2022 Short Stories
Apr. 26th, 2023 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraHere's my short story shortlist, which is basically everything I marked as "really liked" or "particularly recommended" plus a few others I wanted to consider.
Picking five of these was harder than the novelettes, since these are all already standouts in the short stories-I-would-recommend pool, and then it's like... am I having recency bias? Am I having the opposite bias, for the stuff I read early on that I've now thought about more times/for longer? I might still ditch the Rather and pick up that Gardner story, hmmm.
On the Sunlit Side of Venus, Benjamin Parzybok, Apex. More sole survivors, coincidentally.
The Cheesemaker and the Undying King, Lina Rather, Lightspeed. Where "cheesemaker" is medieval for "microbiologist", more or less. I really liked this one.
The CRISPR Cookbook: A Guide to Biohacking Your Own Abortion in a Post-Roe World, MKRNYILGLD, Lightspeed. Some very angry near-future worldbuilding around some very sharp science talk. Damn. Particularly recommended.
In the Beginning of Me, I Was a Bird, Maria Dong, Lightspeed. Transmigrations. Reminded me of This Is How You Lose the Time War, particularly recommended.
The Goldfish Man, Maureen McHugh, Uncanny. Set in the pandemic. Homelessness, and art, and aliens.
The Transfiguration of the Gardener Irene by the Dead Planet Hipea, Ann LeBlanc, Clarkesworld. The last survivor of a fungal colony organism. I really liked this one.
Company Town, Aimee Ogden, Clarkesworld. Labor relations, and bonus portal fantasy. I really liked this one.
Two Spacesuits, Leonard Richardson, Clarkesworld. Memes and alien possession. I really liked this one.
D.I.Y, John Wiswell, Tor.com. This one absolutely reeks of ballot. A fine little story about not getting into magic school, and monopolies, and collective action. I don't know that I personally am nominating it, but I fully expect to be seeing it.
Clay, Isabel J. Kim, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Golems, mass production, individuality.
The Crow Husband, Sarah McGill, Strange Horizons. Offbeat and lovely, about different kinds of relationships, and wanting them or not. Le Guin-esque.
You, Me, Her, You, Her, I, Isabel J. Kim, Strange Horizons. Art and memory and temping.
Hush, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Tor.com. A mom trying to help a kid get home in the middle of xenophobic riots.
The Future History of Your Body, Davian Aw, Daily Science Fiction. Flash piece about anthropology and deep time.
Simons, Far and Near, Ana Gardner, Cast of Wonders. Young people picked to go ahead of ships evacuating Earth and prepare.
Picking five of these was harder than the novelettes, since these are all already standouts in the short stories-I-would-recommend pool, and then it's like... am I having recency bias? Am I having the opposite bias, for the stuff I read early on that I've now thought about more times/for longer? I might still ditch the Rather and pick up that Gardner story, hmmm.
On the Sunlit Side of Venus, Benjamin Parzybok, Apex. More sole survivors, coincidentally.
The Cheesemaker and the Undying King, Lina Rather, Lightspeed. Where "cheesemaker" is medieval for "microbiologist", more or less. I really liked this one.
The CRISPR Cookbook: A Guide to Biohacking Your Own Abortion in a Post-Roe World, MKRNYILGLD, Lightspeed. Some very angry near-future worldbuilding around some very sharp science talk. Damn. Particularly recommended.
In the Beginning of Me, I Was a Bird, Maria Dong, Lightspeed. Transmigrations. Reminded me of This Is How You Lose the Time War, particularly recommended.
The Goldfish Man, Maureen McHugh, Uncanny. Set in the pandemic. Homelessness, and art, and aliens.
The Transfiguration of the Gardener Irene by the Dead Planet Hipea, Ann LeBlanc, Clarkesworld. The last survivor of a fungal colony organism. I really liked this one.
Company Town, Aimee Ogden, Clarkesworld. Labor relations, and bonus portal fantasy. I really liked this one.
Two Spacesuits, Leonard Richardson, Clarkesworld. Memes and alien possession. I really liked this one.
D.I.Y, John Wiswell, Tor.com. This one absolutely reeks of ballot. A fine little story about not getting into magic school, and monopolies, and collective action. I don't know that I personally am nominating it, but I fully expect to be seeing it.
Clay, Isabel J. Kim, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Golems, mass production, individuality.
The Crow Husband, Sarah McGill, Strange Horizons. Offbeat and lovely, about different kinds of relationships, and wanting them or not. Le Guin-esque.
You, Me, Her, You, Her, I, Isabel J. Kim, Strange Horizons. Art and memory and temping.
Hush, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Tor.com. A mom trying to help a kid get home in the middle of xenophobic riots.
The Future History of Your Body, Davian Aw, Daily Science Fiction. Flash piece about anthropology and deep time.
Simons, Far and Near, Ana Gardner, Cast of Wonders. Young people picked to go ahead of ships evacuating Earth and prepare.
