2024 online short SFF

[psocoptera]

I keep thinking I should read some online short SFF and then reading more of the news, despite being sure I'd be much happier reading SFF. Well, sometimes it is like that. Anyways, here's an initial post. As of right now I have six stories on my list; these are things I read at some point during the year and added to my recs file:

Median, Kelly Robson, Reactor. Car trouble and caregiving.

A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places, Marissa Lingen, BCS. A disabled archivist whose mother hopes for a cure.

The Spindle of Necessity, B. Pladek, Strange Horizons. Very meta story about stories and identity and authenticity.

Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being, A.W. Prihandita, Clarkesworld. Medicine and licensing and helping and listening. Novelette.

Exit Interview, K.W. Onley, Strange Horizons. Portals, but only for Black women. Novelette.

By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars, Premee Mohamed, Strange Horizons. An aging wizard, an apprentice, and a problem. Novelette.

Of these stories, the Lingen, Prihandita, and Onley stories are not on the Locus list, the Robson, Pladek, and Mohamed are. (Relevant to their odds of showing up as awards nominees.)

Many of my favorite authors or authors I follow with interest don't have anything I'm reccing this year: Naomi Kritzer has something in Asimov's, but nothing online. Rebecca Campbell doesn't have any 2024 work. Adam R Shannon doesn't have any 2024 work. Isabel J Kim has one story in Clarkesworld, "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole", which, like, fine, as engagement with Omelas goes that is one, but I don't want to rec it at this time. If it makes a ballot I'm voting on I'll decide what to do about it then. Peter Watts doesn't have any 2024 stuff. Ray Nayler had something in Asimov's. Nghi Vo had one story in Uncanny, "Stitched to Skin like Family Is", which was fine but I didn't quite like enough to rec. Lina Rather doesn't have any 2024 stuff. Mary Anne Mohanraj doesn't have any 2024 stuff. Iona Datt Sharma doesn't have any 2024 stuff. Greg Egan had stories in Asimov's and Analog. Suzanne Palmer doesn't have any 2024 short stuff. (I guess there's another novel out in the Finder series, which I am already like three books behind on, oops.)

I do now have tabs open to read works by Sarah Pinsker, Ann LeBlanc, Aimee Ogden, Carrie Vaughn, and Rich Larson. And I'm sure there are other people who I'll come across and realize I would of course have looked them up by name if I had thought of them. My plan is to read through these open tabs, then work through the Locus List, then go through the rest of Strange Horizons and khōréō if I have time, or maybe see what's on the recs spreadsheet. I would also be delighted to take recommendations! (Looking specifically for online short stuff at this time; I don't think I have time to add any more novels or novellas to what I'm already trying to read before deadlines, which is, uh, several.)

Comments

[ursula]

I really loved The Enceladus South Pole Base Named After V.I. Lenin:

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/jacobs_02_24/

[psocoptera]

Wow, thank you for the rec, that was so good!

[elysdir]

Thanks for the recs! I hadn’t heard of most of these—have now added them to my to-read-before-noms-close list.

A few possible recs from me:

“Agni,” by Nibedita Sen: https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/agni (one of SMT’s free stories)

“A Brief Oral History of the El Zopilote Dock.” by Alaya Dawn Johnson: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johnson_03_24/

“Himalia,” by Carrie Vaughn: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/vaughn_06_24/ (I’m guessing that’s the one you have open already)

[psocoptera]

Yep, Himalia was one of those tabs and I loved it and it's going in the next batch of recs. Thank you for the other links, I'm especially excited to read a new Alaya Dawn Johnson story!

[elysdir]

Some others that I haven’t read yet but that might be on your authors-you-want-to-see list:

* “Lake of Souls,” by Ann Leckie (not online, but in the collection _Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction of Ann Leckie_, which I figured you might either already have or be intending to get)

* You mentioned having an Aimee Ogden story open, but in case you don’t know this, there are at least two eligible Ogden stories: “What Any Dead Thing Wants” (just under novella length) (https://psychopomp.com/what-any-dead-thing-wants/) and “Nothing of Value“ (https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ogden_01_24/)

* “Travelers’ Tales from the Ends of the World,” by Vandana Singh (https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/travelers-tales-from-the-ends-of-the-world/)

* “Flannelfeet,” by Ursula Whitcher (https://www.frivolouscomma.com/flannelfeet/)

* “Father Ash,” by Rachel Hartman (https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/father-ash)