New story! This Will Not Happen to You is out in Uncanny‘s Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction issue. I’m very happy to be ripping the fabric of spacetime with these fine people.
So happy, in fact, that I also have an interview and an essay, Malfunctioning Space Stations, in the same issue. The latter is a reprint from the Kickstarter for this issue, so it may be familiar to some of you. Still, I’m glad to see it out there again.
It’s time once again for that regular feature of this blog: short stories I’ve enjoyed recently! Occasionally a poem sneaks in here too, but mostly it’s what it says on the tin.
To This You Cling, With Jagged Fingernails, by Beth Cato, Fireside
Rapture, by Meg Elison, Shimmer
Carborundum > /Dev/Null, by Annalee Flower Horne, Fireside: serious content warning here, this is a disturbing story that deals with not only sexual violence but lack of trust around its reporting.
Furious Girls, by Juliana Goodman, Fiyah Issue 6
Periling Hand, by Justin Howe, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Midnight Burritos with Zozrozir, by Rachael K. Jones , Daily Science Fiction
When I Was Made, by Kathryn Kania, Robot Dinosaur Fiction
Robo-Liopleurodon!, by Darcie Little Badger, Robot Dinosaur Fiction
The Chariots, the Horsemen, by Stephanie Malia Morris, Apex
Yard Dog, by Tade Thompson, Fiyah Issue 7
Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good, by LaShawn M. Wanak, Fiyah Issue 7
Unexpectedly another thing of mine for you to read while I pack: this blog post on the Analog website is about the novelette I have in the current issue of Analog (“Left to Take the Lead”) and also about tornadoes and rebuilding and healing and community: https://theastoundinganalogcompanion.com/2018/08/07/it-all-comes-around-again/
It’s time once again for a short story recommendation post! As usual, please feel free to recommend stories to me in the comments, because I make no pretense of having read everything–if you see a magazine listed, it doesn’t mean I’ve read everything from that magazine, even.
The Velvet Castles of the Night, by Claire Eliza Bartlett, Daily Science Fiction
Time, Like Water, by Amal El-Mohtar, The Rubin
The Things That We Will Never Say, by Vanessa Fogg, Daily Science Fiction
The Guitar Hero, by Maria Haskins, Kaleidotrope
Five Functions of Your Bionosaur, by Rachael K. Jones, Robot Dinosaur Fiction
A Complex Filament of Light, by S. Qioyu Lu, Anathema
A Cradle of Vines, by Jennifer Mace, Cast of Wonders
The Thing In the Walls Wants Your Small Change, by Virginia M. Mohlere, Luna Station Quarterly
Blessings, by Naomi Novik, Uncanny
Even to the Teeth, by Karen Osborne
50 Ways to Leave Your Fairy Lover, by Aimee Picchi, Fireside
Canada Girl vs. The Thing Inside Pluto, by Lina Rather, Flash Fiction Online
The Sweetness of Honey and Rot, by A. Merc Rustad, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Sonya Taaffe’s די ירושה, Uncanny (for some reason the text box will not let me enter this in the opposite order…)
Dear David, by Yael van der Wouden, Longleaf Review
Small Things Pieced Together, by Ginger Weil, Robot Dinosaur Fiction
In the End, It Always Turns Out the Same, by A.C. Wise, The Dark
Fascism and Facsimiles, by John Wiswell, Fireside
I’m on the Analog blog today, talking about parents, kids, and cryovolcanoes–and why Science Is For All Of Us! And, of course, about my story in the current issue of Analog, “Finding Their Footing.”
Today you can read a new story by me in Nature Futures, My Favourite Sentience. I’ve adjusted the spelling of the title because the characters in it are in fact British, and their teacher would mark them down if they spelled it the American way! So many sentiences to choose from….
There’s also a writing of the story blog post, but obviously read the story itself first.
My story from Reckoning issue 2, The Shale Giants, is now available online. Go, read, enjoy!
I have by no means made an exhaustive attempt to keep up on short stories–in fact, quite the opposite, I have several wonderful magazines to catch up on. However, I got to the point of having quite a few stories I have liked, so I wanted to recommend them before the list got overwhelming. More poems than usual in here. Yay.
She Still Loves the Dragon, by Elizabeth Bear, Uncanny
The Mansion of Endless Rooms, by L. Chan, Syntax and Salt
Bondye Bon, Monique Desir, Fiyah Issue 5
Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse, by S. B. Divya, Uncanny
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies, by Alix E. Harrow, Apex
Object-Oriented, by Arkady Martine, Fireside
More Tomorrow, by Premee Mohamed, Automata Review
Thunderstorm in Glasgow, July 25, 2013, by Amal El-Mohtar, Fireside
Drop Some Amens, by Brandon O’Brien, Uncanny
I Frequently Hear Music in the Very Heart of Noise, by Sarah Pinsker, Uncanny
it me, ur smol, by A. Merc Rustad
Four-Point Affective Calibration, by Bogi Takács, Lightspeed
Unplaces: An Atlas of Nonexistence, by Izzy Wasserstein, Clarkesworld
The Sea Never Says It Loves You, by Fran Wilde, Uncanny
Today Fireside Magazine has published my new story, Flow. It’s got a lavish Galen Dara illustration that I was completely not expecting, so that’s a bonus.
This one was very personal for me, and I’m so glad to have found the right magazine home to be able to share it with all of you.
The second half of Uncanny’s Issue 20 is now available for free on the internet, and with it my story, Lines of Growth, Lines of Passage! Or if you’d prefer to get your fiction through another medium, it’s also on their podcast, along with an interview I did with editor Lynne Thomas. Marvel as we wrestle the technology! Gape in awe as I attempt to minimize my Minnesota accent for listener comprehension! etc.! Anyway just go enjoy the story, however you enjoy it. It’s got iron giants and cherry trees, and it came about because I was messing around on twitter with my hoodlum friends, what more could you want.