Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings is a novella from an Australian author whose short fiction I have previously enjoyed. She is, perhaps, most well-known for her artwork, including book covers such as the one for Flyaway, among others.

In a small Western Queensland town, a reserved young woman receives a note from one of her vanished brothers—a note that makes question her memories of their disappearance and her father’s departure.

A beguiling story that proves that gothic delights and uncanny family horror can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun, Flyaway introduces readers to Bettina Scott, whose search for the truth throws her into tales of eerie dogs, vanished schools, cursed monsters, and enchanted bottles.

In these pages Jennings assures you that gothic delights, uncanny family horror, and strange, unsettling prose can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun.

Going through the tags for this review, I couldn't not include "Australian gothic". This book is a tangle of fairytales brought by settlers into the unique Australian landscape, all of them twisted and variously creepy. Flyaway is, above all, a story composed of many other stories, told as flashbacks or asides. The layers are slowly peeled back as our unreliable narrator, Bettina Scott, slowly learns more of her recent past and starts to realise what she's forgotten.

The fact that part of the story is told as Bettina's memories unfurl means that we come at the main story — for lack of a better term, I mean the story most important to Bettina — from an oblique angle. We know something strange has happened, but the pieces don't come together until very close to the end. But in the meantime, Jennings keeps the reader entertained and/or horrified with the extra stories peppered throughout the narrative.

I recommend Flyaway to readers who like weird narratives and who don't mind feeling creeped out by the bush or western Queensland. I think non-Australian readers will also find much to connect with in this book, since a lot of the fairytales are recognisably based on European folklore, despite the strong presence of the Australian landscape in the book.

4 / 5 stars

First published: July 2020, Tor.com
Series: No, I don't think so
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Abbott Vol 1 by Saladin Ahmed

Abbott Vol 1 by Saladin Ahmed collects issues #1–5 of the ongoing Abbott comics. I read it because it was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in the Graphic Novel category. I haven't been keeping up with comics recently, so I probably would not have come across it otherwise.

While investigating police brutality and corruption in 1970s Detroit, journalist Elena Abbott uncovers supernatural forces being controlled by a secret society of the city’s elite.

In the uncertain social and political climate of 1972 Detroit, hard-nosed, chain-smoking tabloid reporter Elena Abbott investigates a series of grisly crimes that the police have ignored. Crimes she knows to be the work of dark occult forces. Forces that took her husband from her. Forces she has sworn to destroy.

Hugo Award-nominated novelist Saladin Ahmed (Star Wars: Canto Bight, Black Bolt) and artist Sami Kivelä (Beautiful Canvas) present one woman's search for the truth that destroyed her family amidst an exploration of the systemic societal constructs that haunt our country to this day.

The titular character, Abbott, is a newspaper journalist working in 70s Detroit. Not only does she have to put up with racism and sexism, but some mystic cult-type magic is killing people and targeting her. Although the idea of evil cult magic stuff isn't exactly original, I found that Abbott did some interesting things with it, making it feel a bit fresh rather than clichéd. The setting also contributed to that.

I enjoyed Abbott even though I am not particularly in the mood for urban fantasy at the moment. The relationships in the comic were also well-developed, even though it was only five issues. I would recommend it to fans of Lois Lane, as well as fans of urban fantasy / horror type stories. I am interested in reading more if I come across the next volume.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2018, Boom! Studios
Series: Yes, start of ongoing series.
Format read: PDF
Source: Hugo Voter Packet

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire is a standalone novel set in a world similar to the real world, but bursting with alchemy. As far as I’m aware, it is not linked to any of McGuire’s other books or series.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

The opening of this book grabbed me immediately with the in media res working particularly well thanks to the unusual timeline structure of the book. While we do get a lot of the main story in chronological order, it is interspersed with bits that come out of order, as well as the point of view sections of the antagonist and a thematically-linked children’s fairytale. Overall it makes for an interesting reading experience. That said, I did feel like the book dragged a little in the middle and to me it felt quite long, which is the worst thing I can say about it. (Note, also, that it is objectively on the long side, but it still should not have felt that way.)

Back to the content, this is a story of alchemically created twins, separated by the length and breadth of the USA, and left to grow up in isolation. They were created to channel immense power for their maker but a lot of their upbringing was left to chance. We follow them through their lives as they learn about each other, push each other away, meet by chance, push each other away and so forth. At first I found the story a little confusing — while the start grabbed me, it took a little while to fully understand what was happening. Then I grew more invested in the characters and wanted to know what would happen next, despite the slower middle section. The climax came not a page too late, to kick off the last portion of the book.

This is a dark fantasy book, shading to the horrific, that I expect fans of McGuire’s other books will enjoy. In general tone I found it most similar to the Wayward Children books, although the story structure (and length) was quite different. It’s certainly not science fiction horror like the Mira Grant books are, though this was not immediately apparent to me when I started reading. All in all, a structurally interesting read that I recommend to fans of dark fantasy.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: May 2019, Tor.com
Series: No.
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

#ReadShortStories, even if only because they're Hugo shortlisted (56–60)

I spent some of my weekend making a push on the Hugo ballot and the last three stories in this batch are the result. I've now finished the short story ballot, so a comparison of all the Hugo short story nominees will be coming soon. Stay tuned.



The Shadow We Cast Through Time by Indrapramit Das — A dark and fantastical take of a far future but lowish-tech colony on some alien planet. The story evoked a compelling mood, but I found it a bit too slow to draw me in effectively, for all that it was interesting during sufficiently long bursts of reading. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

A Billion Dots of Light by Matt Thompson — Flash about a very dehumanised pod-generation ship. Pretty horrifying and with a bit of a clichéd ending. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01105-w

The Court Magician  by Sarah Pinsker — An unexpected but interesting story about a poor boy, street magic and the more powerful real magic he eventually learns about. I liked it. Source: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-court-magician

Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory — The story was OK but I found it a bit old fashioned. I’m also not sure that the title made sense in the end with the direction the story took, but I don’t want to spoil it by explaining. I was weirded out by how often the (gay!) protagonist described how beautiful his mother was. That was super weird, and only got more so with repetition. Overall, the science parts with the apocalypse were interesting, the rest was fine. Source: https://www.tor.com/2018/09/19/nine-last-days-on-planet-earth-daryl-gregory/

The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat by Brooke Bolander — I found this dinosaur-esque fairytale very entertaining. I even laughed a few times. From the chatter in the podcast around it, I gather the rest of the Uncanny dinosaur issue, which I haven’t read, is set in a shared world. But this story absolutely stood alone. It also wasn’t what I expected, since it also contained humans, not just raptors. And a witch. Anyway, very entertaining. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-tale-of-the-three-beautiful-raptor-sisters-and-the-prince-who-was-made-of-meat/

#ReadShortStories (31 to 35)

More progress on the New Suns anthology in this batch of short stories, plus a detour to a couple of other stories. I now have a Nature subscription, so I expect to be reading each week's Nature Futures story in paper when the magazine/journal arrives. I imagine that will increase the proportion of flash fiction featured here.

Burn the Ships by Alberto Yáñez — A story of conquerors from the east colonising an empire in southern America. There is oppression and slaughter and vengeful magic. I think the setting is an alternate world rather than a precisely real historic setting. It was a longer story and featured culture that I have not come across too frequently in stories. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

The Freedom of the Shifting Sea by Jaymee Goh — One of my favourite stories in the collection. A multigenerational epic featuring a mermaid/mermillipede (any description from me isn’t going to do her justice, I suggest just reading the story). I liked the twist on the traditional mermaid idea and the way the story spanned many years, in bursts. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire by E. Lily Yu — As the title says, variations on the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. It adds to the obvious take and was written in a very readable voice. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

The Last Child by L R Conti — A flash about artificial life that grows and learns but is programmed to end when its task is finished. This one rubbed me the wrong way a bit. I wasn’t a fan. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00749-y

Emergency Landing by Seanan McGuire — I was promised this would ruin flying for me, but it wasn’t at all what I expected on that front. Horror, yes, but not centred around the actual plane part. Source: Seanan McGuire’s Patreon

Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina is a very thoughtful and deliberate YA novel. It tells the story of three girls, Catching, Beth Teller, and Crow and deals with some brutal issues. However, the worst parts of the story and told with symbolism and only partly explained plainly, so I suspect younger readers could read the book without having to deal with the specifics of those parts.

Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since she died. Her dad, a detective, is the only one who can see and hear her - and he's drowning in grief. But now they have a mystery to solve together. Who is Isobel Catching, and what's her connection to the fire that killed a man? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire? As Beth unravels the mystery, she finds a shocking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another. 

Most of the story is told from the point of view of Beth, a ghost of a girl who recently died in a car accident. She spends her time following around her father, the only person who can now see and hear her. Her father, aside from not coping well with her death, is a detective and is working on a case involving an orphanage burning down and some connected adults being missing. Beth rags along helping him and providing a sounding board. The pivotal moment comes with they interview a witness, Catching, and the book starts having sections from her point of view.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but some aspects of the story were predictable. However, this was more than made up for by the unique way in which the story was told. Beth wasn’t a ghost seeking vengeance for her death and Catching told her story very symbolically. Catching’s version of her story was true, but so was the decoded version Beth’s dad later summarised. While this was a story about horrible things, Beth’s dad always made sure to protect his daughter from what he could (like not letting her see dead bodies), even though she was already dead. On the other hand, Beth and the reader aren’t shielded from discussions of racism and the Stolen Generations, just the more immediate crimes.

This is quite a short book and that meant it moved very quickly through the story. I read it in only two sittings (with a few pages grabbed at other times). I expect the length makes it more accessible to its intended YA audience, especially younger readers and those that might be daunted by thick books. I liked Catching Teller Crow. It was an enjoyable read (without being “fun”) and the story was expertly told in a creative way. I highly recommend it to YA readers who don’t mind a bit of realistic darkness in their books. I also wouldn’t hesitate to give it to most teens; in fact, I can imagine finding it on a high school reading list.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2018, Allen & Unwin
Series: No
Format read: Paperback (gasp!)
Source: Purchased from Dymocks

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant is an almost-standalone horror book by the author of several other horror books (and many non-horror books). There is a prequel novella, but it's almost impossible to get (only US-region ebooks are currently obtainable, as far as I can tell) and isn't required reading. I suspect Into the Drowning Deep spoils the impact of the novella too, but that's just a guess. (I would still read the novella if I could.)

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Having read two Mira Grant series before, I had some idea of what to expect from this book, style-wise. I got the horrifying mermaids I expected, complete with a relatively plausible explanation for their existence, including comparisons with other marine creatures. I'm not a marine biologist by any stretch of the imagination, but Grant's explanations of these sorts of things always come across and quite plausible or just a few steps away from reality, which makes them creepier.

There several interesting point of view characters in this book. Since it's a horror book, I found myself wondering which of them (if any) would survive until the end, which was a significant source of the tension in the book. It's hard to care very much about nameless background characters having their faces eaten off, but a lot more stressful when it's one of the characters you've become attached to. Also, after the initial wave of deaths, Grant found increasingly interesting ways to off people, which kept things interesting more than I would have expected — since they were also an excuse to further develop the world building.

If you've enjoyed other Mira Grant books, you will probably enjoy this one. If you have a phobia of water or the open ocean etc, this will probably be even scarier for you. Proceed with caution. (But as a note, I read the book far from the coast and it didn't really faze me. I might have found it a little more concerning if I had been able to see the sea.) I am keen to read the prequel novella if I can, even though it's contents are made pretty obvious from the content of this book. I will continue keeping an eye out for future books by Mira Grant.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published:
Series: Yes. There is a prequel novella, Rolling in the Deep, which I haven't read because it's basically impossible to get outside of the US.
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Kobo

#ReadShortStories and a poem (111 to 115)

I've been making my way through Uncanny Issue Twenty-One, which is where all of this batch's stories are from. I'm not a fan of how the ePub issues have all the short stories, then the essays, then the poems, rather than mixing them up a bit. So I decided to do some mixing myself and threw in a poem (and some non-fiction, which I'm not reviewing) out of order. 

Unfortunately, since the new issue of Uncanny dropped a couple of days ago, being almost finished with this one isn't bringing me significantly closer to being up to date.

And Yet by A. T. Greenblatt — A haunted house as a portal to parallel universes — a pretty logical idea, really. Interestingly told in second person, which works well for it. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/and-yet/

Like a River Loves the Sky by Emma Törzs — A lovely, if somewhat sad, story about friendship, family and loss. And dogs and taxidermy. A nice read. I liked it.  Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/like-river-loves-sky/

The Testimony of Dragon’s Teeth by Sarah Monette — A story about ill-will and small malicious magic. Not a bad read, though not a favourite either. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/testimony-dragons-teeth/

Pistol Grip by Vina Jie-Min Prasad — A bit graphics for my tastes, this is a short story about super soldiers who have drawn the short straw in life. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/pistol-grip/

Editorial comment: I am a little disappointed by how aggressively not my thing "Pistol Grip" is since otherwise Vina Jie-Min Prasad has become one of my favourite short story writers. (I'm still going to keep reading her stories, of course, but my expectations for this one were probably too high.)

The Sea Never Says It Loves You by Fran Wilde — I really liked this poem, despite not usually being much of a fan of Wilde’s writing. It’s a somewhat story-driven about how unsatisfying loving the sea is (as the title says). Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/sea-never-says-loves/

#ReadShortStories... about underwater ballrooms and bloody revolutions (76 to 80)

This batch mostly, but not solely, contains stories from The Underwater Ballroom Society, an anthology edited by Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent that I’ve been reading (as you may have noticed if you regularly follow my blog posts). I kind of expected that I’d break them up a bit more, but things worked out this way when the stories were hard to put down.

Penhallow Amid Passing Things by Iona Datt Sharma — This story took a little bit to get into its stride, but I enjoyed it once it did. Smuggling, a brief lesbian romance, and fading magic are the elements that make up this story. The world was well constructed, for all that we only saw a small part of it. I find myself wondering whether there are other stories set there. Source: The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent

Mermaids, Singing by Tiffany Trent — I really enjoyed this novella. It’s set in Victorian London and follows a weredog from another world and a half-Chinese British girl from this one. The depth of world building is excellent and the story balances the weird fantasy elements with the more mundane well. Source: The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent

After a Revolution by Dimas Ilaw — An angry story about resistance in the real world and the horror of various revolutions in the Phillipines. The second I’ve read from this author in a similar vein and I continue to be unsure how I should feel about the story as a story (aside from outraged at the content). Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/after-a-revolution/

A Brand New Thing by Jenny Moss — A story set in the late 1920s about a neuroatypical girl, her disapproving family, books and something magical. I really enjoyed it and was delighted by the book references and metaphors. I was also pleased with the happy ending. Source: The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent

Four Revelations from the Rusalka Ball by Cassandra Khaw — Not a novella; actually a fairly short story. Much shorter than I expected. But on the other hand, about the level of surreal that I’ve come to expect from Cassandra Khaw. The title pretty much says it all. Source: The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Stephanie Burgis and Tiffany Trent

#ReadShortStories (56 to 60)

In this batch, I finished reading the fiction in Uncanny Issue 20. But then, after thinking I only had articles left, I realised there was still poetry hiding towards the end so I'm not actually quite finished. But almost. (And as a reminder I'm lumping poems in with short stories in these mini-reviews, which is why there's one here and will be next batch as well.)

Your Slaughterhouse, Your Killing Floor by Sunny Moraine — A violent, angry story about being alone, about love, about destroying the world. About a girl walking into a bar and meeting another girl like her. About the end of the world. I’m not sure that I exactly *enjoyed* this story, but I certainly *felt* it. A powerful read. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/slaughterhouse-killing-floor/

The Utmost Bound by Vivian Shaw — This story is about a couple of astronauts piloting a rover on Venus and finding something strange. I think it was intended to be SF horror, but I personally didn’t find it as horrific as the main character did, which lessened the impact somewhat. It wasn’t a bad story, but seeing as there was supposed to be (or so it seemed to me) more emotional impact than I felt, it fell a little flat. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-utmost-bound/

The Date by RK Kalaw — Short and about non-humans on a date. It had some similarities with “Your Slaughterhouse, Your Killing Floor” but didn’t pack as powerful a punch and hence suffered for the comparison. (And it was not only shorter but also less angry.) Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-date/

Conservation Laws by Vandana Singh — An interesting longer story about anomalies on Mars, set in a future with people living there and on the moon. I liked the way in which the protagonist was introduced before telling his story, and also the fact that the framing narrator was someone else and saw him from a different perspective. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/conservation-laws/

The Early Ones by Sofia Samatar and Del Samatar — To be honest, the way the formatting came out in the ebook on my phone, I didn’t immediately realise this was a poem rather than flash. But either way, I enjoyed it. About beings that were there before “civilisation” came along. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-early-ones/

Waking in Winter by Deborah Biancotti

Waking in Winter by Deborah Biancotti is a science fiction horror novella, which I would not have guessed from the cover. I actually procrastinated on reading this novella for quite a while because the cover gave me the impression of a very different type of book. I have previously read the short story collection Bad Power by the same author, which is quite different to Waking in Winter (and about superheroes).

On a far, frozen desert world, Muir the pilot discovers an ancient artefact in the ice. She sees a mermaid at first, but later comes to wonder if it is Ningyo, a fish god from her homeland in Japan. A god that brings misfortune and storm. A god that—by all means possible—should be returned to the sea. The rest of Base Station Un see something else. Bayoumi the lab rat sees Sekhmet the lioness goddess, daughter of the sun god. Partholon the creep finds in its shape a ‘good, old-fashioned cruxifix’. But all of them want to possess it. All of them want it for themselves.

The setting of this novella is an icy alien planet currently being explored and studied by scientists. The main character, Muir, is a pilot for an expedition in which there isn’t a good relationship between the science and support staff. One day, out flying a bit off her mandated survey route, Muir sees a giant mermaid buried under the ice. When one of her colleagues comes to check it out, he instead sees a giant lotus flour. Where Muir saw a missing hand, he saw a missing petal. What is the object beneath the ice? Why is part of it missing? Aliens? The story of the novella answers some of these questions while others remain ambiguous. As well as the story of the investigations of the artefact, we also get some background on Muir and the other characters, including why they’re on this alien planet in the first place.

The horror elements in this novella are fairly mild; it's creepy rather than gory. It's definitely more science fiction and a bit weird. Also, while the basic premise — humans studying a weird alien artefact — has been done before, it's the specific characters that Biancotti brings to Waking in Winter which really make it. I quite enjoyed reading this novella, especially since it was much more my kind of thing than the cover suggested it would be.

This is a character-driven story, with the reactions and coping mechanisms of the characters a main strength of the novella. I recommend Waking in Winter to fans of creepy science fiction and (light) horror. It's not a book for readers who only enjoy hard SF since it leans a lot on the non-scientific mystery elements of the discovery on the ice planet.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2016, PS Publishing
Series: no
Format read: ebook
Source: review copy courtesy of author

#ReadShortStories (41 to 45)

This batch looks like a Yoon Ha Lee binge, and it is a bit, but I also had a pretty long break between stories here. Life stuff and my escaping the aforementioned through Zelda: Breath of the Wild (a video game) has lead to reduced reading. Whoops.

Anyway, <3 Yoon Ha Lee and his stories. The three included here are all set in the Machineries of Empire series (see also my reviews of Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem), and I really love that world and the characters. I can't wait for book three to come out, and hopefully there are more stories set in that world that I haven't read left for me to get to.

I would also like to highlight the last story, "The House That Creaks" by Elaine Cuyegkeng as a pretty great horror story (and not overly gory, as far as I'm concerned). The author is a relatively new discovery for me (yay reading a bunch of short stories) and I've been enjoying her work. Go have a read if horror is your thing.


Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee — Set in the same universe as Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem, this story follows Jedao while he is still young. He goes on an undercover mission to extract a friend from academy. I really enjoyed this story. It was funny with serious moments. A good read for both readers of the novels and new comers to the world. Source: https://www.tor.com/2017/02/15/extracurricular-activities/

The Battle of Candle Arc by Yoon Ha Lee — Shuos Jedao leads a Kel army to victory against heretics. I had some memory of this particular battle being mentioned in the novels (Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem), but misremembered the context. In any case, an interesting read, even more so since it was published years before the novels. Clearly the authors has been living in this world for a long time. Also, the explanations of the factions and calendar were done particularly well, especially given how complicated they can get. This story is a good introduction to the world. Source: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/lee_10_12/

Yowie by Thoraiya Dyer — A story about being overwhelmed and lost. And yowies. A look at a dreary life amid a fantastical discovery. Not a bad story, but not exactly a pleasant read either. Source: Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein

The Robot’s Math Lessons by Yoon Ha Lee — An adorable flash story about a robot making friends with a little girl (who I think is Cheris from Ninefox Gambit). Source: http://www.yoonhalee.com/?p=793

The House That Creaks by Elaine Cuyegkeng — The story of a haunted house told fro the house’s point of view. A really interesting take, but also pretty creepy since we learn about the (supernatural) rituals that made the house haunted, as well as it’s pre-haunted past in the Philippines. Source: http://thedarkmagazine.com/the-house-that-creaks/

Short stories 16 to 20

This batch of stories was the point at which I realised that I should include poems in this whole keeping track of stories thing. Not because I read that many poems, but because otherwise any isolated poems aren't noted anywhere and that seemed like a wasted opportunity. I don't know that my reviews of poems are going to be any good (see first example below), but hey. Very short things are generally quite hard to review.

The stories (and poem):

Apathetic Goblin Nightmare Woman by Cassandra Khaw — An angry poem about meeting expectations, or not. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/apathetic-goblin-nightmare-woman/

A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard — A story about murky depths that warp reality and a mother mourning her dead daughter. Kind of a depressing story, set in the Xuya universe with additional interesting local world building. Source: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/a-salvaging-of-ghosts/

Rabbit Heart by Alyssa Wong — A brief story about short-lived replacements for rich people’s dearly departed. Source: https://firesidefiction.com/issue37/chapter/rabbit-heart/

The Spy Who Loved Wanton Mee by Vina Jie-Min Prasad — A short spy story that reminded me of the old spoof TV show “Get Smart” set in Singapore and more queer. Amusing and unserious. Source: http://queersoutheastasia.com/spy-loved-wanton-mee-vina-prasad-issue-1

How to Select a Durian at Footscray Market by Stephanie Campisi — This was a bit too over-written to properly grab me. There was an interesting story in there somewhere, but I found it drowned, a bit, in similes. Source: Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein

Reading stories 11 to 15

Post title brought to you by apparently I am counting stories read this year (I mean, automatically, because spreadsheet). And because I am definitely going to run out of post titles if I don't standardise them somehow.

A mildly amusing anecdote about the first story in this batch: for reasons I'm still unclear on, the version of the story that appeared in Pocket was only the last section of story. The fact that I still thought it was a pretty good read without the first two thirds or so of the text is testament to the author's writing. But of course, when I realised the mistake (basically, when I was logging it in the spreadsheet) and did read the start of the story, I found it an even better read that delved more deeply into the issues that previously only seemed touched upon. Shocking, I know. I will have to be vigilant if I get to more stories from the same magazine.

On another note, I just subscribed to Uncanny since I've been reading a lot of their stories. Will be interesting to see how having ePubs of the whole magazine rather than saving isolated stories affects my reading experience.

Stories 11 to 15:

A Complex Filament of Light by S Qiouyi Lu — A story set in Antarctica about a person dealing with difficult feelings after a loss. Isolation, auroras and mental health. Source: http://www.anathemamag.com/a-complex-filament-of-light

Landmark by Cassandra Khaw — Lovers separated by astronomical distances try to stay in touch with technology. The extreme long-distance relationship. Dour. Source: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/khaw_12_17/

An Account of the Sky Whales by A Que — A lovely story about flying space whales, the boyfriend of a whale researcher making the journey to collect her ashes, poachers. A meaty world, well-developed in this novelette. Source: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_06_17d/

Relentless Adaptations by Tansy Rayner Roberts — A story about a sleep-deprived new mother in a world where all fiction has been reduced to classics + gimmicks (zombies, vampires, etc). Also an apocalypse, but she’s too tired to pay much attention to that. Very amusing. Source: Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein

It Happened To Me: I Melded My Consciousness With the Giant Alien Mushroom Floating Above Chicago by Nino Cipri — A vaguely amusing story. Not bad, but not interesting enough to get away with not being funny at this short form. Source: https://firesidefiction.com/it-happened-to-me-i-melded-my-consciousness-wtih-the-giant-alien-mushroom-floating-above-chicago

Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein

Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein is, as advertised, an anthology collecting the best YA speculative fiction short stories published in 2015. The stories are a mix of fantasy, science fiction and horror, and a few somewhere in between.

Fans of Kaleidoscope will find more tales of wonder, adventure, diversity, and variety in this collection devoted to stories with teen protagonists.

Our goal is to uncover the best young adult short fiction of the year published in the anthologies dedicated to the form, the occasional special edition of a magazine, and individual pieces appearing in otherwise “adult” anthologies and magazines, and bring them together in one accessible collection.

I have, in general, read "best of" anthologies before, but not any that focus on YA stories. In fact — and this is a phenomenon discussed in the introduction of the anthology — I don't think I've read more than the occasional isolated YA story in the context of some other anthology or magazine. Collecting a whole book of YA stories then made for an interesting overview of the genre as aimed at a younger audience.

A lot of the stories in this volume tackle difficult issues, such as abuse or the necessity of touch decisions, and do so well. However, that does not make for light or comforting reading. My favourite stories in this anthology were a mix of hopeful and more challenging: "Blood, Ash, Braids" by Genevieve Valentine, "Function A:Save (Target.Dawn)" by Rivqa Rafael, "Entangled Web" by E C Myers, and "Blue Ribbon" by Marissa Lingen. The last was my absolute favourite, despite being one of the more difficult to read stories, thanks to the subject matter.

As usual, more detailed notes on each story are below. I recommend this book to fans of both science fiction and YA. Beware, as I have already mentioned, it is not overall a light read, though some individual stories are light.

• Songs in the Key of You by Sarah Pinsker — a nice story about a near future when “everyone” has personal soundtracks playing from their wrists and a girl who can’t afford the device but loves music. 
• Blood, Ash, Braids by Genevieve Valentine — A witchy fantasy story about the the Night Witches in WWII (Russian women bombing Nazis from planes). An enjoyable read about friendship, protection and magic.
• Mosquito Boy by Felix Gilman — A concept that didn’t really grab me. The narrator tells us of the emergence/existence of mosquito boy creatures (why are there no mosquito girls?). That’s pretty much the whole story. Meh.
• The Rainbow Flame by Shveta Thakrar — This story is about teenaged girls questioning the world and their place in it. Except it’s a world made of magic and stories and, of course, things aren’t exactly as they have been told. I found it a bit slow to start and, while it picked up and got more interesting, it’s not a favourite.
• The Sixth Day by Silvia Anna Hivén — A strange apocalyptic world in which the edges of reality seem to be stretching out and disappearing. It was interesting and a bit disturbing.
• For Sale: Fantasy Coffins (Ababuo Need Not Apply) by Chesya Burke — An outcast girl with a special, magical role to play for her Ghanan home city, which will make her die young.
• Kia and Gio by Daniel José Older — A story about ghosts, aliens and unrequited love. A nice read.
• Bucket List Found in the Locker of Maddie Price, Age 14, Written Two Weeks Before the Great Uplifting of All Mankind by Erica L Satifka — A flash story told in the form of a bucket list (as per the title), complete with some crossed out items. Also more hints about the coming end than I expected. I liked it more than I expected to.
• Function A:Save (Target.Dawn) by Rivqa Rafael — a lovely story about a coder and the president’s daughter/her almost-girlfriend. Set in a near future with bio-hacking and fancy medicine, this story was engaging, a little magical and, ultimately, satisfying.
• Noah No-one and the Infinity Machine by Sean Williams — an odd yarn set in the Jump universe, but much earlier that that trilogy. I expected it to have a dark ending, but it ended up being quite lighthearted.
• Forgiveness by Leah Cypess — a challenging story about a physically abusive relationship in a future where there are chips to control that sort of behaviour once it’s reported.
• Probably Definitely by Heather Morris — a nice story about a ghost and a teenager still working on finding their place in life. I am impressed at how naturally-seeming the author’s non-use of pronouns was.
• I’m Only Going Over by Cat Hellisen — a slightly odd story about a weird girl at a party and the protagonist trying to chat with her.
• The Ways of Walls and Words by Sabrina Vourvoulias — This story took a while to grab me, which was unfortunate since it was quite long and a bit slow. It’s about two girls imprisoned and in service, in an unkind situation. The setting is, I’m pretty sure, colonial times in what is now the Dominican Republic. Their histories and friendship were interesting.
• Reflections by Tamlyn Dreaver — The setting of this story seemed promising, but I had difficulty getting past the lack of (semi-)scientific explanation as to how the moon could be terraformed. The story of a girl being forced to move away upon the failure of that terraformation didn’t, unfortunately, do enough to draw me in. Not bad, but not enough for me. 
• Entangled Web by E C Myers — A quick story set in a world with quantum smartphones that allow you to see how other versions of you are living. An interesting idea piece. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the world.
• Blue Ribbon by Marissa Lingen — An affecting story about a group of teens and younger kids who get locked out of their space station after quarantine is enacted during a series of races they competed in. Tragic. One of my favourite stories in this anthology. 
• Bodies are the Strongest Conductors by James Robert Herndon — A troubling story about a teen with an unusual medical condition and his friend. I didn’t exactly enjoy this story, but I also felt like I couldn’t look away.
• Pineapple Head by Joel Enos — An odd story that didn’t go where I expected it to from the ominous hints (I thought) it gave the reader near the start. It’s about two gay boys connecting over time.
• Grass Girl by Caroline M Yoachim — A shirt story about girls made of wood and the bamboo girl who feels out of place and uncool among them. I liked the symbolism.
• The Birds of Azalea Street by Nova Red Suma — This story started out creepy and gross, but finished satisfyingly. I started out not very into it but ended up liking it more than the opening made me think I would.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2016, Twelfth Planet Press
Series: The last of 3 yearly "best of" volumes
Format read: ePub
Source: The publisher
Disclaimer: This book was published by the same publisher as Defying Doomsday. Nevertheless, I have endeavoured to give an unbiased review.

100 Short Story Challenge: Stories 91 to 100

Done! I actually finished in the wee hours of the 29th and then immediately wondered what on earth I should read next since I wasn't ploughing through short stories. But that's a problem for later. I have, however, decided that next year I'll keep posting posts similar to these ones with mini short story reviews as I read them. Maybe still in batches of ten but I'm thinking about it (would batches of five be better?). More on that in my reflection post in the new year. I just don't want to discourage myself from reading short stories — having a concrete bloggy output for them is very encouraging.

Anyway, stories 91 to 100, marking the completion of my challenge to read 100 short stories in the last few months of 2017!

91. Fall Like Snow by Seanan McGuire — An ominous story which did not end as hideously as I had feared it might. But golly McGuire is good at ominous. Source: Seanan McGuire’s Patreon
92. The Sad tale of the Tearless Onion by Ann Leckie — Flash that I listened to in audio. Short, amusing and a bit odd. Source: http://podcastle.org/2009/06/12/podcastle-miniature-33-the-sad-tale-of-the-tearless-onion/
93. Three Boys and a Cat by Hamizah Adzmi — An amusing story about three boys wagging tuition class and trying to get a psychic prediction of their exam questions. Source: http://visibilityfiction.com/visibility-fiction/three-boys-and-a-cat-by-hamizah-adzmi-online-reading/
94. Velveteen vs the Isley Crayfish Festival by Seanan McGuire — A quick, fun introduction to a retired (for now?) superheroine, who features in several more stories. Recommended for fans of Tansy Rayner Roberts superhero stories and vice versa. Source: http://seananmcguire.com/velvs1.php
95. Making Us Monsters by Sam J Miller and Lara Elena Donnelly — An epistolary story of two men who had been lovers during World War I. The one who survived the war is magically receiving, in the 30s, letters sent in 1918. The story wasn’t bad, but never really grabbed me. I also found the voices fo the two characters a bit too similar to easily keep track of. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/making-us-monsters/
96. Margot and Rosalind by Charlie Jane Anders — A flash piece about a woman who created a hyperbrain. Interesting world building that I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of (in a longer story). Source: https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/margot-and-rosalind-charlie-jane-anders/
97. Portrait of Skull with Man by Vina Jie-Min Prasad — A weird and somewhat funny short story about a man posing with a skull. Source: https://firesidefiction.com/portrait-of-skull-with-man
98. Velveteen vs. The Coffee Freaks by Seanan McGuire — Another fun superhero story about a retired child hero that just wants to get to her job interview in Portland. Source: http://seananmcguire.com/velvs2.php
99. The Lost Xuyan Bride by Aliette de Bodard — a story set in the author’s Xuyan universe, on Earth and in roughly contemporary times. I found the world building fascinating with the detective noir story nestled nicely in it. I am definitely keen to read more stories set in this world. Source: https://aliettedebodard.com/short-stories/the-lost-xuyan-bride/
100. And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinsker — A whodunnit set at a convention of parallel universe versions of the author. The main character is an insurance investigator given the task of solving the murder: which Sarah killed which other Sarah? An enjoyable read. Source: http://uncannymagazine.com/article/and-then-there-were-n-one/

100 Short Story Challenge: Stories 81 to 90

A bit of a scramble to get the last few stories in before the new year. Luckily, the holidays have afforded more time than usual for reading and I think I will make it in time.

In this batch, I finished off the Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015, so keep an eye out in the new year for my full review of it. Other than that, we again have a mix of online fiction.

81. Entangled Web by E C Myers — A quick story set in a world with quantum smartphones that allow you to see how other versions of you are living. An interesting idea piece. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the world. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
82. Blue Ribbon by Marissa Lingen — An affecting story about a group of teens and younger kids who get locked out of their space station after quarantine is enacted during a series of races they competed in. Tragic. One of my favourite stories in this anthology. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
83. Bodies are the Strongest Conductors by James Robert Herndon — A troubling story about a teen with an unusual medical condition and his friend. I didn’t exactly enjoy this story, but I also felt like I couldn’t look away. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
84. Pineapple Head by Joel Enos — An odd story that didn’t go where I expected it to from the ominous hints (I thought) it gave the reader near the start. It’s about two gay boys connecting over time. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
85. Grass Girl by Caroline M Yoachim — A shirt story about girls made of wood and the bamboo girl who feels out of place and uncool among them. I liked the symbolism. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
86. The Birds of Azalea Street by Nova Red Suma — This story started out creepy and gross, but finished satisfyingly. I started out not very into it but ended up liking it more than the opening made me think I would. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
87. How to Survive and Epic Journey by Tansy Rayner Roberts — A hilarious story about adventuring from the perspective of a female Argonaut (as in, Jason and the). It pulls no punches regarding how terrible the patriarchy and Jason were. And how justified/misunderstood Medea was. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/survive-epic-journey/
88. That Seriously Obnoxious Time I Was Stuck at Witch Rimelda’s One Hundredth Birthday Party by Tina Connolly — An amusing story that unfortunately suffered from the comparison to the previous one I read, which was much funnier. An unhappy teenage not-witch surrounded by young and adult witches. Source: https://www.tor.com/2015/08/26/that-seriously-obnoxious-time-i-was-stuck-at-witch-rimeldas-one-hundredth-birthday-party-tina-connolly/ 
89. Waiting on a Bright Moon by JY Yang — A very engaging and unexpectedly epic space fantasy story. A tale of multi-planet empire, magic portals formed through song, a lot of women loving women, and rebellion. This one’s going on my Hugo nominations next year. Source: https://www.tor.com/2017/07/12/waiting-on-a-bright-moon/
90. The Martian Obelisk by Linda Nagata — A story about hubris and hope in a post apocalyptic world. I found the main premise, of instructing AIs to build an obelisk on Mars, a bit odd, for all that it made sense in the context. The story didn’t completely grab me, however, which is unfortunate because I think the ending would have had more impact if I’d connected more with the protagonist. Source: http://www.tor.com/2017/07/19/the-martian-obelisk/

Only ten more stories to go!

100 Short Story Challenge: Stories 71 to 80

I sped up a little for this batch by throwing in some flash stories after reading a particularly long story that dragged a bit. A mix of sources, again. Notably adding Antipodian SF to Tor.com and Twelfth Planet Press's Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015.

Stories 71 to 80:

71. Lullaby for a Lost World by Aliette de Bodard — This story started dark and got darker. It’s about sacrifice for the greater good and rebellion against pain and suffering. Source: https://www.tor.com/2016/06/08/lullaby-for-a-lost-world/ 
72. The Ways of Walls and Words by Sabrina Vourvoulias — This story took a while to grab me, which was unfortunate since it was quite long and a bit slow. It’s about two girls imprisoned and in service, in an unkind situation. The setting is, I’m pretty sure, colonial times in what is now the Dominican Republic. Their histories and friendship were interesting. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
73. Hold-Time Violations by John Chu — a weird physics story with an emotional twist. The worldbuilding was a little tricky to follow (on purpose, I think), but I liked the story. Source: http://www.tor.com/2015/10/07/hold-time-violations-john-chu/
74. The Numbers Danced by Laurie Bell — SF horror flash. Tense and with a twist. Source: https://www.antisf.com/the-stories/the-numbers-danced
75. Good Intentions by Simon Petrie — Flash. A bait and switch shaggy-dog story that made me groan even as I conceded it’s cleverness. Source: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20171120-0002/www.antisf.com.au/the-stories/good-intentions.html
76. The Passengers by Botond Teklesz — Flash and shorter than I expected. A snapshot of a future. Source: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20170920-0830/www.antisf.com.au/the-stories/the-passengers.html
77. A Reluctant Zombie by Natalie JE Potts — Flash. Amusing. Farts and death were involved. Source: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20170920-0830/www.antisf.com.au/the-stories/a-reluctant-zombie.html
78. A Last Supper by Philip Berrie — An odd and dark short story. More zombies. I’m not sure how I feel about this one… Source: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20170920-0830/www.antisf.com.au/the-stories/a-last-supperhtml.html
79. Pandora’s Smile by Joanna Galbraith — An amusing and silly short story that I enjoyed. Source: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20170920-0830/www.antisf.com.au/the-stories/pandora-s-smile.html
80. Reflections by Tamlyn Dreaver — The setting of this story seemed promising, but I had difficulty getting past the lack of (semi-)scientific explanation as to how the moon could be terraformed. The story of a girl being forced to move away upon the failure of that terraformation didn’t, unfortunately, do enough to draw me in. Not bad, but not enough for me. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.

Only twenty more stories to go! Will I make it? I hope so!

100 Short Story Challenge: Stories 61 to 70

I'm getting closer to caught up! As I write this (rather earlier than it's going to be posted, I'm afraid) I have 30 stories left to read in 20 days. That's not so bad! Perfectly manageable, right? In any case, come January I'll write a post about how this whole short story reading challenge went, what I learnt along the way, and so forth. In the meantime, here are stories 61 to 70:

61. Bucket List Found in the Locker of Maddie Price, Age 14, Written Two Weeks Before the Great Uplifting of All Mankind by Erica L Satifka — A flash story told in the form of a bucket list (as per the title), complete with some crossed out items. Also more hints about the coming end than I expected. I liked it more than I expected to. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
62. Her Heart Never Came Down Again by Seanan McGuire — a lovely, bittersweet story about an astronaut and her engineer wife. Also an ill-fated, unusual voyage, grief, hope and perseverance. Source: Seanan McGuire’s Patreon 
63. Phlashback by Simon Petrie — a third story in the “CREVjack” and “Goldilock” sequence, this time picking up shortly after the previous story left off and shifting point of view characters (again). Finally we get to learn more about pharmhands and their place in the scheme of things on Titan. Another tense story. Source: Wide Brown Land by Simon Petrie
64. Placenta by Simon Petrie — about a pregnant woman who suddenly finds herself in a life- and baby-threatening situation and must do a bit of sciencey problem-solving to survive. It also gives us a snapshot of an abandoned part of Titan, which strongly reminded me of an Abandoned Photography blog I’ve followed. Source: Wide Brown Land by Simon Petrie
65. Function A:Save (Target.Dawn) by Rivqa Rafael — a lovely story about a coder and the president’s daughter/her almost-girlfriend. Set in a near future with bio-hacking and fancy medicine, this story was engaging, a little magical and, ultimately, satisfying. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
66. Noah No-one and the Infinity Machine by Sean Williams — an odd yarn set in the Jump universe, but much earlier that that trilogy. I expected it to have a dark ending, but it ended up being quite lighthearted. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
67. Forgiveness by Leah Cypess — a challenging story about a physically abusive relationship in a future where there are chips to control that sort of behaviour once it’s reported. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
68. Probably Definitely by Heather Morris — a nice story about a ghost and a teenager still working on finding their place in life. I am impressed at how naturally-seeming the author’s non-use of pronouns was. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
69. I’m Only Going Over by Cat Hellisen — a slightly odd story about a weird girl at a party and the protagonist trying to chat with her. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.
70. How the Maine Coon Cat Learned to Love the Sea by Seanan McGuire — A fairytale/genesis story about maine coon cats coming to North America. Short and sweet. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/maine-coon-cat-learned-love-sea/

Not long to go now!

100 Short Story Challenge: Stories 51 to 60

I am starting to catch up on this short story reading thing, though I am still a little behind. This batch of stories has some more stories from Simon Petrie's upcoming Titan-themed collection Wide Brown Land and a handful of stories from miscellaneous sources.

I am really enjoying reading random stories that catch my eye (or, more accurately, random stories that caught past-me's eye so that they got added to Pocket and were subsequently able to catch present-me's eye...). I am thinking that when I get to the end of this challenge I will probably post a list or two of thematically linked stories that I particularly liked. One of the lists will almost certainly be something along the lines of "awesome stories about robots/AI/computers", which I expect will include both "Abandonware" by An Owomoyela and "Interlingua" by Yoon Ha Lee from this batch.

51. More Than Nothing by Nisi Shawl — A slightly confusing flash story (I wonder if it’s related to something larger?) about a defiantly praying girl. Source: https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/more-than-nothing-nisi-shawl/
52. Broadwing by Simon Petrie — A crash landing and a long wait for rescue. It felt like a scene-setting piece to give us a good feel for Titan and a bit of background on flight and the landscape. Source: Wide Brown Land by Simon Petrie
53. Emptying Roesler by Simon Petrie — About an inspector, a man in an abandoned building (on Titan) and illegal activities. This story ended abruptly, albeit in a logical place. I would not have minded finding out what happened next to the characters. Source: Wide Brown Land by Simon Petrie
54. Interlingua by Yoon Ha Lee — A delightful story about sentient space ships that design games to entertain their crews on long voyages. Things get a bit strange when our protagonist ship designs a game to prepare their crew for an alien contact mission. I really enjoyed this story: both the premise and the execution. One for fans of Ann Leckie (if you’re not already a Yoon Ha Lee fan, like I am). Source: http://uncannymagazine.com/article/interlingua/
55. The White-Throated Transmigrant by E. Lily Yu — I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story. What I got was taxidermy and a past worth escaping. Well written and engaging. Source: http://www.tor.com/2017/06/21/the-white-throated-transmigrant/
56. CREVjack by Simon Petrie — This was a reread (see earlier review here: http://tsanasreads.blogspot.com/search/label/simon%20petrie). I came back to reread it after I started “Goldilock” since that story felt like a sequel and I couldn’t remember the specifics of this earlier one. The ending remains emotionally difficult to read. Source: Wide Brown Land by Simon Petrie
57. Goldilock by Simon Petrie — a direct sequel to “CREVjack”, picking up moments after that story left off. It continues in a similarly tense and action-packed vein with another very dramatic ending. Source: Wide Brown Land by Simon Petrie
58. Persephone by Seanan McGuire — A sad flash story set in a dystopian future. Source: https://www.tor.com/2017/03/08/persephone-seanan-mcguire/
59. Abandonware by An Owomoyela — A touching story about grief and computers and, unexpectedly, psychohistory (which will be just as enjoyable if you don’t get that reference). I started reading it to fill in some time, but then couldn’t put it down. Source: http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fiction/abandonware/
60. Kia and Gio by Daniel José Older — A story about ghosts, aliens and unrequited love. A nice read. Source: Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2015 edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein.

Only 40 more to go!