From Vu Le at Nonprofit AF: “it’s time for this year’s crop of spooky stories set in our sector”! (Previously.)
innovation, death, sorcery and meaning
Two short, triumphant fantasy stories about well-worn prophecies and magical customs that take a left turn. “Another End of the Empire” by Tim Pratt (audio version): “The probability witches hit an impasse.” A short story by Dyce (a.k.a. Sarah Blackwel…
“Your grandpa was a lot of things in the old days”
Two short speculative stories about growing up in a powerful family. “Horangi”, fantasy by Thomas Ha (reminds me a little of Ursula Vernon’s Grandma Harken stories): “I’m sorry to hear that,” my grandfather responded politely, and he gave a smile that …
“the flavors you teach them to desire”
“A perfect egg is a slash of light on a gray day.” “The War of Light and Shadow, in Five Dishes” by Siobhan Carroll is a bittersweet short fantasy story about cooking, grief, beauty in the midst of war, and teaching the next generation. (Previously.) “…
“I am here on business and my accountant’s a real wizard.”
Alexandra Erin (previously) posts short speculative fiction stories on her Patreon, including a one-sided conversation about dead people posting status updates on Facebook, a fairy tale about a healer’s price, a political horror story about scars that …
“People like him love standard procedure”
Two short scifi/fantasy stories in which customer service folks get to reward customers who treat them well, or punish those who treat them badly. Dyce writes about an isolated refueling station: “Out-of-hours fuelling requires a prior appointment.” Ai…
retail, disability, zombies, etc.
A few short scifi/fantasy stories about dark situations that turn out surprisingly well. The day nearly everyone at Evil-Mart called in sick, and the sequel. One person who gets bitten by a zombie…. yet never turns. And some survivors of the robot ap…
“Something Disturbing To Raise Your Spirits”
Leftovers by JD Hancock (cc by)GenjiandProust’s Increasingly Strange Stories for an Increasingly Strange Year is another faboo roundup of weird audio dramas, again with tons of info and links to each one … And for yet more weird and wonderful, PussKi…
NPR’s 50 best SF and Fantasy books of the decade
Let’s find something new to read! NPR assembled a list of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books of the last decade. See anything you like?
Bookfilter: Magical Economies
In Ask Metafilter, miles per flower asks, “I’ve recently enjoyed a couple books that dive deep on what magic costs — Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers and Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education — and I’m looking for more to read along those lines: detailed mech…