Please note that this is NOT REPEAT IT IS NOT my year in review post of recommended stories. That will come later (tomorrow, maybe, if I’m speedy; after if not). This is JUST what I enjoyed most from the short stuff I read in the late part of the year. Okay? okay good.
Anta Baku’s recent story project including/starting with Ian and the Beanstalk and The Emperor’s New Beth
On Safari in R’lyeh and Carcosa With Gun and Camera, Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com)
Enchanted Objects: Buy-Sell-Trade Group, YOU MUST BE APPROVED TO JOIN, Tina Connolly (Daily SF)
Five Quests and the Oracle, Pamela Dean (Her Magical Pet)
The Scholar of the Bamboo Flute, Aliette de Bodard (Silk & Steel)
A Feast from Tile and Stone, Ryan Eric Dull (BCS)
You and Whose Army?, Greg Egan (Clarkesworld)
Seams of Iron, Adriana C. Grigore (Common Bonds)
The Heart That Saves You May Be Your Own, Merrie Haskell (BCS)
A Tally of What Remains, R.Z. Held (BCS)
Words We Say Instead, Brit E. B. Hvide (Uncanny)
Born Again, Innocent Chizaram Ilo (Lolwe)
Uncontrolled Variable, Sara Joiner (Her Magical Pet)
Fight Some Crime Or I’ll Tell Mom, Rachael K. Jones (Daily SF)
Five Tips for Sealing Away an Ancient Evil, Ann LeBlanc (If There’s Anyone Left Vol. 1)
Story for a Bottle, Darcie Little Badger (Love After the End)
In the Salt Crypts of Ghiarelle, Jennifer Mace (Silk & Steel)
How to Burn Down the Hinterlands, Lyndsie Manusos (F&SF Nov/Dec)
Elinor Jones Vs. the Ruritanian Multiverse, Freya Marske (Silk & Steel)
A Layer of Catherines, Elisabeth R. Moore (Strange Horizons)
Note to Self, Sunny Moraine (Lightspeed)
The Science and Artistry of Snake Oil Salesmanship, Timothy Mudie (BCS)
How to Survive the Apocalypse for Native Girls, Kai Minosh Pyle (Love After the End)
Ambrosia, Margaret Saunders (Fiyah No. 16)
Heard, Half-Heard, in the Stillness, Iona Datt Sharma (Anathema)
Margo Lai’s Guide to Dueling Unprepared, Alison Tam (Silk & Steel)
Together We Can Be More!, Juliette Wade (Analog Nov/Dec)
The Bottomless Martyr, John Wiswell (Uncanny)
Biologist Naming Privileges Revoked, Chloe Woods (Daily SF)