“Zed’s Fanverse” by Toiya Kristen Finley

by kattomic

“Zed’s Fanverse” b Toiya Kristen Finley

10.16.12

Story 285/366

Keep telling yourself it’s only a game…You can read this story at Nature.com.

See you tomorrow!

“All’s Fair” by B. Morris Allen

by kattomic

“All’s Fair” by B. Morris Allen

10.05.12

Story 275/366

“All’s Fair” is a little allegory that seems somehow most appropriate for campaign season.You can read this story at the Spinetinglers site.Read more about B. Morris Allen at his website.

See you tomorrow!

“The River Knows Its Own” by Jake Lake

by kattomic

“The River Knows Its Own” by Jay Lake

09.24.12

Story 264/366

This is a wild-ass, extremely entertaining bit of urban fantasy involving Sasquatch and wizards and ice chai.  Jay Lake is an incredibly prolific writer who has been battling cancer since 2008. He was born in Taiwan (his father was a foreign service officer) and grew up there and in Nigeria. More than 50 of his stories are available as links on the free sf online site. You can read “River Knows Its Own” here.

See you tomorrow!

“How Amraphel, Assistant to Dream, Became a Thief, Lost His Job and Found His Way” by Scott Edelman

by kattomic

“How Amraphel, Assistant to Dream, Became a Thief, Lost his Job, and Found His Way” by Scott Edelman

09.23.12

Story 263/366

Be careful what you wish for…This story ran on Daily SF, you can read it here.

See you tomorrow!

Chicken Chicken Bang Bang, by Zen Cho

by djsacramento

#53: Chicken Chicken Bang Bang by Zen Cho

Synopsis: A 780-word solution to traffic congestion.

“One more step, and we’re on the highway,” said Ko. “Good old ayam.–Wait! Basket!”

Eileen somehow knew what was coming. Any girl with a brother knows what stupid looks like.

❤

"Chicken Chicken Bang Bang" is free online at Zen Cho’s website.

“Jack O’Lantern” by Patricia A. McKillip

by kattomic

“Jack O’Lantern” by Patricia A. McKillip

08.11.12

Story 220/366

McKillip is an award-winning fantasy novelist. I am a fan of her Riddle-Master trilogy, and also the much-honored Forgotten Beast of Eld. This is the first of her short stories I’ve read. In her author’s note in the anthology, McKillip talks about the research she did into pre-Raphaelite painting, and when reading the story, you can imagine the pastel togas and Grecian robes in pink and pistachio. As always, McKillip’s gorgeous words envelop the reader.

This story appears in the anthology of original science fiction and fantasy, Firebirds Rising.

See you tomorrow!

“Singing of Mount Abora” by Theodora Goss

by kattomic

“Singing of Mount Abora” by Theodora Goss

This story won the World Fantasy Award for short fiction in 2008. It’s on the longish side—nearly 7K–and every word is a thread in a tapestry of a tale that builds a myth and a world and a narrative. It feels like it could easily be a longer work.  Certainly it’s a story that sent me in search of Goss’ other work. (She gets major points for the uncomplicated sign up for her blog. There’s a button marked “subscribe.” You click on it and voila—an email thanking you for subscribing.  As someone who increasingly finds captchas hard to read, I appreciate the ease.) You can read the story on the Lightspeed site. Learn more about the author and her work on her site.

See you tomorrow!

The Testing by Sandra Seamans

by Barb Goffman

188/366

From Cold Rifts, a collection of stories by Sandra Seamans (Snubnose Press, 2012).

This is the most  unusual story in this collection so far. (I’m reading the stories in order.) A teenage girl (Sandra writes about a lot of teenage girls, as do I, which is perhaps why I notice it. Anyway …) A teenage girl had a baby with the preacher of a sect that worships (?) or perhaps just uses snakes in their religion. The reverend uses them while he preaches, at any rate. The sexist (that’s a nice word for him) preacher declares that this whore with whom he had a baby must have her faith tested by putting her and the baby into a box with a snake to see if it kills them. And THEN the story gets weird.

“Trading Polaris” by Ursula Pflug

by kattomic

“Trading Polaris” by Ursula Pflug

08.01.12

Story 212/366

This is a love story, a stand-alone excerpt from Pflug’s novel Green Music. You can read it at Infinity Plus.  Photo of the author by Doug Back and Brian Wagner.

See you tomorrow!

“Cockatrice Girl meets Statue Boy” by Willow Fagan

by kattomic

“Cockatrice Girl meets Statue Boy” by Willow Fagan

07.27.12

Story 207/366

This is the story of a most unusual relationship and Fagan seems to be having a good time playing with his words. (Statue Boy, for example, is not a person turned to stone but a statue come to life and the difference matters.)  You can read the story here at Lightspeed Online, where it was published in 2008.

See you tomorrow!