100 Short Story Challenge: Stories 21 to 30

After reading a glut of short stories thanks to Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho, I slowed down a bit in my challenge and have only just pushed up my story talley to the next multiple of ten. Most of these listed below are still from Spirits Abroad (for which you can read the full and more detailed review here), but the list is bulked out with a few other stories too. I would like to particularly draw your attention to "Fandom for Robots" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, which was positively delightful.

21. The Perseverance of Angela's Past Life by Zen Cho — Sort of a sequel/companion story to the previous, focussing on Prudence’s best friend Angela. Unlike Prudence, Angela is very sensitive to magic and close proximity to a dragon caused some of her issues to physically manifest. Another amusing story. I would be more than happy to read a novel set in this time period of this world. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
22. The Earth Spirit’s Favourite Anecdote by Zen Cho — the story of finding a hole in the forest and dealing with a forest spirit, told by an earth spirit. Not my favourite story in this collection. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
23. Liyana by Zen Cho — a depressing but really fascinating story. A class of folklore idea that I don’t think I’ve come across before. But also, more than metaphorically about women’s sacrifice for the family. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
24. The Four Generations of Chang E by Zen Cho — A story about being the child of immigrants and fitting in or not. Also aliens on the moon. And from the authors notes, some mythological subtext that went over my head. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
25. The Many Deaths is Hang Jebat by Zen Cho — was a bit confusing and I was a bit lost as to where it was going until I read the author’s notes and saw that it was based on mythology I had no knowledge of. The summary in the author’s notes made yet a bit clearer and I can now see what the author was trying to do, but the story doesn’t work that well on its own. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
26. From A to Z in the Book of Changes by Seanan McGuire — More a collection of flash pieces or drabbles inspired by words (one for each letter of the alphabet) than a traditional short story. They are sort of tied together at the end and range from mildly amusing to creepy. Source: Seanan McGuire’s Patreon
27. The Fish Bowl by Zen Cho — a dawning horror story about the pressure to do well in school and a concerning bargain with a magic fish. Harrowing. I quite liked the story, but I wanted a bit more from the end than we got, I think. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
28. Balik Kampung by Zen Cho — a story about a ghost returning to earth for the Hungry Ghost Festival and, in the course of events, finding out how she died. A good story to end the collection on. Some humour, some sadness. Source: Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
29. Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light! by Kameron Hurley — a very short story about persistence for the greater good in the face of certain death and monsters. Source: Nevertheless , She Persisted series on Tor.com https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/our-faces-radiant-sisters-our-faces-full-of-light-kameron-hurley/
30. Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad — An adorable story about the world’s only sentient robot who was created in the 1950s and now lives in a museum. One day, someone recommends and anime to him and things spiral out from there. Such an adorable and fun read. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/ 

My plan for the next few shorts is to read more random stories freely available online (having already added a bunch to Pocket).