Check out her editorial, which focuses on the issue's theme of reclamation. The issue also includes the story "Hunt" by FFer A.D. Sui.
Issue #13 of Baffling Magazine included four pieces FFers!: A.D. Sui's "The Succubus and the Store Clerk", Anja Hendrikse Liu's "Who Is Truly Alone on the Beach?", Lindsay King-Miller's "Changeling", and Avra Margariti's "Advice for Aspiring Cartographers". Not only that, but the issue also featured gorgeous cover art by Kirsty Greenwood, who did the cover for FF#15.
And speaking of Baffling, which is put out by Neon Hemlock, I should also mention that October was the official release month of We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2022. It reprints a pair of stories which originally appeared in FF: "The Planned Obsolescence of the Human Body" by Anja Hendrikse Liu and "We'll Always Have Enceladus" by Amy Nagopaleen.
Not to be outdone, the latest issue of Kaleidotrope also boasted four FFers in their TOC: "A Place We Used to Visit" by Bennett North, "By a River in Fujian" by Ai Jiang, "Kids Who Love Dinosaurs" by Timothy Mudie, and "Red as Blood, Black as Slate" by T.R. Siebert. There was also an appearance from FF 1.0 alum Matthew Sanborn Smith, with the story "Their Heads Filled to Bursting".
And check out all these others!
"And in Rain, Blank Pages" by Lora Gray in PodCastle
"Baby" by Samantha H. Chung in Greater Than His Nature
"Catastrophizing" by Katie McIvor in Little Blue Marble
"EQ" by Melissa Ren in Martian Magazine
"First Mother" by Katie McIvor in Penumbric
"Gentler Things" by Thomas Ha in PodCastle
"Headhunting" by Avra Margariti in Drabblecast
"Jenny" by Zachary Rosenberg in Greater Than His Nature
"Salt Girl" by Angela Liu in Uncharted
"The Grave Robbers of Eidelhelm" by Adam McPhee in Hellarkey II
"The Waiting of Aster amellus" by Marisca Pichette in Penumbric
"Trans-Earth Injection" by Pauline Barmby in Stupefying Stories
"Webs and Ampersands" by Timothy Mudie in Stupefying Stories
"When the Moon Wakes" by Jennifer Hudak in Stupefying Stories
"Wingless, Weeping/Featherless, Floating" by Marisca Pichette in Strange Horizons
Recommendations from FF HQ
My fave read from October was Michael Christie's Greenwood. The story starts out in 2038, in a Canadian old-growth forest after a devastating ecological collapse. From there, it traces a family lineage, through a series of different stories, all the way back to the dawn of the 20th century, then moves forward again. The structure is meant to mimic the rings of a tree, and whether or not that metaphor works for you, this is a terrific family saga, bolstered by mystery, adventure, and environmental activism.
It wasn't my fave movie watched in October (that title goes to Across the Spiderverse, but everyone's seen that already) but Bottoms was one of the laugh-out-loud funniest movies I've seen in quite some time. It follows a pair of high-school girls who start a fight club in order to hook up with their crushes. The humour manages to be completely over-the-top and absurd, while still backgrounding so many jokes--there's enough here that you'll enjoy it even more on a repeat viewing.
Obligatory Photo of Associate Editor Henry
POV: Your Associate Editor realizes he cannot be put to work if he blocks you from reaching your office.