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...
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...
Some stories I read and loved from this spring. Selections from Weird Horror Magazine Issue 12 My last round-up featured two stories from this issue of Weird Horror. For this current round-up, I finished reading the issue and have selected three more. Weird Horror lives up to its name with extremely weird, unsettling stories. “A View from the Window” by Rory Say Laughter from outside sends Mona up from her desk and across the room. She feels the blood in her face grow warm. How often has she told Caleb he’s not to go out to the yard by himself? She has her hand on the window, ready to shout, when all at once her thoughts go blank. Two boys stand in the yard below, her son and someone else. A tiny, just-over flash length piece about the fears of motherhood, of losing one’s child. The horror of not knowing if one’s child has actually been lost or not. Primal fears and horror are packed into this strange, unsettling piece. ...
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