Short Fiction Fridays #10: Self
Chip bags, the multiverse, billboards, and more...
Welcome to another Short Fiction Friday! You might have noticed that this newsletter looks a little different from previous issues. My previous platform was owned by Twitter and is being shut down, so I’ve moved over to Buttondown. All past issues are still available in the Short Fiction Fridays archive.
This week’s theme is Self, a concept I found surprisingly common in recent publications. Or maybe it’s not so surprising? The self seems endlessly explorable, with no aspect quite as simple or as complex as it first appears, but it is always important. Read on for Cheeto dust, train conductors, theory of mind, scratch-off lottery tickets, and more…
“CHOKECHAIN” by Andrew Joseph White
A trans man comes home from college to find that his parents have purchased an android replica of his younger, pre-transition self. He struggles to keep his rage locked away like a junkyard dog, but the android just won’t leave him alone. Cruel, suffocating, and surprisingly heartwarming.
CW: Family conflict involving trans identity, self-injury as a motif
When I come home for winter break, halfway through my sophomore year of college, there’s a dead girl sitting with my dad on the living room couch.
She has my face.
“Homecoming is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self” by Isabel J. Kim
Crossing a border with intention creates an instance on the other side. Touching the instance, regardless of intention, collapses the two selves back into one. Soyoung “Rose” Kang travels from America to Korea, invited by her instance for her-their grandfather’s funeral, and learns of his final wish. Complex, aching, and knife-sharp.
CW: Death of a grandparent
A border is an artificial thing with practical consequences: the severing of the self from the self.
Read “Homecoming is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self” in Clarkesworld Magazine
“Control” by Davian Aw
Chris and Jan have started a lucrative fitness business: hijacking POVCam headsets to swap minds, so that clients can relax while their body goes to the gym. Jan wishes she could understand her friend, but even when she’s literally inside her head, she never knows what Chris is thinking. Bright, dark, and crushing.
CW: Diet culture, disordered eating, sexual abuse, suicide
Jan raises Client 5’s hands to Client 5’s eyes. She wonders what it is that makes these hands any less hers than her own.
Read “Control” in Anathema: Spec from the Margins
“Saint Natalis of the Wolves” by Emory Noakes
After watching werewolves skateboard through Father Bradley’s lecture, the unnamed narrator accepts their invitation to meet in the park under the full moon. The wolves eat Hot Cheetos and pass joints and run wild through the grass, free of expectations. Rebellious, mystical, and revelatory.
CW: Misogyny, religious trauma
“No skateboarding in the parking lot, ladies,” he shouts down.
“We’re not ladies,” one barks back. “We’re wolves.”
Read “Saint Natalis of the Wolves” in Daily Science Fiction
“Notes to a Version of Myself, Hidden in Symphonie fantastique Scores Throughout the Multiverse” by Aimee Picchi
Zoey is only planning to take a quick trip through the multiverse. With the help of her teacher, Maestra Zoey, she’s going to help each and every Zoey realize her true calling as a musician. Maestra Zoey is running late to this world, but she’s definitely going to arrive soon. Any day now… Uplifting, witty, and optimistic.
CW: Mentions of racism and misogyny
When I leave, I drop hints for IndigoZoey—a Juilliard course catalog, a marked-up Beethoven score—by placing them on the counter where she brews espressos and cappuccinos.
“Jessica gives me a chill pill” by Angie Sijun Lou
A poem about the desperate magic of being a teenage girl and making yourself into yourself. One of my all-time favorites, and a shorter read than this newsletter. Vivid, powerful, and lingering.
CW: None
…under lightning. Jessica
has a forehead scar from
the deep end of a pool. I
ask Jessica what drowning
feels like and she says
not everything feels like
something else…
Read “Jessica gives me a chill pill” in Muzzle Magazine
UP NEXT
For the next issue, the theme will be Morality, a concept I think speculative fiction is uniquely suited to explore.
THANK YOU FOR READING
If you enjoyed any of these stories, please support their authors and the magazines that published them. I’d also love to hear any suggestions for future list themes! Just reply to this email or contact me elsewhere and I’ll use your theme (within reason) for a future newsletter.