Previous | Next Lindsey Godfrey Eccles makes the best of a title that calls to mind a gambling den, opening her story by explicitly connecting the very first sentence to said title: "Theo is no exception." A memorable opening, sure enough. Eccles imagines here an unpalatable afterlife, one which sees the ghosts of the deceased... Continue Reading →
Previous | Next Kylie Lee Baker knows how to write an engaging title. Fitting, too, as protagonist Elsie Chen is going to spend years of her life in building Monarch--a super intelligent computer whose raison d'etre is to Monarch is fed on tragedy and death in order to learn all the likely and unlikely and... Continue Reading →
It doesn't matter that you escape hell if you never move past it. So tells us the experience of Aliette de Bodard's protagonist, Thuận Lộc, a woman who once escaped what I have come to think of as the slave pits of the Mausoleum. Thuận Lộc never moved past the nightmare of the place she... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/7LzmsWBamkw?si=Q3PKthfr0vHX2HAt Long-time viewers will know that I played Planet of Lana's demo during one of the tri-monthly Steam Next Fests, several months ago. The demo promised an atmospheric world rendered with beautiful hand-drawn art. This 2D scroller with its enjoyable if simplistic puzzles, with its likeable protagonist and little black ball of cuddly alien goo,... Continue Reading →
Previous | Next "The Discarded Ones" is a beautiful story of learning to be selfless. The protagonist, Miss Toccata, makes a decision out of her desire to no longer be alone: I wanted something fragile I could take care of. Something tiny and sad that needed me as much as I needed them. A thing... Continue Reading →
Previous | Next If you could get a more pliable synthetic version of the partner who broke your heart, would you do it? Sachiko Ragosta's protagonist makes use of Just Right, a brand new product on the market, to create a copy of her toxic, emotionally abusive ex-girlfriend, Ryoko. Ryoko 2.0 is made "out of... Continue Reading →
Leah Williams delivers a captivating story of murder, investigation, and desperation through this X-Factor roster! Mutantkind has made a home for itself on the mutant island of Krakoa, where it has synthesized immortality through the abilities of five mutants. To get the process going, however, The Five need to have proof of death--this is where... Continue Reading →
Previous | Previous by Isabel J. Kim | Next Like everyone, their mother, and the kitchen sink, I too love the endless retellings of Achilles and Patroclus' story*! When I saw Isabel J. Kim share a piece of flash fic that pokes good fun at online fandoms, I thought it'd make for a diverting few... Continue Reading →
Previous | Previous Classic SF story | Next ...I nearly refused to read this short story, following an opening that has aged about as well as cow butter. Eek. It bears the marks of early 1930s pulp fiction without much grace, from the exclamations of its speakers to the singular cast of said characters to... Continue Reading →
Previous | Previous by Amal Singh | Next Like the last short story I read, "Island Circus" has a complex sibling dynamic at play, one the reader only experiences from the point of view of one sibling. Singh's protagonist exhibits resentment and a forlorn sense of abandonment, but also love--much more so than Mona West's... Continue Reading →
The Grimoire Reliquary 