#ReadShortStories about all sorts of creatures (96 to 100)

It is still the first half of the year and I have hit the 100 story mark. Huzzah!

In this batch I've been continuing my reading of the anthology Not So Stories and thrown a few other random stories into the mix. I expect the most memorable story in this batch will end up being "Some Remarks on the Reproductive Strategy of the Common Octopus" by Bogi Takács, if only for the usual narration (but also because it's a good story).



Saṃsāra by Georgina Kamsika — A story set in the present day about a mixed race teenager reconnecting with her Indian heritage as she and her mother clean out her late grandmother’s home. It feels a bit out of place among the other Not So Stories I’ve read so far, but then so does the protagonist in her life, and maybe that’s the point. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore

Serpent, Crocodile, Tiger by Zedeck Siew — This is more like a few stories that ended up being tied together in a way I didn’t predict from the start. It tells Malay folktales as well as giving a few different modern perspectives on the tales and on the people having perspectives. It gives an interesting cross-section of views and various cultural influences. I enjoyed it although I found the sections that were academic excerpts a little too dry. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore

Some Remarks on the Reproductive Strategy of the Common Octopus by Bogi Takács — This story is told from the point of view of an octopus, living in a future world very different to our present. I kind of don’t want to say more because I think part of the charm of this story is discovering the shape of the world along with the narrator, and I don’t want to spoil that. A very interesting and enjoyable story. Source: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/takacs_04_17/

I Have Been Drowned in Rain by Carrie Vaughn — I was expecting a twist that never came, when I was reading this one. From the talk of fantasy archetypes near the start I was really expecting that one of the characters would turn out to be playing a D&D campaign or something. It was disappointing when it didn’t come and while the plot wasn’t overly bland, I also didn’t find it especially interesting. Source: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/i-have-been-drowned-in-rain/

How the Tree of Wishes Gained its Carapace of Plastic by Jeannette Ng — A story telling the history of a wishing tree in Hong Kong and, by necessity, the history of the people and the place. A sweeping story of gods and history told in the style of a bedtime story. I enjoyed it. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore