Romano Santos (Vice, 10/27/2021), “Remembering the Thrill of Reading ‘True Philippine Ghost Stories'”: “‘Very chilling stories, indeed. I can’t imagine ever seeing someone’s doppelgänger. But for sure, I am not looking forward to seeing mine,’ Mendoza …
“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.) “…
sign read: “PERMANENTLY CLOSED.” The lock on the door was busted.
Two short, bittersweet scifi stories about people changing their journeys. “Personal Trainer” by Meg Elison has a new way to exercise and a new kind of hammock to relax in. “Wait Calculation” by Derrick Boden has political intrigue aboard a generation …
“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 …
“they were persuaded by the immediacy of suffering”
“Byzantine Empathy” is a novelette by Ken Liu about virtual reality, moral reasoning, atrocities, institutional philanthropy, geopolitics, and two very determined women at odds with each other. Content note: violence, including harm to children.
Three and/or Sixty-One Literary Bears
Patricia Lockwood (LRB, 08/12/2021), “Pull Off My Head”: “Is Bear one of those 1970s books about growing out your armpit hair? Kind of, but not only. Is it a metaphor for our relationship to nature? Fuck off.” Marlena Williams (LitHub, 10/23/2020), “Sy…
“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…
LinkedIn is scrapping its Stories feature to work on short-form video
What do LinkedIn and Twitter have in common? They both introduced ephemeral story features that were pretty fleeting. LinkedIn announced today that it will suspend its Stories feature on September 30 and begin working on a different way to add short-form videos to the platform. LinkedIn announced the upcoming change to warn advertisers who might […]
Instagram is ditching ‘swipe-up’ links in favor of stickers
Instagram is ditching the “swipe-up” link in Instagram Stories starting on August 30. The popular feature has historically allowed businesses and high-profile creators a way to direct their Story’s viewers to a website where they could learn more about a product, read an article, sign up for a service or do anything else the creator […]