I love it when I finish a short story and feel an overwhelming sense in the aftermath of “um…. Holy shit.” Really great! I loved the last line, and thI love it when I finish a short story and feel an overwhelming sense in the aftermath of “um…. Holy shit.” Really great! I loved the last line, and this kind of structured short story is always such an excellent tool to me. ...more
Personally I absolutely loved this. As a story about ancestry systems hits perfectly; I liked the use of Oyo and Dahomey historical references. It hasPersonally I absolutely loved this. As a story about ancestry systems hits perfectly; I liked the use of Oyo and Dahomey historical references. It has some moments of infodumping that I didn’t find that effective and felt could’ve been smoother. ...more
This story is short fiction about a trans girl thief in love with a lady of the pond who kills men– but only the terrible ones.
First of all, the writThis story is short fiction about a trans girl thief in love with a lady of the pond who kills men– but only the terrible ones.
First of all, the writing is excellent, absolutely engrossing. This story is super atmospheric, which helped a lot. And also, the lead character is written quite well; I found it super easy to empathize with her.
I will say I went into this expecting a romance, and it’s really… not? It’s more of a character arc & coming of age, but that element didn’t pop up till the end and felt like a bit of an abrupt change, so keep those expectations. This was excellent and I'd definitely recommend.
This story is short fiction about a trans girl thief in love with a lady of the pond who kills men– but only the terrible ones.
First of all, the writing is excellent, absolutely engrossing. This story is super atmospheric, which helped a lot. And also, the lead character is written quite well; I found it super easy to empathize with her.
I will say I went into this expecting a romance, and it’s really… not? It’s more of a character arc & coming of age, but that element didn’t pop up till the end and felt like a bit of an abrupt change, so keep those expectations. This was excellent and I'd definitely recommend.
To read for free, go here. A Wayward Children story just for Christopher backstory. Lots to unpack here about monstrosity as a matter of perspective, To read for free, go here. A Wayward Children story just for Christopher backstory. Lots to unpack here about monstrosity as a matter of perspective, and god, but the ending is simply heartbreaking. This seems frankly odd to not just have as part of a full book. I love Tor shorts. I do not know what the point of having both an eight-book-long novella series and a series of backstory shorts is. But what the hell, I mean, I read it and it made my heart ache. I suppose that's what matters.
Short story following both the parental relationship between Jack and Dr. Bleak and the romantic one between Jack and Alexis. Very sweet and I do adorShort story following both the parental relationship between Jack and Dr. Bleak and the romantic one between Jack and Alexis. Very sweet and I do adore Jack; really oddly gapped timeline. Ended up feeling fairly thrown together as a story. To read for free, go here.
Update: I am writing my thesis on this short story. I will be abnormal about this for the next six months.
Alyssa Wong’s “Hungry Daughters of StarvingUpdate: I am writing my thesis on this short story. I will be abnormal about this for the next six months.
Alyssa Wong’s “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” follows a girl who uses Tinder to find dates and feeds off their gross thoughts about her body, until on one date, she feasts off a murderer and becomes addicted. From there, Jen becomes a creature of hunger, filled with desire for more evil thoughts, and controlling herself with a new lifestyle with a girl of even viler thoughts, Seo-yun. These alienate her from the girl she already has, Aiko, and her relationship with her.
This is a really fantastic story. I am going to offer a take about the ending, so if you have not read this story, avoid this review and go do it. No, seriously, go read it, it's really short.
Jen’s very being is a subversion of white heteropatriarchal power structures in which she is allowed to kill. She cements her overturning of this power structure when she consumes his thoughts and literally becomes him. But in this consumption of the white heteropatriarchy she is also becoming the white heteropatriarchy. This becoming brings her away from her mother and Aiko.
It is this becoming of white heteropatriarchy that first alienates her from her mother. Her mother is offering her some sense of connection to home, and by extension identity, by telling her the way she lives her life. By eating Harvey, Jen has rejected that sense of community. It it relevant that the sense of community is not one that wholly welcomes her—throughout their time, her mother only ever calls her ‘Meimei’, a term meaning younger woman or younger sister. Jen’s entire identity is not seen.
Jen is able to break free from her addiction to evil thoughts, connected with white heteropatriarchy, via her relationship with Seo-yun. To Seo-yun, her vampiric nature is something that should be built off desire, not off survival. When Seo-yun first feeds Jen the blend of malicious thoughts, she transforms again, this time into something more explicitly monstrous. It is not a pleasant image, and it is not Jen’s identity. And perhaps most interestingly, in the presence of Seo-yun, Jen forgets her love for Aiko. She tells us that “her hands smell like home, like rice flour and bad memories. How could I ever have found that appealing?” Aiko is both a queer figure and one connected with home and grounding identity. Neither are appealing to the monstrosity presented by Seo-yun.
The text ends strangely and abruptly, with the narrator attempting to revive Aiko from amongst the crawling thoughts of Seo-yun, and wondering how she could ever forget her scent. When Seo-yun eats Aiko’s thoughts, and Jen reacts by eating Seo-yun, she finally recognizes her need for Aiko, telling us: “How could I ever forget her? How could I forget her taste, her scent, something as awful and beautiful as home?” And the story promptly ends. It is a cruel ending, and a confusing one.
We recognize, however, that she is recognizing that she has loved Aiko all along. Aiko is defined not just by her queer relationship with Jen, but by her status as the scent of something as awful and beautiful as home. Jen’s mother stood for the home identity; Seo-yun stood for the queer future. It is only Aiko who stands for both a grounding in the self and the future.
A really wonderful novella about performed gender and what men expect from those they covet. The story of Galatea is such a fascinating myth, and tranA really wonderful novella about performed gender and what men expect from those they covet. The story of Galatea is such a fascinating myth, and translating it in this way was extremely clever. Absolutely love! ...more
I can be normal about Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Graceling by Kristin Cashore is a book that gives me normal human emotions that I am capable of prI can be normal about Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Graceling by Kristin Cashore is a book that gives me normal human emotions that I am capable of processing. I did not have almost half the dialogue of this book memorized because I used to reread this book on my kindle whenever I was sad, so several times a year for about five years of my life. Affirmations.
Anyway this remains The Book Of All Time to me. The character development. The romance plotline. The actually good foreshadowing. Bitterblue as a character. The fact that this is one of the most terrifying villains in YA canon. Katsa and gender. Oh I’m chomping at the bit this book is so special to me. When they drop the Bitterblue graphic novel I’m going to lose my mind once and for all.
[An actually coherent review of this book contained on the actual page for Graceling. But this graphic novel was really good, really beautifully illustrated, love the art style and the design of all the characters. Absolutely worth the read if you’re a fan.]...more
Impostor/Impostor by Ian Muneshwar is a brief but very fucked up short story about duplication. Impostor/Impostor by Ian Muneshwar is a brief but very fucked up short story about duplication. ...more
Read a PDF of this short story in class. The ending of this just genuinely makes me feel soooo crazy I cannot possibly be normal about it. Tamsyn MuirRead a PDF of this short story in class. The ending of this just genuinely makes me feel soooo crazy I cannot possibly be normal about it. Tamsyn Muir you get it...more
“I wasn’t wrong, but what I didn’t get was that she wasn’t wrong, either.”
The Low Low Woods follows two friends, El and Octavia (Vee), as they try
“I wasn’t wrong, but what I didn’t get was that she wasn’t wrong, either.”
The Low Low Woods follows two friends, El and Octavia (Vee), as they try to unveil a mystery within their small town. This gorgeous comic focuses primarily on topics of consent in a way I found incredibly compelling. The conflict between them is about one wanting to ignore the bear, ignore the night at the movie theater, but it’s really about belief—which one is willing to acknowledge truths, and which one is not. The elements of magical realism and fabulism, as they blend with the themes of the novel, work perfectly, with (view spoiler)[Jessica turning into a sinkhole with joy (hide spoiler)] serving as a highlight for me. This was fabulous, and is definitely worth a read.
Of all the things SecUnit needs, the only ones she can give it are room and time in a relatively safe space to make decisions for itself. Becoming
Of all the things SecUnit needs, the only ones she can give it are room and time in a relatively safe space to make decisions for itself. Becoming a prop for her failing emotional stability won’t do either one of them any good.
A brief short story following Murderbot #4 from the point of view of Dr. Mensah, with cameos from Bharadwaj, Ratthi, Gurathin, and Pin-Lee. I honestly just love this series, it never fails to entertain me, and I loved getting to be back in this world for even a moment. I’m excited to hopefully get to the full length novel soon! You can find Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory here.
Maria Ferrandez said of Octavia Butler's classic short story "Bloodchild" that it involved “Human subject dismantled and demolished: a human body whosMaria Ferrandez said of Octavia Butler's classic short story "Bloodchild" that it involved “Human subject dismantled and demolished: a human body whose integrity is violated, a human identity whose boundaries are breached.” It is this that I loved so much about this story: The horrific ciclicism, the possession and inevitability to that possession, and a deep-running claustrophobia.
But it is not strictly a horror story, either. Butler said of this story: “It amazes me that some people have seen ‘Bloodchild’ as a story of slavery. It isn’t… On one level, it’s a love story between two very different beings… ‘Bloodchild’ is my pregnant man story.” It’s a strangely romantic, or even erotic, story.
I might come back to this at some point, because there is a lot going on here, but regardless it’s incredible, absolutely deserving of its Hugo and Nebula, and I think you should read it! I also adored this review of the story.
I actually have so many thoughts about this but it’s late so for now I’m just going to leave it at “this is absolutely one of my favorite pieces of short fiction of all time”. There is just so much about this that . Wow. Hello?? This is about to live in my head without paying rent (also a theme in this story). Frankly, my full review is that Jenny Slate meme about having to unfollow NASA because it made me too crazy. I hope you all enjoy this short story just as much!
I did it because I wanted to kill, and I had too much religion to kill without cause.
A short story about queens, madness, toxicity, and murder; or, to
I did it because I wanted to kill, and I had too much religion to kill without cause.
A short story about queens, madness, toxicity, and murder; or, to put it another way, a sapphic retelling of Alice in Wonderland. The writing of this is intoxicating.
UPDATE from four hours later: the Msscribe story literally wishes it had this amount of power. Caroline Calloway could never. the amount of gasping i UPDATE from four hours later: the Msscribe story literally wishes it had this amount of power. Caroline Calloway could never. the amount of gasping i did in this.... the amount of nostalgia....... hoof
You can read this here. This is a novel formatted like a fan conspiracy and it is so much fun. When Lauren James started leaning more and more into the thriller genre with her writing that was frankly an excellent decision on her part because oh BOY am I enjoying this....more
The problem with reading a story about a brave cat fighting the devil is that I am currently on lockdown without my wonderful cat, Tony (also known unThe problem with reading a story about a brave cat fighting the devil is that I am currently on lockdown without my wonderful cat, Tony (also known under the pen names of 'grumpy old man', 'baby', and 'little bastard') and the cat protagonist of this made me miss him so much. The benefits, of course, are that this was a wonderful little story and brought me a lot of joy.
I finished this feeling... overwhelmed. It is the story of a circus, and an Alladin performer, and a Jinni, and the dynamics of freedom. It is the imagination and love behind the piece that ties it together: the love story, simple and steadfast and true. Mimi Mondal's character creation is excellent, enveloping you in these characters and their conflict with ease. It's a beautifully written piece, but I'll admit I didn't know how deep into it I was until the ending. I did not cry. But I definitely could have. I loved this, and I'll be thinking about it for a while.
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