2024 online short SFF part 3

[psocoptera]

The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video, Thomas Ha, Clarkesworld. This is very reference-rich and I'm probably only catching part of that (I haven't even read Tlon, Uqbar, and I barely remember Fahrenheit 451 and had to read a summary) but I think it's also a strong story entirely on its own without all that? Memory and filters and the work of wrapping up the loose ends of a parent's life. Novelette.

A Brief Oral History of the El Zopilote Dock, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Clarkesworld. Thoughts on what the next Underground Railroad might look like. Novelette. Thanks to elysdir for the rec!

Rail Meat, Marie Vibbert, Clarkesworld. Pickpockets and yacht racing, sf style.

Inside the House of Wisdom, Tamara Masri, Lightspeed. A scene from a future memorial in Palestine.

Father Ash, Rachel Hartman, Sunday Morning Transport. A Goreddi folktale; a dad-with-dementia story with a twist. Thanks to elysdir for the tip that this was out there!

An Intergalactic Smuggler's Guide to Homecoming, Tia Tashiro, Clarkesworld. A smuggler finds herself helping alien refugees.

What Any Dead Thing Wants, Aimee Ogden, Psychopomp. Magical terraforming. Novelette. This story is mysteriously not listed on ISFDB; I don't know if that means something or just means that whoever submits Psychopomp info to ISFDB is behind on doing that.

The Heist for the Soul of Humanity, Filip Hadjar Drnovšek Zorko, Lightspeed. Yet another heist story, this is apparently what I'm in the mood for at this time? Novelette.

Comments

[glynhogen]

I am even farther behind than normal on reading short fiction, and I've read like zero novelettes.

In my limited experience, ISFDB approvals are generally quick, but entries are haphazard. (I know some magazines and authors are sticklers for submitting everything, and then there's whatever wiki completists do, but I generally assume it's accurate but incomplete. Aside from the occasional transphobic bits.)

[psocoptera]

It's a weird year in - I was going to say "so many ways", but I think it's mostly just the one big one... :(

[elysdir]

Thanks for the ongoing recs!

I have another one for you: “Another Old Country,” by Nadia Radovich (https://apparitionlit.com/another-old-country/). I have no idea where I saw this linked; possibly I got it from you, in which case never mind.

[psocoptera]

Ooh, thanks for this, I liked that a lot.

[psocoptera]

Also no worries about ever reccing something to me that I recced to you (you didn't in this case, but in general), presumably I can then rec it back to you and if we bounce it back and forth enough times we can make a laser, that's how that works, right? ...literature... amplification... by simultaneous enthusiastic recommendation? :)

[elysdir]

Oh, and re ISFDB: I agree that sometimes approvals are quick, but sometimes they’re very slow—I’ve seen times when they’re backlogged and they take a couple of months to get through stuff. I considered trying to become an approver at one point, but the details of exactly how their rules work are too complicated for me.

…Wow, ISFDB says Ogden had *seven* stories in 2024. That’s a lot. Off to add them to my to-read list.

[elysdir]

Oh, huh, Psychopomp is confusing.

Apparently they’re a publisher that publishes two magazines (Deadlands and Fantasy) but also publishes books, and occasionally publishes a few stories that aren’t part of the magazines.

ISFDB lists issues of Deadlands, but appears to list only one non-magazine work from Psychopomp: one of their books.

I was going to submit the Ogden story to ISFDB, but in my experience, this is the kind of thing that takes them ages to review, and then they send me messages on my user page and by that time I’ve lost all context and I never get around to resolving things. So I think this time I’m gonna stay out of it.

But maybe I’ll drop a note to the Psychopomp people and suggest that they submit their stuff in case nobody else is doing it.

…While I’m here, I may as well mention one other possible rec, from Deadlands: “Rachel Is at a Protest,” by Esther Alter (https://psychopomp.com/deadlands/issue-35/rachel-is-at-a-protest/). It’s very dark and full of atrocities and Nazis and is focused on Israel and Gaza, and so I can’t exactly *recommend* it (certainly if that doesn’t sound like something you want to read, you should skip it); but I did find it powerful. (This is another one where I don’t remember where I got the rec, so if it was from you, then never mind.)

[psocoptera]

I did read that story but I didn't quite feel like I "got it" in the sense of understanding what Alter was trying to say or do with it, alas. (Not a request for you to put your time into an explanation! although if you know of someone who's reviewing short fiction who wrote about it I would follow that link)