Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Flash Fiction Online, GigaNotoSaurus, and Diabolical Plots

Flash Fiction Online 8/23
GigaNotoSaurus 8/23
Diabolical Plots 8/23

The August Flash Fiction Online features stories about families, longing, and cycles. Not always in a positive way, as Phoenix Alexander shows in ‘‘Nancy Shreds the Clouds’’, which explores the complexities of agency, rage, and corruption. Nancy is a girl with a lot of anger, punished for her mistakes while others are not – unrewarded for her virtues while others are. And all while growing up in a home defined by violence and tension. She learns to be brash and bold, to be a bully, to further the cycles of abuse. And finally she is rewarded, showing just how broken the system is around her, pushing her to survive and thrive not by escaping the cycle but by mastering it, becoming better at it, even as its brutal and vi­cious. Alexander does not pull punches, nor does he resolve Nancy’s story into something easy or clean or even satisfying. It is, however, perhaps inevitable, and it’s that which Nancy reveals – that you can’t nurture a toxic system and expect any­thing but toxicity. It’s definitely worth spending some time with.

Uchechukwu Nwaka features in the August Gi­gaNotoSaurus with ‘‘The Rainbow Bank’’, which unfolds in a future where Earth has been twisted by a conjoining with the Isle of Dreams, and now nightmares roam outside of small enclaves made safe by strange technology and the skills of Ujuists, who can use the dream logic of the conjoining in powerful and sometimes frighten­ing ways. The remaining humans are ruled by whoever is ruthless enough to take the job, and for Mezie and those of his city, that’s Family Man, a boss most people know much better than to mess with. Mezie knows if he’s even going to try, he needs power, and for that he needs money. Luckily, he’s heard of an otherworldly device that can give him an unlimited supply, and all he needs to do is get to the end of a rainbow to find it – not something he can do on his own. Along with a shady Ujuist with ambitions of her own, he makes his move, and has to deal with the bloody and tempestuous consequences. Nwaka tells a pulse-pounding and vividly imagined tale, where the world building reinforces a sense of claustrophobic dread, where any move can lead to ruin, and everyone has their own secrets and agendas. It’s a thoroughly entertaining, almost cinematic read.

The August Diabolical Plots is anchored by Y.M. Resnik’s absolutely adorable ‘‘Shalom Aleichem’’, which centers Jewish college fresh­man Eli as she tries to survive school, social anxiety, and her ability to see the angels help­ing the people around her. Everyone has one, it seems, and her family has always been able to see them, but Eli assumes she is absent one herself because she’s never seen one. As it turns out, though, that might be because of her angel’s own anxieties, and when they open communication with her, she’s pushed outside the safety of her shell and finds herself having to open up and try new things… and take chances on people, like the girl she’s had a crush on. The story mixes religion, identity, awkwardness, and compelling character chemistry in some wonderful ways, and Resnik is quickly becoming an author whose presence I note and look forward to seeing in any table of contents. For those hungry for an angsty, queer Jewish speculative romance, rejoice and check this story out immediately.

Recommended Stories
‘‘The Rainbow Bank’’, Uchechukwu Nwaka (GigaNotoSaurus 8/23)
‘‘Shalom Aleichem’’, Y.M. Resnik (Diabolical Plots 8/23)

This review and more like it in the October 2023 issue of Locus.

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