A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: Clarkesworld

Clarkesworld 12/23

Clarkesworld’s December issue starts off with a sweet story, “Morag’s Boy” by Fiona Moore, about a young man named Cliff who leaves home and ends up being taken in by a woman named Morag who lives alone on a farm. Cliff shows an aptitude for fixing tech, but struggles to find a direction in life. Morag helps him find his way, leading him to become ...Read More

Read more

A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: Analog

Analog 11-12/23

Analog’s November/December issue in­cludes a wide variety of short fiction. The standout story in the issue was “An Infestation of Blue” by Wendy N. Wagner, told from the point of view of a dog who wakes to find her consciousness altered through an Op­erator meant to allow her to communicate with humans. The dog, who now thinks of herself as Rebecca, discovers that the Man who ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: GigaNotoSaurus, Diabolical Plots, Lightspeed and Rosalind’s Siblings

GigaNotoSaurus 12/23 Diabolical Plots 12/23 Lightspeed 12/23, 1/24 Rosalind’s Siblings, Bogi Takács, ed. (Atthis Arts) September 2023

The December GigaNotoSaurus mixes two of my favorite things in Sara Norja’s “Reconciliation Dumplings and Other Recipes”: Sspeculative fiction and food! The piece is framed as parts of a book of family recipes collated and annotated by Ember, who is writing them down to save them for future generations. ...Read More

Read more

Paula Guran Reviews The Sunday Morning Transport, Apex, and The Dark

The Sunday Morning Transport 10/24/23, 9/10/23, 9/3/23 Apex #140 The Dark 9/23, 10/23

I know I am repeating myself, but every story The Sunday Morning Transport publishes should be read. Of the nine original stories published from the end of August through October 22, I’ll mention only my absolute favorites. Nura – in ‘‘We Will Witness’’ by Martin Cahill – is a 30th-century Witness, sent back in time ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Understudies by Priya Sridhar, Diabolical Plots, Samovar, and Strange Horizons

Diabolical Plots 10-11/23 Understudies, Priya Sridhar (Hiraeth) Febru­ary 2023. Samovar 10/23/23 Strange Horizons 10/30/23, 11/6/23

Over at Diabolical Plots, the publishing schedule has been temporarily compacted, leading to an October and November with only one story each instead of the regular two. Both stories are quite good, though, and both stay in the Halloween spirit with witches and ghosts aplenty. Both also twist expectations regarding these classic elements, as ...Read More

Read more

Niall Harrison Reviews Nordic Visions edited by Margrét Helgadóttir

Nordic Visions, Margrét Helgadóttir, ed. (Solaris 978-18378-60296, 341pp, $16.99, tp) October 2023.

The most haunting story in Nordic Visions is one of the shortest. “I am hanging from the lowest bar,” says the narrator of Rakel Helmsdal’s “The Abyss”, by way of introduction, “as I have been for a while now. Knowing there is nothing to see I still stare into the fog.” They cannot recall when they were ...Read More

Read more

Alex Brown Reviews A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert

A Necessary Chaos, Brent Lambert (Neon Hem­lock Press 978-1-95208-646-5, $13.99. 156pp, tp) October 2023. Cover by Cathy Kwan.

Switching gears, let’s dive into novella A Neces­sary Chaos by Brent Lambert. In a world where technology and magic collide live two gay Black men, Althus and Vade. Every so often, the boy­friends are able to carve time out of their busy work schedules to meet, usually at some touristy party ...Read More

Read more

A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: Asimov’s, Clarkesworld and khōréō

Asimov’s 11-12/23 Clarkesworld 11/23 khōréō 3.2

Asimov’s November/December issue includes three novellas, along with an assortment of short stories and novelettes. The wide variety of themes and styles in this issue work well, with stories evoking classic science fiction, stories with an epic science fantasy feel, and others taking a quiet slice-of-life approach. “Berb by Berb” by Ray Nayler is one of the most effective pieces in the ...Read More

Read more

Ian Mond Reviews The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe

The Wolfe at the Door, Gene Wolfe (Tor 978-1-25084-620-4, $29.99, 480pp, hc) October 2023.

With its punny title, The Wolfe at the Door is the second collection of Gene Wolfe’s work to be published this year (and the third book to come out since his passing in 2019). Where The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories from Subterra­nean Press assembled Wolfe’s more chilling tales, Tor’s The Wolfe at the ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, GigaNotoSaurus, Flash Fiction Online, and F&SF

Lightspeed 11/23 Beneath Ceaseless Skies 11/2/23, 11/16/23 GigaNotoSaurus 11/23 Flash Fiction Online 11/23 F&SF 11-12/23

The November Lightspeed shows a keen inter­est in storytelling forms, with stories framed as recipes, as reviews, as confessions, and with Regina Kanyu Wang’s “A Record of Lost Time” (translated by Rebecca F. Kuang) as a series of personal narratives surrounding a new technol­ogy called FastForward, which allows users to experience “sped ...Read More

Read more

Alex Brown Reviews Skin Thief: Stories by Suzan Palumbo

Skin Thief: Stories, Suzan Palumbo (Neon Hem­lock Press 978-1-95208-672-4, $18.99, 186pp, tp) September 2023. Cover by Mia Minnis.

Anytime a book published by Neon Hem­lock lands at my doorstep, I drop every­thing to read it. Every story is unique in content and powerful in its queerness. I never know what I’m going to get, except that it’s going to be good. When Brent Lambert’s A Necessary Chaos and Suzan ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Escape Pod, Worlds of Possibility, Cast of Wonders

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 10/5/23, 10/19/23 Escape Pod 10/12/23, 10/19/23, 10/26/23 Worlds of Possibility 10/23 Cast of Wonders 10/14/23, 10/25/23, 10/27/23

Beneath Ceaseless Skies celebrated their 15th anniversary in October with a special double issue including Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko’s novella, “Between Blades”, which unfolds in a world where some people can adopt “sword­form,” wherein one in a pair of people becomes a living weapon – a sword ...Read More

Read more

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 by R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner 978-0-06-331574-7, $18.99, 292pp, tp) October 2023.

Now in its ninth year, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 pre­dictably offers a stimulating and eclectic selection of tales, three of which made the Hugo ballot and a few of which are nothing short of brilliant. But it also raises a few questions of ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Fantasy, Flash Fiction Online, GigaNotoSaurus, and Baffling

Fantasy 10/23 Flash Fiction Online 10/23 GigaNotoSaurus 10/23 Baffling 10/23

Unfortunately, October brought the final issue of Fantasy, which closed in impressive fashion. First, in fiction, Ruoxi Chen’s “Fandom for Witches“, finds Lara, a Chinese-American girl lightly obsessed with the (definitely not Supernatural) fictional television show Sanctu­ary Road. The story deals with yearning, with fitting in, with all the messy bits of growing up and feeling alone and ...Read More

Read more

A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: Analog, Clarkesworld and Flash Fiction Online

Analog 9-10/23 Clarkesworld 10/23 Flash Fiction Online 10/23

Analog’s September/October issue opens with the excellent novelette “The Apotheosis of Krysalice Wilson” by Howard V. Hendrix. Teen­age figure skater Krysalice is approached with the opportunity to implant experi­mental technology that will give her bet­ter reaction times and improve her sense of spatial relations – a kind of natural GPS akin to the way birds navigate as they migrate – enhancing ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Fiyah and Kaleidotrope

Strange Horizons 9/18/23, 9/25/23, 10/2/23,  10/9/23, 10/16/23 Lightspeed 10/23 Fiyah 10/23 Kaleidotrope 10/23

Strange Horizons closed out September with some memorable poetry, including Bob Hicok’s “No stones”, which lingers on the image of “dirt birds” – the marks left behind when birds impact glass. As the title might im­ply, the poem places the narrator (and readers) inside glass houses, fragile but solid enough to withstand these small ...Read More

Read more

Paula Guran Reviews Weird Horror, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet Summer, and Uncanny

Weird Horror Fall ’23 Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet Summer ’23 Uncanny 9-10/23

With its seventh issue, Weird Horror (Fall 2023) has finally hit its stride. All 11 stories are effective, and sever­al are laudable. Stuart Arthur’s “Devil’s Acre” builds the creep well with the tale of a cruel father who intentionally places his eldest child in supernatural jeopardy. The narrator of “Cre­tins” by Thomas Ha ...Read More

Read more

Gabino Iglesias Reviews Human Sacrifices by María Fernanda Ampuero

Human Sacrifices, María Fernanda Ampuero (The Feminist Press at CUNY 978-1-55861-298-3, $17.99, 144pp, pb) May 2023. Cover by Sukruti Anah Staneley.

María Fernanda Ampuero’s Human Sacri­fices is one of the best short story collections of 2023, regardless of genre. With superb writing and a seemingly endless barrage of ideas, turns of phrase, and dark imagery that goes from the supernatural to the unremarkable, this superb collection, translated from the Spanish ...Read More

Read more

Spotlight on: The Sunday Morning Transport

Tell us about your project. When was it founded, and who’s involved in run­ning it?

The Sunday Morning Transport was founded in August 2021, and we published our first story in January 2023. Julian Yap is editor in chief, Fran Wilde is managing editor, and our copyediting, proofreading, and social media team is Kaitlin Severini (our copyeditor), Ryan T. Jenkins (copy­edits and proofing), Delia Davis (year one proof­reader) and Christine ...Read More

Read more

Alexandra Pierce Reviews The Best of World SF Volume 3 by Lavie Tidhar, ed.

The Best of World SF Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar ed, (Head of Zeus 978-1-80454-803-5, £25.00, 624pp, hc) October 2023. Cover by Ben Prior.

Lavie Tidhar continues to be prolific, both as an author and editor. The second in the World SF series came out in the same year as Maror and Neom, while 2023 saw the publication of novels Adama and The Circumference of the World as well as ...Read More

Read more

Ian Mond Reviews Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami

Dragon Palace, Hiromi Kawakami (Stone Bridge Press 978-1-73762-535-3, $18.95, 160pp, tp) September 2023.

In my review of David Connor’s debut Oh God, The Sun Goes, I referred to what I’m now call­ing the “absurdist sweet spot,” those stories that blend the poignant with the surreal. One author who I said hit that sweet spot is Japanese writer Hiromi Kawakami, whose previous collection to be translated into English, People from ...Read More

Read more

Things Short Stories Did and Didn’t Teach Me About Writing and Selling Novels by José Pablo Iriarte

When I give presentations to aspiring writers – particularly presentations on writing and selling short stories – I’m always careful to emphasize that short stories are no longer the apprenticeship into the novel world that they once were. I know plenty of folks who have sold science fiction and fantasy novels without ever having bothered with shorts.

That said, short fiction did kind of func­tion as a proving and learning ...Read More

Read more

Spotlight on: Omenana

Tell us about your magazine, Omenana. When was it founded, and who’s on the publishing team? What is your mission?

Omenana was cofounded in 2014 by Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu (AKA Mazi Nwonwu) and Chinelo Onwualu. Presently, Omenana’s publishing team comprises Mazi Nwonwu, managing editor; Iquo DianaAbasi, editor; Godson Okeiyi, graphic artist; Sunny Efemena, illustrator; and Chinaza, editorial assistant.

Omenana’s mission is to develop the writing and reading of speculative ...Read More

Read more

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu

Jewel Box: Stories, E. Lily Yu (Erewhon 978-1-64566-048-4, $27.00, 326pp, hc) October 2023.

Jewel Box is both a perfectly appropriate and a slyly ironic title for E. Lily Yu’s first collection. Not surprisingly for anyone familiar with Yu’s work, many of the 22 stories are absolute gems, notable for their variety, clarity, and elegance – not to mention their length; they’re all true short stories rather than novelettes or ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fusion Fragment, and Fantasy

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 9/7/23, 9/21/23 Fusion Fragment 9/23 Fantasy 9/23

September’s Beneath Ceaseless Skies covered a lot of ground, with its first issue focusing on young people fleeing violent and murderous men. In “Little Red Hands” by Jonathan Louis Duck­worth, that comes in the form of Loaf, a young man running from a dark and bloody past, hoping to escape what’s behind him. It’s not easy, though, ...Read More

Read more

Writing Short Stories in the Margins by A.T. Greenblatt

I have always loved short stories. I don’t remember a time when I ‘‘discovered’’ them. For me, there was nothing to find. They were always there; in school textbooks, homework assignments, in the anthologies I would randomly pick off the shelf at the library. There was never any question either of what I would start writ­ing when I decided to learn story craft. In those early days, reaching the end ...Read More

Read more

Spotlight on: khōréō

Tell us about your magazine, khōréō. When was it founded, and who’s on the publishing team? What is your mission?

In 2020, khōréō was founded with a specific-yet-broad mission: publishing speculative fiction by immigrant and diaspora writers. Our team currently relies on volunteers, with the idea that many hands make light work; on the editorial side, we have Aleksandra Hill as the founder, outgoing editor-in-chief, and publisher; Zhui Ning Chang ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Zooscape, Cast of Wonders, and Worlds of Possibility

Zooscape 8/23 Cast of Wonders 8/29/23, 9/3/23 Worlds of Possibility 8/23

I’ll kick things off with the August issue of Zooscape, which focuses on furry specula­tive fiction. So it makes sense that the issue lingers on the deep wounds that exist within and between animals, including humans. From extinctions and apocalypses to quieter hurts and the kindnesses that heal them, Zooscape once more shows the versatility of furry speculative fiction, ...Read More

Read more

A Ramble on How Short Stories Have Shaped my Chaotic Writing Career by Ai Jiang

I suppose, before diving in, to put it in short, short fiction has opened a tremendous num­ber of doors for me personally as a writer – craft-wise, career-wise, opportunity-wise. I don’t think the trajectory of my writing journey so far would have been as wildly fortunate and luck-filled – at least to me – without short stories.

In the summer of 2019, I met a man in a coffee shop ...Read More

Read more

Spotlight on: Tobi Ogundiran, Author

TOBI OGUNDIRAN is the author of Jackal, Jackal, a collection of dark and fantastic tales. Ogundiran has been nominated for BSFA, Shirley Jack­son, Ignyte, and Nommo awards. His work has appeared in The Book of Witches and Africa Risen, and in several Year’s Best anthologies. His debut novella, In the Shadow of the Fall, is out from Tordotcom in 2024. Born and raised in Nigeria, he spent seven years in ...Read More

Read more

A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: Asimov’s and Clarkesworld

Asimov’s 9-10/23 Clarkesworld 8/23, 9/23

Asimov’s “Slight Spooky” September/October 2023 issue starts off strong with the novelette “Deep Blue Jump” by Dean Whitlock. The story is set amongst a group of children who have been sold or abandoned into a life of harvesting drug-like dream berries. The conditions are brutal, working long hours, risking their lives climb­ing on dangerous vines to reach the berries, and watched over by slappers ...Read More

Read more

Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Strange Horizons, Hexagon, and GigaNotoSaurus

Strange Horizons 8/21/23, 8/28/23, 9/4/23, 9/11/23 Hexagon Fall ’23 GigaNotoSaurus 7/23

Some wonderful poetry bridges Strange Horizons’ August and September content, starting with “Stoic” by Mukut Borpujari, which confronts simplicity and the philosophical stoicism that focuses on knowledge over possessions – over the physical. The poem follows a divesting of things, the narrator part of a couple who are cleaning house and getting rid of a lot ...Read More

Read more