Short fiction recs! May-June 2023
My short fiction recs from late spring/early summer. Tales of horror and magic, beauty and grief, discovery and wonder and strength. “Sasabonsam” by Tara Campbell in Strange Horizons I sit high in the mahogany tree, my long limbs dangling toward the earth. My eyes, if you could see them, would gleam at you in the moonlight. I am alert, but I let my arms swing idly with the breeze. They look just like the vines drooping from the branches, don’t they? This is an older story, which I only just discovered thanks to a recommendation online. It’s a tale about a sasbonsam—a monster of West African folklore—and its prey. It’s a tale of curling tension and deliciously dark twists. The sasabonsam eats humans and feeds on their regrets. But in the end, who is the predator and who the prey? “Lullaby for the Unseen” by Nelly Geraldine Garcia-Rosas in Weird Horror Ariel. It is because of him that I have this scar. He was my classmate. A very thin kid, shorter than me, with g