Some stories I've read and loved. Stories from Flash Fiction Online’s Winter Folklore Issue “The Ice Cutter’s Daughter and Her Looking Glass” by Nadia Born in Flash Fiction Online The ice cutter’s daughter dreams that her world is melting. She knows the theory of thawing from common things: how candle wax weeps or sugar hisses in a skillet. But she’s not prepared for the severity of the sun. She can’t hide her glee. After all, what young woman doesn’t secretly delight in the destruction of everything she knows? The ice cutter’s daughter dreams of a summer land where “all things are melted and wild.” She leaves everything behind to find this distant country, to follow her dream. But what is the price she’ll play? A gorgeous, aching tale of both loss and gain, of dreams fulfilled—of a new home found—but also of what’s irretrievably lost. “The Heartbreaker’s Apprentice " by Catherine George A job ad, posted online. The on...
This cold February I offer you a mix of stories from the old year and the new. Some are dark; some speak of loss and disaster and warn of terrible futures. But there are also stories that speak of warmth and comfort, coziness and love. And there are stories that mix dark and light in various ways, finding hope and beauty among loss. Published in 2024 “Stranger Seas Than These” by L. Chan in Clarkesworld It is two days since our original projected mission end date. We are running out of oxygen and we are trapped in the throat of a god. Technology and a prudent safety review panel have kept casualties on deep dives low, but abyssal layer dives have always been risky. Still, there hasn’t been a fatality in years and none, to the best of my knowledge, within the trachea of one of Pelagia’s Godwhales. Perhaps they will name a safety rule after us. A submersible crew trapped in the body of a giant, dying tentacled “Godwhale.” A scientist who seeks to...
Due to personal matters, I was not able to get as much short fiction read as usual these past few months. But here are some short stories I did read and love. “Haunting Beauty” by T.K. Rex in Uncharted Magazine The American Hotel looks and feels like it was built right after the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco’s worst day ever. The ceiling has one long, thin crack that makes me nervous, and white latex paint over decades of lead smoothing the edges of the carved molding all around the ceiling and the floor. A brass chandelier holds candle-flame-shaped incandescent bulbs, about a third burned out, and the carpets are…carpets. The American Hotel is in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, and has seen much better days. But a hungry model needs to eat, and so agrees to meet a photographer there for a photoshoot. There, the model (and reader) learn that not all hauntings are terrifying or unwelcome. The American Hotel has secrets to share, but sec...
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