https://youtu.be/Z1k9XrSPol8 The Short of It The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a complex and challenging text addressing a distinct tension about the consequences of human cloning, while also touching on postcolonial and postmodern issues. One is three and three is one, and five is not as you might think it is. The Long of It... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #32 – Liwani by Sydney Paige Guerrero
Previous | Next In "Liwani", Sydney Paige Guerrero asks, "what becomes of the gods when there are none left to believe in them?" The answer, in short, is: body horror. Gods and goddesses, once masters of all they surveyed, are diminished, their radiant visages turned monstrous. Guerrero's story is chock-full of haunting imagery, such as... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #31 – Fire at Her Fingertips by Rebecca Crunden (Indie!)
Previous | Next A sapphic fantasy romance, "Fire at Her Fingertips" does fine work in sixteen short pages. Rebecca Crunden opens this story by introducing us to a character so loathed by her father and family that she doesn't even have a name. Her sin is killing her mother in birth; her punishment, alienation. In... Continue Reading →
The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart – Book Review | A Fond Farewell
You can find the review for The Bone Shard Daughter here, and for the Bone Shard Emperor here. https://youtu.be/j7ZS-nPTgVk Andrea Stewart does not kid around. I always experience a bit of consternation when I come to the concluding novel in a trilogy. What if it's a dud? What if these worlds and characters, whom I've... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #30 – The Real Worlds by Lauren Bajek
Previous | Next I came across this short story thanks to Lightspeed Magazine's bluesky social media account. At a lean 1,063 words, "The Real Worlds" tells a story of a dimension-hopping family reminiscent of the Fantastic Four. Rather than physics, this family meddles with "possible worlds" in search of the right methods to bring about... Continue Reading →
An Excellent Standalone: Those Brave, Foolish Souls from the City of Swords by Benedict Patrick – Book Review
https://youtu.be/LctHJbtqSJg My history with the Yarnsworld is one of deep adoration and what some might describe as moral insanity. Yes, reader, I have completely and pitilessly butchered the chronological/publication order of Benedict Patrick's wonderful Yarnsworld books. I read the first, then followed it with the fourth, which was just about to come out when I... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #29 –Whale Eye by Don Tremaglio
Previous | Next A hundred and eight orcas wash ashore, each of them dead or dying -- but not just yet. This story is narrated by a village mystic who possesses foresight in what is hinted to be a climate change-decimated future. Whale Eye isn't about any of those things, however. It's a story about... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #28 – The Flowering of Peace by Murtaza Mohsin
Previous | Next The human Noor returns home to Phoolnagar, now serving as an emissary to the alien Zensai. This piece reminded me of nothing so much as Seth Dickinson's eponymous character from The Traitor Baru Cormorant. One aspect of that character, at least, is akin to Mohsin's protagonist: both have been made into tools... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #27 – Pinocchio Photography by Angela Liu
Previous | Next Angela Liu tells a story of familial loss with parent-child dynamics that are nothing less than true to life. Central to "Pinocchio Photography" is a novel technology about animating the bodies of the deceased via "cadaver drones". Our protagonist, Mei Chen, is prepping for med school--in-between that, she gets offered a photography... Continue Reading →
The Short Story Reader #26 – Love in the Season of New Dance by Bo Balder
Previous | Next Xenologist Leena prepares to say goodbye to her research after tenure track has been closed of. First, however, she has an alien species' mating rituals to observe. But when one of the Amphim awakens much too early for these rituals, Leena can't pass the opportunity by to meet one of the aliens... Continue Reading →