Flash Fiction Online, Goblins & Greatcoats by Travis Baldree, and Unquiet on the Eastern Front by Wole Talabi: Reviews by Charles Payseur

Goblins & Greatcoats, Travis Baldree (Subter­ranean) June 2024. Unquiet on the Eastern Front, Wole Talabi (Subterranean) October 2024. Flash Fiction Online 11/24

Subterranean Press has recently been of­fering short fiction online for free, and I’m catching up with June’s “Goblins & Greatcoats” by Travis Baldree, which follows Zyll, a goblin escaping the rain and road at a small inn which just happens to be at ...Read More

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The Storytellers: Daniel Abraham Reads The Wind

We are so happy to release our fourth episode of The Storytellers, our series of Zoom-recorded author readings! Previously, we had Samantha Mills read the first chapter of The Wings Upon Her Back. Today we are pleased to show Daniel Abraham reading “The Wind”, a short story written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who together make up the pseudonym responsible for The Expanse, James S.A. Corey. “The Wind” ...Read More

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Asimov’s: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Asimov’s 11-12/24

The November/December issue of Asimov’s opens with “Death Benefits”, a novella by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A series of vignettes highlight various casualties of war, interspersed with the story of Davidson Turo, a private investigator who is approached by a client who has seen foot­age of her lover’s death, but is convinced it’s fake and that he’s still alive. Rusch does a lovely job of exploring ...Read More

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Fusion Fragment, GigaNotoSaurus and Diabolical Plots 11/24: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Fusion Fragment 11/24 GigaNotoSaurus 11/24 Diabolical Plots 11/24

November’s Fusion Fragment starts strong with Emry Jordal’s novelette “The Little Black Wand for Every Occasion”, in which a technology known as Serendipity is growing in popularity, though not without some controversy. It allows people a redo, erasing six minutes or so of time so that people can undo any “mistakes” they just made. In practice, it allows people ...Read More

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Sinkhole and Other Inexplicable Voids by Leyna Krow: Review by Ian Mond

Sinkhole and Other Inexplicable Voids, Leyna Krow (Penguin 978-0-59329-965-4, $19.00, 304pp, tp) January 2025.

Leyna Krow’s terrific second collection, Sinkhole and Other Inexplicable Voids, assembles 16 stories that take an askew, sometimes surreal, frequently funny attitude to the physical and emotional bonds that bind us (and octopuses) together.

“Sinkhole” is the collection’s title piece and has been optioned for a Hollywood adaptation, care of Jordan Peele and Issa ...Read More

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Small Wonders, and Lightspeed: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 11/14/24, 11/28/24 Small Wonders 11/24 Lightspeed 11/24

Beneath Ceaseless Skies opened November with an issue focused on revolution, including “Another Tide” by Will Greatwich, which finds the narrator leaving their home in a long-conquered area of a vast empire to visit and study its fringes, where resistance still lives embodied in a man named Goruna. The two meet, and the narrator joins Go­runa’s cause ...Read More

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Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Clarkesworld 11/24

Resa Nelson’s “LuvHome™” in Clarkes­world’s November issue adopts a light tone to tell the story of a woman locked out by her smart house, which claims to be doing it for her own good, refusing to let her back in until she meets new people, changes her habits, and gets out of her current rut. “Luminous Glass, Vibrant Seeds” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires ...Read More

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Flash Fiction Online, Cast of Wonders, and Strange Horizons: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Flash Fiction Online 10/24 Cast of Wonders 10/20/24, 11/11/24 Strange Horizons 10/21/24, 11/4/24

Flash Fiction Online released an extra-large issue in honor of the spookiest month, which is capped off by Christine Lucas’s haunting “Final Harvest”, in which the daughter of a rather abusive and manipulative mother returns to perform said mother’s final rites – the harvest of nekrophyta that grows on the body of the dead. ...Read More

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Escape Pod, Worlds of Possibility, and Samovar: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Escape Pod 10/31/24 Worlds of Possibility 10/24 Samovar 10/28/24

Escape Pod celebrated Halloween with Ad­dison Smith’s “Mother Death Learns a Trick”, which finds the narrator passing by an old AI robot named Mother Death, who normally predicts the demise of anyone she sees. She becomes part of the background, at least until she starts predicting her own death, which knocks the narrator out of their cycle of ...Read More

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Augur: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Augur 7.2

Telling the Soul of Mars” by Alina Pete starts Augur 7.2 on a strong note. It’s a lovely story that explores the power and limits of language and narrative, and how the traditions of storytelling might change and evolve with space travel. A storyteller born on Mars visits Earth for the first time and struggles with how to express the es­sence of her home to those ...Read More

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The Sunday Morning Transport, The Deadlands, and The Dark: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran

The Sunday Morning Transport (9/22/24 – 12/01/24) The Deadlands Fall ’24 The Dark 12/24

The Sunday Morning Transport publishes out­standing fiction weekly. All the stories are commendable, but here are my favorites of their fall offerings. If, as I did, you felt sympathy for Hermione’s muggle parents, “F*** These Wizards” by Alex London (9/22) is a story you will enjoy. And even if you aren’t a Harry Potter ...Read More

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khōréo: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

khōréo 4.2

Madeleine Vigneron’s “Human Trials” in khōréo 4.2 is a painful story full of lovely imagery about holding on to hope in a hopeless situation. The last ships have left Earth, and a plague ravages the abandoned population left behind. Rowan is part of a team of three scientists trying to remove mass from living things so they can travel at the speed of light and ...Read More

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Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Clarkesworld 10/24

Space O/pera” by Abby Nicole Lee in the October issue of Clarkesworld centers on Clara, whose family dog, Daki, is sent into space. When footage of Daki’s shuttle exploding is released, Clara is certain a cover-up is afoot and sets out to investigate. “The Children of the Flame” by Fiona Moore is another of the author’s stories featuring Morag as a recurring central character. ...Read More

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Depth Charge, edited by Hank Davis & Jamie Ibson: Review by Paul Di Filippo

Depth Charge, edited by Hank Davis & Jamie Ibson (Baen 978-1982193829, trade paperback, 288pp, $18.00) December 2024

Not so very long ago, the fantastika publishing ecology held open a niche for a species known as the “reprint anthology.” These creatures flourished under the expert hands of such caretakers as Damon Knight, Groff Conklin, Isaac Asimov, Richard Lupoff, Judith Merril and scores of other expert compilers. Their reason for living ...Read More

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Lightspeed, Baffling, GigaNotoSaurus, and Small Wonders: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Lightspeed 10/24 Baffling 10/24 GigaNotoSaurus 10/24 Small Wonders 10/24

Philip Gelatt and JT Petty anchor the October Lightspeed with “Sully the God”, which imagines Sully as the Elon Musk of magic, the man who stole the discovery from a dead colleague and turned it into the most successful business the world has ever known. He’s become so rich that money has sort of lost meaning, and yet for ...Read More

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Fiyah, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Diabolical Plots: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Fiyah 10/24 Beneath Ceaseless Skies 10/3/24 Diabolical Plots 10/24

The October Fiyah is themed around spacefaring aunties, and it opens with a bang with Tatiana Obey’s “Fuck Them Kids”, which finds Jaz visit­ing her mom and sister (and her sister’s kids) for the spacer holiday celebrating the settlement of Europa. It’s something Jaz’s mom participated in personally as a botanist on the first settlement ship, and under ...Read More

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Flash Fiction Online, Cast of Wonders, and Escape Pod: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Flash Fiction Online 9/24 Cast of Wonders 9/29/24 Escape Pod 9/19/24

September’s Flash Fiction Online starts strong with Stefan Alcalá Slater’s “Tornado Break­ers Don’t Cry”, which finds siblings Ethel and Edgar living in the shadow of their father, a famous tornado breaker, long after he’s gone from their lives. Ethel has taken up the mantel, but when she fails to break a tornado that comes through their ...Read More

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Analog: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Analog 9-10/24

The October/November issue of Analog opens with the novella “Minnie and Earl Have a Kit­ten” by Adam-Troy Castro, set on the moon and featuring the author’s recurring characters, Minnie and Earl, who on the surface appear to be a sweet, elderly Midwestern couple, but in truth may be higher intelligences. Tish receives an invitation out of the blue from Minnie and Earl to visit them ...Read More

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Strange Horizons, F&SF, and Kaleidotrope: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Strange Horizons 9/16/24, 10/7/24, 10/14/24 F&SF Summer ’24 Kaleidotrope Autumn ’24

Strange Horizons has been firing on all cylinders lately, as with September’s “A War of Words” by Marie Brennan, a poem that imagines a war where the winners take more than wealth, more than land. They take language, leaving survivors without a way to contain their loss that isn’t filtered through the lens of their oppressors. ...Read More

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On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle: Review by Jake Casella Brookins

On the Calculation of Volume I, Solvej Balle (New Directions 978-0-81123-725-3, 160pp, $15.95, tp) November 2024.

In Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume I, translated from the Danish by Barbara Haveland, rare book dealer Tara Selter has found herself trapped in a time loop on the 18th of November; the first entry in Balle’s septology begins with November 18 #121. For reasons unknown, time for her has “fallen ...Read More

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New Year, New You edited by Chris Campbell: Review by Alexandra Pierce

New Year, New You, Chris Campbell, ed. (Im­mortal Jellyfish Press 979-8-99077-550-3, 312pp, $25.00, tp). Cover by Melinda Smith. October 2024.

In my experience, it’s often the case that once you hear a good idea, you think “Of course! Why has no one done that before?” In that spirit: the “new year, new you!” slogan seems a perfect theme for a speculative fiction anthology – now that Chris Campbell has ...Read More

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The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison & J. Michael Straczynski: Review by Gary K. Wolfe

The Last Dangerous Visions, Harlan Ellison & J. Michael Straczynski, eds. (Blackstone 979-8-212-18379-6, $27.99, 450pp) October 2024.

Speaking of unusual ways to assemble an anthol­ogy, here we have The Last Dangerous Visions, nominally edited by Harlan Ellison, but also by El­lison’s executor J. Michael Straczynski, who added seven stories he solicited himself after Ellison’s death. By my count, nine of the 24 stories were among the nearly 90 ...Read More

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GigaNotoSaurus, Diabolical Plots and Hexagon Fall ’24: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

GigaNotoSaurus 9/24 Diabolical Plots 9/24 Hexagon Fall ’24

September’s GigaNotoSaurus is Monte Lin’s “Here in the Glittering Black, There is Hope”, which introduces Kavita, the captain of a ship contracted out to the ultrarich to go out and bring back previous materials from the reaches of space, staying young thanks to cryo-sleep while generations pass on Earth. She’s part of a tradition, a movement to the stars ...Read More

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Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Clarkesworld 9/24

In “The Music Must Always Play” by Marissa Lingen in the September issue of Clarkesworld, aliens crash land in Minnesota, but are all killed as a result, before the residents of Earth have a chance to meet them. It’s a unique take on a first contact story, focusing on Maryam, a member of the team studying the crash, who feels guilty for not being at home ...Read More

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Lightspeed, Small Wonders and Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Lightspeed 9/24 Small Wonders 9/24 Beneath Ceaseless Skies 9/5/24, 9/19/24

Gabriela Santiago returns to Lightspeed in September with the metatextual “Reconstruct­ing ‘The Goldenrod Conspiracy,’ Edina Room, Saturday 2:30-3:30”, which is framed as a pre­sentation at a fan convention dedicated to the Doctor Who–esque television show Backwards Man. The presentation is on a lost episode that has been remade by fans based on what people could remember ...Read More

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Uncanny, Nightmare and Apex: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran

Uncanny 9-10/24 Nightmare 10/24 Apex #146

I found three stories in Uncanny’s 60th issue to be standouts. “The 6% Squeeze” by Eddie Robson will appeal to anyone who has ever designed for a corporation with a strict “bible” or even anyone who has experienced such a corporation’s need for a scapegoat. Tananarive Due’s engaging “A Stranger Knocks” is set in 1926 Washington, DC, where newlyweds ...Read More

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Augur: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Augur 7.1

Grief, loss, healing, and recovery are themes running through Augur 7.1, and it’s interesting to see how different authors approach similar subject matter. “Sagal, the-Witch-in Training” by Ardo Omer follows the titular witch-in-training on her first solo case, trying to help a young woman with a broken heart. The woman happens to be the sister of one of her classmates, and they work together to convince ...Read More

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Cast of Wonders, Strange Horizons, and Fusion Fragment: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Cast of Wonders 8/24/24 Strange Horizons 8/19/24, 8/26/24 Fusion Fragment 8/24

Cast of Wonders also closed out August strongly with J.M. Bueno’s haunted house story, “Double Yellow Lines”. Unlike many that use the ele­ment, this story’s haunted house isn’t nearly as malevolent as it could be. Instead, it seems to be a way for people metaphorically haunted by the past and their own grief to try and ...Read More

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The Dark, The Sunday Morning Transport, and Reactor: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran

The Dark 8/24, 9/24 The Sunday Morning Transport 7/21/24 – 9/15/24 Reactor 7/24/24 – 9/4/24

Both originals in The Dark #111 are centered on homes. The haunting “Once There Was Water” by Katie McIvor is really two tales. One is about the past of the fenlands where children are transformed into darkly furred creatures with webbed, clawed hands; the other about a time closer to our present when ...Read More

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Zooscape, Flash Fiction Online, and Escape Pod: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Zooscape 8/24 Flash Fiction Online 8/24 Escape Pod 8/22/24

The latest from Zooscape features a fresh twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story in Erin Brown’s intense “The Cloak”. Flipping the script in terms of heroes and vil­lains, the wolf narrates the action as he is stalked by a young hunter who has successfully turned the rest of his family into the warm clothes she wears ...Read More

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, and Worlds of Possibility: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8/8/24, 8/22/24 Lightspeed 8/24 Worlds of Possibility 8/24

J.A. Prentice returns to Beneath Ceaseless Skies with August’s “An Isle in a Sea of Ghosts”, which finds Kreisa on a journey to try and save her brother from a spell that changes him into a different animal every day. After two years, she has gone through almost everything she can think of, and her brother has ...Read More

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GigaNotoSaurus, Diabolical Plots, and Small Wonders: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

GigaNotoSaurus 8/24 Diabolical Plots 8/24 Small Wonders 8/24

The August GigaNotoSaurus story is Sarah J. Wu’s “Elves in Illinois”, which finds Linnet growing up in a small rural town that abuts a forest where fae live and hire out their services to farmers to ensure prosperous crop yields re­gardless of drought or blight. Linnet’s family is initially reluctant to pay the fees that the fae ask for ...Read More

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