Tag archives: short stories

The Future Is Female! Vol. 2: The 1970s: More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women

by Lisa Yaszek (Editor)
  • “Frog Pond” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro ★★★★
  • “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ ★★★
  • “If Ever I Should Leave You” by Pamela Sargent ★★★½
  • “Pale Hands” by Doris Piserchia ★★½
  • “A Scarab in the City of Time” by Marta Randall ★★★½
  • “The Anthropologist” by Kathleen M. Sidney
… Read more

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction

by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Zelda Knight (Editors)
  • “Simbi” by Sandra Jackson-Opoku ★★½
  • “Housewarming for a Lion Goddess” by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga ★★★
  • “A Knight in Tunisia” by Alex Jennings ★★★
  • “The Devil Is Us” by Mirette Bahgat ★★½
  • “The Lady of the Yellow-painted Library” by Tobi Ogundiran ★★½
  • “The
… Read more

The Wishing Pool and Other Stories

by Tananarive Due
  • “The Wishing Pool” ★★★
  • “Haint in the Window” ★★★
  • “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge” ★★★
  • “Thursday Night Shift” ★★★★
  • “Last Stop on Route 9” ★★
  • “Suppertime” ★★★
  • “Rumpus Room” ★★★
  • “Migration” ★½
  • “Caretaker” ★★
  • “One Day Only” ★★★½
  • “Attachment Disorder” ★★★
  • “Ghost Ship” ★★★½
  • “Shopping Day” ★★★
  • “The
… Read more

Infinités

by Vandana Singh
  • “Faim” ★★★
  • “Delhi” ★★★★
  • “La femme qui se croyait planète” ★★★½
  • “Infinités” ★★★½
  • “Soif” ★★★
  • “Les lois de la conservation” ★★★
  • “Trois contes de la rivière du ciel” ★★★
  • “Le tétraèdre” ★★★½
  • “L’épouse” ★★★
  • “La chambre sur le toit” ★★★½
  • “Un manifeste spéculatif” ★★★½

Real Sugar is Hard to Find

by Sim Kern

Especially in the first half the writing is not a pleasure to read, but I appreciated the imagination.

  • “Real Sugar is Hard to Find” ★★★
  • “The Listener” ★★★½
  • “The Propagator” ★★★★
  • “The New Nomad” ★★★
  • “The Night Heron” ★★★
  • “Tadpoles” ★★
  • “Unwhole” ★★★★
  • “What Can’t Be Undone” ★★★★
… Read more

Miss Muriel and Other Stories

by Ann Petry
  • “Miss Muriel” ★★★½
  • “The New Mirror” ★★★½
  • “Has Anybody Seen Miss Dora Dean?” ★★★½
  • “The Migraine Workers” ★★★½
  • “Mother Africa” ★★★
  • “The Bones of Louella Brown” ★★★★
  • “Olaf and His Girl Friend” ★★½
  • “Like a Winding Sheet” ★½
  • “The Witness” ★½
  • “Solo on the Drums” ★★
  • “The Necessary
… Read more

Eleven

by Patricia Highsmith

Beacons of unpleasantness

  • “The Snail-Watcher” ★★½
  • “The Birds Poised to Fly” ★★½
  • “The Terrapin” DNF
  • “When the Fleet was in at Mobile” ★★½
  • “The Quest for ‘Blank Claveringi'” ★★½
  • “The Cries of Love” ★★
  • “Mrs. Afton, Among Thy Green Braes” ★★
  • “The Heroine” ★★
  • “Another Bridge to Cross”
… Read more

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories: A Collection of Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation from a Visionary Team of Female and Nonbinary Creators

by Yu Chen, Regina Kanyu Wang (Editors)
  • “The Stars We Raised” by Xiu Xinyu ★★★
  • “What Does the Fox Say?” by Xia Jia ★★★
  • “Blackbird” by Shen Dacheng ★½
  • “The Name of the Dragon” by Ling Chen ★★½
  • “New Year Painting, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, Zhaoqiao Village” by Chen
… Read more

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 3

Marie Hodgkinson (Editor)
  • “New Zealand Gothic” by Jack Remiel Cottrell ★★★
  • “Synaesthete” by Melanie Harding-Shaw ★★★
  • “Death confetti” by Zoë Meager ★★★
  • “How To Get A Girlfriend (When You’re A Terrifying Monster)” by Marie Cardno ★★★
  • “Salt White, Rose Red” by Emily Brill-Holland ★★★
  • “You Can’t Beat Wellington on a Good
… Read more

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 1

Marie Hodgkinson (Editor)
  • “Trees” by Toni Wi ★★★
  • “The Garden” by Isabelle McNeur ★★★½
  • “Logistics” by A.J. Fitzwater ★★★★
  • “The Billows of Sarto” by Sean Monaghan ★★★
  • “A Most Elegant Solution” by M. Darusha Wehm ★★★★★
  • “A Brighter Future” by Grant Stone ★★★½
  • “The Glassblower’s Peace” by James Rowland ★★★½
  • “Mirror
… Read more

The Best of World SF: Volume 2

by Lavie Tidhar (Editor)
  • “The Bahrain Underground Bazaar” by Nadia Afifi ★★★★★
  • “The Ten-Percent Thief” by Lavanya Lakshminarayan ★★★
  • “At Desk 9501” by Frances Ogamba ★★★
  • “Bring Your Own Spoon” (reread) by Saad Z. Hossain ★★★★★
  • “Blue Grey Blue” by Yukimi Ogawa ★★★½
  • “Your Multicolored Life” by Xing He ★★
  • “The
… Read more

Ten Little Indians

by Sherman Alexie
  • “The Search Engine” ★★★★
  • “Lawyer’s League” ★★★½
  • “Can I Get a Witness?” ★★★
  • “Do Not Go Gentle” ★★★
  • “Flight Patterns” ★★½
  • “The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above” ★★½
  • “Do You Know Where I Am?” ★★★★
  • “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” ★★★★
  • “What Ever Happened to
… Read more

The Best of World SF: Volume 1

by Lavie Tidhar (Editor)
  • “What the Dead Man Said” by Chinelo Onwualu ★★★
  • “Delhi” by Vandana Singh ★★★★
  • “The Wheel of Samsara” by Han Song ★★
  • “Xingzhou” by Ng Yi-Sheng ★★★
  • “Prayer” by Taiyo Fujii ★★
  • “The Green Ship” by Francesco Verso ★★½
  • “Eyes of the Crocodile” by Malena Salazar Maciá
… Read more

Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry

by David Ly (Editor)
  • “The Vetala’s Song” by Anuja Varghese ★★★½
  • “#WWMD?” by jaye simpson ★★★
  • “Gruesome My Love” by Levi Cain ★★★
  • “Glamour-Us” by Andrew Wilmot ★★★
  • “And the Moon Spun Round like a Top” by Hiromi Goto ★★★½
  • “The Minotaur and Theseus (and Other Bullshit)” by Ben Rawluk ★★★½
… Read more

The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021)

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Editor)
  • “The Many Lives of an Abiku” by Tobi Ogundiran ★★★
  • “A Love Song for Herkinal as composed by Ashkernas amid the ruins of New Haven” by Chinelo Onwualu ★★★
  • “Are We Ourselves?” by Michelle Mellon ★★½
  • “The Goatkeeper’s Harvest” by Tobi Ogundiran ★★½
  • “Baba Klep” by Eugen
… Read more