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annual short story recs!
Oct. 12th, 2021 09:05 pmtime is fake, it's APPROXIMATELY a year since my last short story rec post, have some more sff short stories I enjoyed over the course of the last year or so:
1. Concerto for Winds and Resistance, by Cara Masten DiGirolamo
A story about what making music together can do. This is gorgeous, intense and beautiful and real, and with a slow careful building towards the perfect end.
2. When Your Being Here Is Gentler Than Your Absence Hard, by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko
When you travel to the past, is the future malleable? And does that even matter? Or is what's important LESBIAN TIME TRAVELLERS WHO LOVE EACH OTHER AND SAVE EACH OTHER.
3. Words We Say Instead, by Brit E B Hvide
About the bond between spaceship captains and their AI spaceships, after the war is over and the ships decommissioned. Makes me cry even on reread, which honestly, RUDE.
4. Homecoming is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self, by Isabel J. Kim
When Rose's grandfather dies, she returns to visit Korea for his funeral, and has to confront her instance: Soyoung, the version of herself who stayed in Korea when Rose moved to the USA. Interesting and ouchy.
5. The Failed Dianas, by Monique Laban
Diana has never been able to make her parents happy, and when she meets with the original Diana she's a clone of, she learns a lot more than she thought about how she never will. Story #4 uses the idea of natural-forming clones to talk about the immigrant experience, but this one uses the idea of deliberately-created clones to talk about learning how to thrive after surviving a childhood with abusive parents. Satisfying.
6. Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather, by Sarah Pinsker
The entire story is told through a) the lyrics of a "traditional" folk song, and b) the conversation held between various people on a music website analyzing the song. There's plenty of questions left unanswered but enough is told to make some things very clear! I love it.
7. The Incorruptible World, by Anjali Sachdeva
What does it mean to live on a planet without decay? This is a fascinating story, and with a perfect ending.
8. Tender, by Sofia Samatar
A quiet, thoughtful story that's much more about the main character's inner life and of the building up of resonant themes than anything else. The main character tends to a containment facility for radioactive waste, and reflects on what her life was like before, and on her hurt friend. Highly effective at setting a mood and drawing you in, even though not much happens.
9. The Pragmatical Princess, by Nisi Shawl
An entirely charming story about a princess who is captured by a dragon, and is maximum pragmatic about the experience. This story was originally published in the 1990's, and it definitely does feel like it's more in dialogue with the genre as it was at that time, but you know, I grew up with that era, so it felt pleasantly nostalgic even on first read!
10. Comments on Your Provisional Patent Application for an Eternal Spirit Core, by Wole Talabi
Does exactly what it says in the title! Through the patent application, and the comments left on it by the brother of the patent's author, you learn a lot about the relationship between the brothers, and why this patent application is actually a Really Bad Idea.
1. Concerto for Winds and Resistance, by Cara Masten DiGirolamo
A story about what making music together can do. This is gorgeous, intense and beautiful and real, and with a slow careful building towards the perfect end.
2. When Your Being Here Is Gentler Than Your Absence Hard, by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko
When you travel to the past, is the future malleable? And does that even matter? Or is what's important LESBIAN TIME TRAVELLERS WHO LOVE EACH OTHER AND SAVE EACH OTHER.
3. Words We Say Instead, by Brit E B Hvide
About the bond between spaceship captains and their AI spaceships, after the war is over and the ships decommissioned. Makes me cry even on reread, which honestly, RUDE.
4. Homecoming is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self, by Isabel J. Kim
When Rose's grandfather dies, she returns to visit Korea for his funeral, and has to confront her instance: Soyoung, the version of herself who stayed in Korea when Rose moved to the USA. Interesting and ouchy.
5. The Failed Dianas, by Monique Laban
Diana has never been able to make her parents happy, and when she meets with the original Diana she's a clone of, she learns a lot more than she thought about how she never will. Story #4 uses the idea of natural-forming clones to talk about the immigrant experience, but this one uses the idea of deliberately-created clones to talk about learning how to thrive after surviving a childhood with abusive parents. Satisfying.
6. Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather, by Sarah Pinsker
The entire story is told through a) the lyrics of a "traditional" folk song, and b) the conversation held between various people on a music website analyzing the song. There's plenty of questions left unanswered but enough is told to make some things very clear! I love it.
7. The Incorruptible World, by Anjali Sachdeva
What does it mean to live on a planet without decay? This is a fascinating story, and with a perfect ending.
8. Tender, by Sofia Samatar
A quiet, thoughtful story that's much more about the main character's inner life and of the building up of resonant themes than anything else. The main character tends to a containment facility for radioactive waste, and reflects on what her life was like before, and on her hurt friend. Highly effective at setting a mood and drawing you in, even though not much happens.
9. The Pragmatical Princess, by Nisi Shawl
An entirely charming story about a princess who is captured by a dragon, and is maximum pragmatic about the experience. This story was originally published in the 1990's, and it definitely does feel like it's more in dialogue with the genre as it was at that time, but you know, I grew up with that era, so it felt pleasantly nostalgic even on first read!
10. Comments on Your Provisional Patent Application for an Eternal Spirit Core, by Wole Talabi
Does exactly what it says in the title! Through the patent application, and the comments left on it by the brother of the patent's author, you learn a lot about the relationship between the brothers, and why this patent application is actually a Really Bad Idea.
