Short Fiction Review: May 2024
My favorite stories from May look at loneliness and connection, greedy capitalists and social justice. In “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (published in Uncanny Magazine), a young woman is mysteriously unable to meet up in real life with the people close to her, even if they’re both in the same place at the same time. In “Variant Cover: Pantone Sunset” by Marie Vibbert (published in Escape Pod), robot saleswomen learn that the high-end clothes they sell are unethically produced. In “Fishy” by Alice Towey (published in Clarkesworld Magazine), a woman searches for her late father’s breakthrough invention. It has tremendous potential for the public good, but she must contend with the capitalist who funded her father’s research. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou When Nefeli plans to meet up with her old friend Cara, they both go to the same bus stop — only, it seems they have somehow ended up in different universes. Nefeli is at the bus stop, but Cara isn’t there, while at the same time Cara is at the bus stop, but Nefeli isn’t there. They can text each other, but their phone calls won’t go through. As the story progresses, Nefeli finds this happening to her with more and more people: no matter where she goes, people close to her simply aren’t there, although strangers abound like normal. She can text and email her people and interact with them on social media, but for some reason phone calls and video calls to her family and friends won’t go through. Nefeli begins to wonder if she somehow ended up in a strange, parallel universe. Some readers may find the speculative conceit at the center of this story confusing or implausible, but I found it weirdly relatable and surprisingly easy (and horrifying) to imagine. As someone who works from home, a disturbingly large amount of my interactions with other people are computer-mediated and asynchronous, which makes it easy to imagine somehow being able to communicate with people in alternate universe but being cut off from meeting up in person. You could also read this as a commentary about social media, a technology ostensibly designed to connect us that instead often generates feelings of loneliness and isolation. “Loneliness Universe” is sad, scary, and haunting, but it has warmth to it as well. Nefeli’s relationships with Cara and her family are genuine, relatable, and supportive, even though they are at a distance. In particular, I loved one scene where Nefeli and her brother play a video game together across their different universes. It’s a heartwarming moment that underscores how technology can help us meaningfully connect with others and how games can help carry us through hard times. If you want a beautiful, emotional story about connection and interdependence, this is for you. “Variant Cover: Pantone Sunset” by Marie Vibbert This story is about Stacey, Maria, and Diva, three robot saleswomen whose “existence is devoted to the proper display and peddling of women’s casual separates for the upscale consumer.” Their lives are dominated by the rules and expectations of their company, but that doesn’t totally define them. Stacey reads comic books customers leave behind, and Maria reads news on lost and found phones. When Maria learns that some of the clothes they sell are produced by child slaves, the trio begin to imagine how they can resist the injustices they are immersed in. This is another story that felt weirdly plausible to me. Technologically, I don’t think we are about to see robots replace the humans who work at malls anytime soon, but through the logic of capitalism, this is only a small step away. It is too easy to imagine profit-seeking corporations replacing humans with robots, robots who do not need to be paid a salary, who cannot unionize, who can look exactly as designed, and who (at least in theory) can be programmed to follow strict rules and avoid asking tough questions. At the same time, we have seen how recent AI models are not the same as classical computer programs that follow strict and decipherable logic. If people can already trick ChatGPT into breaking its own rules, why should we expect artificially intelligent robots to behave exactly as designed? So I found it both plausible that unscrupulous corporations would replace human employees with robots and that those robots might become disgusted with their corporate masters and try to resist, and it makes a great premise for a story. I enjoyed watching Stacey, Maria, and Diva learn to question the injustices they were made to serve, work through their differences, and work to cooperate with each other. It was satisfying and hopeful to watch them take action to resist those injustices, and it was inspiring to see them choose for themselves the wonderful perils of a free life. The story is accessible, immersive, and colorful, and its ending is particularly beautiful and moving. If you want a fun, easy read charged with some social justice energy, here’s a story for you. “Fishy” by Alice Towey “Fishy” is a short, quick, and fun story about capitalist greed, the public good, and robots. Ada’s father, Dr. Peretz, was researching water treatment, working on a method to filter out forever chemicals, and supposedly made a breakthrough before his death. Ada searches through his papers, hoping to uncover this breakthrough and share it free of charge to benefit public health. Unfortunately, Dr. Peretz’s old business partner Richard Murphy is searching for it too, and Murphy is much less interested in the public good and much more interested in how to profit off the invention. The robot in this story is Fishy, a fisherman’s buddy designed to help locate ideal fishing spots and a birthday present Ada had previously given her dad. Fishy is easily endearing, an aquatic, robotic creature with the energy levels and attention patterns of your favorite puppy. Murphy is a simplistic villain, but one that’s all too common in our world: a capitalist more concerned with their own legal rights than
Short Fiction Review: March – April 2024
My favorite short stories from March and April are all quite different from each other, which means you will probably enjoy at least one of them. “Fragments of a Symbiotic Life” by Will McMahon (published in Lightspeed Magazine Issue 166) is a humorous piece of flash fiction that’s likely to leave you with something more serious to think about after. “A Magical Correspondence, to the Tune of Heartstrings” by Valerie Valdes (published in Uncanny Magazine Issue 57) is a relatable romance about a busy woman trying to fit in just one more thing — in this case, a correspondence course in witchcraft. “Threshold” by Audrey Zhou (published in Strange Horizons) is for those of you who enjoy more unsettling reads, exploring what happens after death, or cool magic systems. “Fragments of a Symbiotic Life” by Will McMahon This story won over my attention and affection from its first sentence: I was born normal enough, except that I was four days late, which isn’t so much, and slightly jaundiced, which isn’t unusual, and had a raccoon for an arm, which is admittedly strange. This is flash fiction, recollections from the narrator who was born with a raccoon for an arm. This story is written in a clear, accessible manner and with a certain dry humor that many readers are likely to enjoy. A raccoon for an arm is a ludicrous concept, but the narrator’s serious, reflective tone makes it feel both plausible and hilarious. The humor is well executed and makes for a fun read, but there’s more going on here than just a playful gag. When the narrator was four years old, his parents “decided to amputate” the raccoon arm and replace it with a prosthetic. The narrator understands their decision but portrays it as just that: “their decision,” not his own. The narrator’s sadness and unease over their decision shifts the story into a more critical mode. The narrator writes that when he tells people about the raccoon, “They’re usually sympathetic. Kind. But they only see me—one broken human. Never him [the raccoon]. Never the other.” The narrator openly examines how easily we undervalue and marginalize non-human life, and it makes for a striking conclusion to the story, but there are other, less explicit, critiques that I can’t help but read into the story. The story makes me think of people with disabilities and how they can be challenged to conform to society’s norms, rather than society adapting to welcome all people. And it makes me think of people who undergo surgeries that are not medically necessary in order to better conform to society’s norms or ideals. This includes both people who make that choice for themselves (such as with certain cosmetic surgeries) and people who have that choice made for them (such as intersex children who undergo surgery to more closely align with one gender or another). In these cases, the perceived need to conform to society’s norms and ideals can ostracize, marginalize, or harm individuals. Yes, that’s serious and heavy, especially for a story that started with a raccoon for an arm — and that’s exactly what I love about this story: it’s a fun, wild gag, yet there’s also weighty stuff to dig into here if you are willing to sit with the story for a little bit longer. “A Magical Correspondence, to the Tune of Heartstrings” by Valerie Valdes Lissa is busy. Her family makes violins and harps, and they just received an unexpected order with a tight deadline. She also has her house chores, of course, and she’s on the committee organizing the Summernight dance for her village. Beyond that all — which is really more than enough — Lissa is taking a correspondence course in basic witchcraft, in which she must learn elemental cantrips, brew a potion, and create an enchantment. The course is challenging under the best of circumstances, and Lissa’s hectic schedule and chaotic, distracting family don’t help, but she is committed to persevere and see her course through to completion. The story is set in a secondary fantasy world that reminds me of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series, but thematically, this story feels refreshingly relatable. It’s about a busy woman trying to cram one more thing in her schedule, but this is the one rare thing that’s simply just for her and for the sake of trying something new and interesting. In Lissa’s world, witchcraft isn’t considered a practical skill, nor does she hope to turn it into a new career. It’s just something different that Lissa wanted to try out. In our world, it is too easy to spend all your energy on work, life admin, and hobbies that are really side hustles (that is, hobbies that are themselves a form of work). It can be challenging to devote the time and energy to a hobby that’s legitimately just a hobby, something you find interesting and want to do just for the sake of it. And when you do devote yourself to such a hobby, struggle through it, and persevere, it feels great! That is what’s great about this story: watching Lissa choose to do something just for herself and persevere through the challenges. It’s relatable, inspiring, and a little cozy as well. Speaking of cozy, there’s also a cute romance here. (Yet another thing Lissa is trying to fit in!) I was more drawn in by Lissa’s magical correspondence course, but the romance is quite enjoyable as well. If you like romance, cozy fantasy stories, or want to watch Lissa persevere through her correspondence course, I easily recommend this story. “Threshold” by Audrey Zhou When Li’s close friend Huyuan dies unexpectedly after her twenty-third birthday, Li has an option most of us don’t: Li can capture Huyuan’s spirit and build a new body for her to live in out of metal, wood, clay, and other materials. When Huyuan dies, it isn’t really a question for Li whether or not to do this; this is what Li
Short Fiction Review: February 2024
My favorite story from February was “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim … My other favorite stories from February all took the form of in-world artifacts of some sort.
Short Fiction Review: January 2024
My favorite stories from January all wrestled with tough ethical questions [“A Saint Between the Teeth” by Sloane Leong, “Nothing of Value” by Aimee Ogden, and “A Cure for Solastalgia” by E.M. Linden].
Short Fiction Review: December 2023
My four favorite stories from December are all quite different. While the first three stories all do something interesting with the perspectives used to tell the story, the fourth story doesn’t. Instead, it just tells a good story with good characters.
Short Fiction Review: October 2023
Often, there ends up being a common thread connecting my favorite stories for a given month. This month, however, the differences between my favorite stories seem more notable, particularly when it comes to structure.
