Short Fiction Fridays #2: Fun Formats
Letters to the sea, ten seconds, comments in the margins, and more...
Welcome back to Short Fiction Fridays! This list’s theme is Fun Formats. My recommendations this week might not look like stories at first, but they are all powerful narratives in their own right, just in unusual ways. I’ve included an interactive fiction game as well. Many IF pieces are longer than the average novel, but don’t worry: this one is only ten seconds long.
“Peristalsis” by Vajra Chandrasekera
The very unusual fandom of a very unusual TV show theorizes about its plot and reminisces scene by scene, with timestamps. Their theories revolve around the two main characters, Leveret and Annelid, and whether or not they are alive. Surreal, dark, and feverish.
CW: War, death, murder
We think this is appropriate. We watch them; they watch us. The wheel turns.
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“STET” by Sarah Gailey
A journalist reviews the edits her editor has made to an article about autonomous vehicle risk matrices. The “fun format” is footnotes and edit comments. Chilling, clever, and desperate.
CW: Death of a child
Section 5.4 — Autonomous Conscience and Automotive Casualty
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“The Cold Crowdfunding Campaign” by Cora Buhlert
A response to Tom Godwin’s 1954 story “The Cold Equations”, this story takes the form of a crowdfunding campaign summary, including updates and comments. Who says there can’t be a third option? Funny, smart, and triumphant.
CW: Contagious disease, misogynist harassment
Save the Girl and Save Me From Having to Toss Her Out of the Airlock Organised by Captain C. Barton Started on August 4, 2178, 08:48 Category: Accidents and emergencies My n…
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“Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” by Kelly Link
A dead man writes letters to his living wife, trying all the while to remember her name. Epistolary fiction set in a vague purgatory resort, with dawning realizations. Disturbing, quiet, and unmoored.
CW: Brief but explicit sexual content, death of a pet, adultery
I bet you’ll be pretty surprised to hear from me. It really is me, by the way,
although I have to confess at the moment that not only can I not seem to keep
your name straight in my head, Laura? Susie? Odile? but I seem to have forgotten
my own name. I plan to keep trying different combinations, Joe loves Lola, Willy
loves Suki, Henry loves you, sweetie, Georgia?, honeypie, darling. Do any of these seem right to you?
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“Search History for Elspeth Adair, Age 11” by Aimee Picchi
Exactly what it says in the title, but also a story, told by the gaps. Charming, clever, and endearing.
CW: Weight mention
Daily Science Fiction is an on-line magazine specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and everything in between. A new story is published every weekday and sent to subscribers via e-mail, and stories appear a week later on dailysciencefiction.com.
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IF: “Queers in Love at the End of the World” by anna anthropy
A ten-second interactive fiction game, developed in Twine and playable in any browser. Emotional, heartbreaking, and heartwarming.
CW: It’s not possible for me to know what is in all paths of the game, but all paths feature impending apocalyptic death
fellas, is it gay to make out in the ashes of capitalism?
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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! Drop me a message and I’ll curate a little collection for your Friday.