Short Stories I Read in July

 
It’s August twenty-ninth. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in July.

The Real Worlds by Lauren Bajek (Lightspeed Magazine; Issue 128; July 2023)

The Real Worlds by Lauren Bajek was a short but incredibly enjoyable story. There was plenty of tension, and I instantly connected with the narrator, Amelia. I sympathized with her view on her experiences with the fantasy elements of the story. Much of it had to do with dimensions—hopping from one potential world to another potential world—but from a fantasy angle, since making changes was part of the father character’s pursuit of tenure. But that also played into the conflict that arose within the family, which had something of a domino effect leading to a moment of carelessness and a valuable lesson. All-in-all, The Real Worlds was a great story.

Gim of P by Benjamin DeHaan (Apex Magazine; July 13, 2023)

Moving on, one of my other reads was Gim of P by Benjamin DeHaan. What I liked most about this story was the imaginative use of algae and how it related to the society and characters created by DeHaan. It starts unassumingly enough, but I enjoyed the gradual build-up of tension as well as some hints of a mystery. Gim of P was just a lot of fun to read.

The Dancer by Catherine Yu (Fantasy Magazine; Issue 93; July 2023)

Up next, I read a piece of flash fiction called The Dancer, which was an interesting take on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes. Catherine Yu’s story is set in the present with a focus on ballet and the heavy toll to a dancer being observed by the narrator. I enjoyed the writing for this one as well as how Yu concluded the story. This was another good one!

From around the web…

• Read an Excerpt From A Multitude of Dreams [Mara Rutherford; Tor.com; July 24, 2023]
• Barbie Is an Existential Delight [Emmet Asher-Perrin; Tor.com; July 21, 2023]
• Our Opinions Are Correct Episode 132: A Sense of Place with Jessica Johns