Short Stories I Read In December

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

Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge by Eugenia Triantafyllou [Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Four)

Before 2023 was over, I tried to play catchup by finally reading one of the short stories released in the final stretch of the year. It was Eugenia Triantafyllou’s short story for Uncanny Magazine, Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge. I adored this story. With a local superstition about the creepy underpass—nicknamed “the tunnel”—of a disused bridge and deals with the devil that have unintended consequences, this story takes being very careful with what you wish for very-VERY literally. With a narrator, Olga, whose choice is, you know, kind of understandable, given the context within the story she was navigating through (i.e. death of a close and younger family member). Being in her headspace was kind of wild. As her wish seemingly comes true (or does it), it reveals a part of the "trick" as more and more of her slips away. She assumed so much about how her situation should play out, and that combined with everything else ensured there was plenty of nail-biting tension to go around. I was on the edge of my seat all the way to the end. The story had this overwhelming, foreboding atmosphere, because with the kind of deal Olga participated in, you just know the consequences aren’t going to be good. But I still didn’t anticipate that twist in the end. Looking back, though, all the clues were right there. This story was a dose of the supernatural combined with a family whose grief allowed the devil in. All-in-all, Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge was fantastic.

From around the web…

• Dog is in the Details [Sarah Pinsker; Apex Magazine; November 16, 2023]
• Wilson’s Iliad and Le Guin’s Battle Between Good and Evil, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sword [Kristen Patterson; Tor.com; December 4, 2023]
• Book Review: The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw [Aigner Loren Wilson; Lightspeed Mangazine; December 2023, Issue 163]

Short Stories I Read In December

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

Renovation of a Finite Apartment by Tobby Macnutt (Strange Horizons; Issue: 7 December 2020) **Note: there is a podcast version of this story as well** 

I read one short story in December, and it was Renovation of a Finite Apartment. This was a great story that was as much about assimilation and imposed limitations as it was about spaces. Much of Renovation of a Finite Apartment is as its title suggests, and I liked the gradual way the décor was introduced—first as being fine, then dark walls to represent nothingness, and then that it leaned into more colorful and organic theming with plants and creative flourishes. There was some subtle messaging of what a space could tell about a person—decoration or the process of decorating a space can be a very personal endeavor. Since the focus of Renovation of a Finite Apartment was the narrator, the décor acted almost as a physical medium that at time told a lot about the narrator’s state of mind and wants. All-in-all, this was a great story.

From around the web…

• More Planets, More Problems: The Pessimist’s Guide to Galactic Expansion (James Davis Nicoll; Tor.com, December 14, 2020)
• Our Opinions Are Correct Episode # 73