June’s short story recommendations are not only late, they also horrible short. And for that I’m sorry.
I haven’t had great luck with the stories I’ve read the last couple of weeks, but mostly, the short, late list is do my summer holiday. The holiday is coming to an end, though, so hopefully July’s recommendations will be back to the usual length of at least four great short stories.
The Mind is its Own Place by Carrie Vaughn (Asimov’s): Vaughn managed to make deep space travel and time and space bending look fresh and unique, which in itself is quite an achievement. In The Mind is its Own Place, she put the spin on the trope that planing the route and the actual bending of space risked driving the navigators who make the travel possible insane.
The protagonist was one such navigator trapped in a mental ward, and the story focused on the mystery of whether the MC truly had gone insane or there was something more sinister going on.
Said mystery and the unique speculative element which manifested in some pretty interesting ways in the other ward inmates made this story a pretty great read. The ending was a bit too predictable, but other than that, this story was perfect.
Air Kisses by Damon Shaw (FFO/The Touch of the Sea Anthology, Lethe Press): Admittedly, this probably won’t be for everyone. The story had a very distinct tone and voice, very stark and staccato. Personally though, I loved it. And the author did such a great job at showing the setting and the MC’s conflict (having kissed a mer-person, they’d turned into a creature of the sea themselves) without telling us directly.
The plot is so-so. The MC struggles with accepting their new life, but very little actually happens. Still, the style and the premise was enough to keep me hooked all the way through.
That’s it for June. I hope to have lot more story recommendations for you in July.
Toby Backman 