Short Stories I Read In June

It’s the Twenty-Ninth of July. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, podcast episodes, and miscellaneous posts I read or listened to in June.

An Otherworldly Cat Tells You the Secrets of the Universe by Megan Chee (Lightspeed Magazine; June 2024; Issue 169)

An Otherworldly Cat Tells You the Secrets of the Universe by Megan Chee is a delightful story about cats essentially being cats with a speculative twist. Told by a cat, as the title suggests, the narrative conveys, well, the secrets of the universe from the perspective of the felines who can move freely to all of its corners. That included everything from space faring to living alone on strange planets. I liked this one.

Loneliness Universe by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Eight)

The next and last short story I read in June was was Eugenia Triantafyllou’s latest, Loneliness Universe. I love this one. Initially, it’s about two people—former friends who’d grown apart—Cara, and the story’s narrator, Nefeli, attempting to meet at a bus stop. Things don’t go as planned, because even though they’re in the same place, they might as well be worlds apart. What followed was an incredibly tense and atmospheric story, as Nefeli experienced a puzzling and terrifying phenomenon. Despite the urban setting, there was a feeling of isolation, which further heightened the atmosphere I liked what the author did with this story as well as the commentary on the relationships between people, cherishing time and whatnot, in a story which showed how everyone was, in theory, still close together, but also alone in their own separate universes. So in that way, the title was very fitting. Loneliness Universe is a good one.

From around the web…

• Read an Excerpt From Jordan Ifueko’s The Maid and the Crocodile [Reactor Magazine; June 20, 2024]

Short Stories I Read In June

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

Four Steps To Hunt A God by Athar Fikry (Strange Horizons; Issue: 12 June 2023)

The opening of Four Steps To Hunt A God by Athar Fikry had me going there for a second. From the title, I assumed it was going to be a short story that’s structured like a how-to guide to do, get, or navigate something or another. It was, but, after the first three paragraphs, I quickly realized it was also so much more than that. The instructions are delivered by a nameless narrator who was a little trite, but mostly there to offer sound advice. I felt the story asked: What would you do to survive? And the way it delved into that through the narrative, combined with some pretty interesting utilization of fantasy elements—like gods, etc.—made for an enjoyable read.

Mirror View by Rajeev Prasad (Clarkesworld; Issue 201—June 2023)

This next one (and last short story I read in June) is about first contact, but the author flipped that around and the story comes from the point of view of a “being” that referred to itself as Foto. It was the kind of narrative that explored topics such as emotions, humanity, connection, and so forth—almost like a character study—except it was through the POV of something that was complex but also looked at those concepts as a novelty. The way Foto gradually built an understanding of its surroundings and the people that lived there made it a really endearing character. So, all-in-all, Mirror View is one of my favorite short stories that I’ve read so far in 2023.

From around the web…

• How I learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the TBR Pile [Molly Templeton; Tor.com; June 15, 2023]
• The Art That Doesn't Yet Exist [Caroline M. Yoachim; Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Two]

Short Stories I Read in June

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

Mycelysis by G.G. Diniz; Art by C.A.P. Ward (Strange Horizons; Issue: 30, May 2022)

Mushrooms/fungus and speculative fiction/SFF seems to go hand in hand. The first of the two short stories I read this month was Mycelysis by G.G. Diniz. It was a fantastic work of flash fiction. The story can be a little haunting, as it talks of gods coming and going, and a nameless narrator who goes to a temple and joins a group of disciples. It was short but exceptionally interesting, especially with the imagery painted by the writing and the overall point of the story. (The little note at the beginning was an interesting look at how the illustration correlated with the story, and I recommend reading that as well.)

The Fruit of the Princess Tree by Sage Tyrtle (Apex Magazine; May 17, 2022)

The second and last story I read in June was Sage Tyrtle’s The Fruit of the Princess Tree. There’s no shortage of fiction that challenges that princess and prince charming narrative, and this story falls into that category. What makes it unique is its approach to it, by adding a fantasy aspect into the fray with princesses that grow on the titular tree. There was an undeniably somber tone to the story, but it was fitting. I also enjoyed the ending. This was a good one.

From around the web…

• Print Run Podcast Episode 151: The Pettisode
• Maps, Worldbuilding, And The Journey In Fantasy (Noemi Arellano-Summer; Strange Horizons, Issue: Fund Drive 2022)
• The End Of Winter (Daniela Viçoso; Strange Horizons, Issue: 30, May 2022)
• Our Opinions Are Correct Episode #108: How Science Fiction Sold Us The Automobile 

Short Stories I Read In June

It’s the twenty-ninth of July. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in June. This post is going to be brief.

The Life & Death of Mia Fremont: An Interview with a Killer by A.K. Hudson (Apex Magazine; May 4, 2021)

The only short story I read in June was The Life & Death of Mia Fremont: An Interview with a Killer by A.K. Hudson. This was an interesting story. It mostly felt like a character study mixed with a hefty dose of misogyny. It showed up in the form of the way society/family can treat and expect women to be and behave. This messaging is conveyed through what the main character records, while sitting down at an interview with someone who was initially said to be a literal criminal. But with this story, there’s a slight speculative angle. And the ending left off with an overall question, a “what if,” that isn’t quite answered by the time the story ended.

From Around the Web…

• The Fragmented Horrors of Josh Malerman’s Goblin (Tobias Carroll; Tor.com, June 11, 2021)
• Print Run Podcast Episode #142: Change the Frame
• Into the Woods: Hannah Whitten’s For the Wolf (Molly Templeton; Tor.come, June 15, 2021)
• Closing the Book on a World: Andre Norton’s The Warding of Witch World (Judith Tarr; Tor.com, June 7, 2021)
• The History and Politics of Wuxia (Jeannette Ng; Tor.com; June 29, 2021)