Short Stories I Read In August

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

Something Small Enough to Ask For by Anamaria Curtis (Uncanny Magazine Issue Fifty-Nine)

I read Anamaria Curtis’s Something Small Enough to Ask For. This was a great story, which starts fairly simple—Lucy and her grandmother working on a sewing project—before it takes a speculative twist, as a thoughtful gift has unforeseen consequences. The story basically asks: If you could relive fond memories (good times in the past) would you? For the protagonist, Lucy, that question becomes pertinent, and the majority of story explores the scenario as much as it does its main character. Even though Something Small Enough to Ask For was the only short story I read last month, it was bittersweet but ultimately hopeful, and it’s one of my favorite works of short fiction this year so far.

From around the web…

• The Road Goes Ever On: When Fantasy Sends You on Your Own Journeys [Molly Templeton; Reactor Magazine; August 15, 2024]
• Scalzi on Film: Hollywood Totally Lied to Us About AI: Why Cinemaic Cyborgs Are So Much Smarter Than What We Have in the Real World [John Scalzi; Uncanny Magazine Issue Fifty-Nine]
• Summertime Spookiness: On the True Meaning of Summerween [Lorna Wallace; Reactor Magazine; August 19, 2024]