Today's story comes from the January 2016 issue of Lightspeed Magazine7. MAIDEN, HUNTER, BEAST by Kat Howard.  Howard weaves three points of view (the titular characters) seemlessly over the course of a single night of discovery, chases and confrontation. This story doesn't pull any punches, and also delivers some nice twists on the tropes ( Read more... )

Stories from a variety of places:

208. FALLING UNDER, THROUGH THE DARK by Damien Angelica Walters, from Black Static #46.   Kara has suffered a recent devastating loss, and now often feels like she's falling into water and drowning; the feeling is so overwhelming it shuts out the reality around her. In fact, the way Walters describes the sensation ( Read more... )

Slowly catching up on the story reviews. The following are all from the April 2015 issue of https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/, edited by John Joseph Adams.

51. THE UNIVERSE SUNG IN STARS by Kat Howard The music of the spheres is real. Newly-born pocket universes need to be ( Read more... )

Still playing catch-up, here finally are my thoughts on the contents of Lightspeed Magazine’s November 2014 issue:

250. WHAT GLISTENS BACK by Sunny Moraine The main character is falling towards an alien planet after his one-person lander breaks apart. His husband is the communications officer on the ship he launched from. In what little time is ( Read more... )

Still catching up, so not every story will have detailed thoughts. This longish entry covers the stories I read in LIGHTSPEED magazine's July and August issues ( Read more... )

From the March 2014 issue of Lightspeed Magazine68. A DIFFERENT FATE by Kat Howard    Kat Howard weaves together three distinct storylines/POVs (The Fates, retellings of Greek myths with weaving as a central component, and the lives of two sisters in modern times) in a short (very compact, in fact, considering the number of plot threads) but very ( Read more... )

The remainder of THE WAY OF THE WIZARD, edited by John Joseph Adams.

20. Mommy Issues of the Dead by T.A. Pratt  I'm not familiar with Pratt's ongoing fantasy series but based on this short story I have to say I like his main character's style. Marla Mason is no-nonsense and practical. I'd almost call her a female Harry Dresden (but without the ( Read more... )

Continuing the trend: four more from STORIES, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

228. Land of the Lost by Stewart O'Nan  Another author I should have read by now. The story is a tight little character piece. There's a plot, but it feels like it is mostly there to propel our understanding of this lonely woman who, post-divorce and with her ( Read more... )

I thought I would get briefly away from my usual fantasy or ghostly short stories and try something else for a change. These two stories come from The Penguin Book of Modern Women’s Short Stories edited by Susan Hill.

The first story in the collection is The Devastating Boys by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress). I find it interesting to note ( Read more... )