My focus the last couple of weeks has been on finishing my Daily Science Fiction backlog, which I did today (yeah!), finishing the Intergalactic Medicine Show anthology, going through a bunch of Anton Checkov stories, and reading stories from relatively new flash fiction magazine (as in it’s only just over a year old as far as I know), The Arcanist.
Sadly, only a couple of the DSF stories show up on my recommended list.
Amelia by Conor Powers-Smith (DSF): The author managed to pack setting, character, action, and a hint of conflict into the first sentence without making it awkward or forced in any way. But despite the great opening, the sentence level writing felt a bit heavy, as if the author was trying too hard to make it “literary”. And it did turn into a bit of a philosophical lecture when the characters began straight out discussing the theme. But despite all this, it was a good flash fiction piece. The dialogue was excellent with distinct character voices and plenty of banter. Even the depressed robot felt like a very real and fleshed out character. And I can’t remember having read anything that resembelled this story in a long while which made for a nice change.
Cookies for Ghost by Emily McCosh (DSF): The sentence level writing in Cookies for Ghost was excellent, and the author managed to pack a good amount of vivid setting details and characterization in there and still keep the word count low. Unlike many other short stories I’ve read lately, it was also a very character driven story, the protagonist’s motivations and actions driving the story forward, forcing her to move into the creepy attic and face whatever is lurking there. However, the plot was also the only real weak point in the story, as far as I was concerned, being relatively predictable especially as the end drew near. Still, it was a solid story.
The Alien in 36B by Jennifer Stephan Kapral (DSF): By far, the best short story I’ve read since my last story recommendation post. It had a fairly decent premise, an alien diplomat flying on a plain, trying not to react to all the germs. We got a lot of character, a bit of setting, and if not conflict, then the potential for conflict right away. And the story kept building on it. The way the author managed to use the small but present conflict of the overflow of bacteria to show the setting and character (the alien protagonist can see bacteria) was excellent; it meant that a lot of description and character building was ingrained in the story without adding a lot of words. Finally, the story had a strong message about how we treat foreingers without it ever becoming preaching or heavy-handed.
Counting Days by Patricia Lundy (DSF): I finally caught up with my DSF backlog, and they rewarded me with a solid story. It’s a fresh take on the Frankenstein story, told from the POV of the monster, who in this case was a teenage girl. This worked as a great way of highlighting something as dark as self-mutilation. The plot was relatively unoriginal (self-hating girl finds similar friend, one of them screws up, and the other has to come to the resuce). But the fresh, original premise and fleshed out characters (considering it’s a flash piece) made it well worth the read.
Toby Backman 