Welcome to the first Round Up of short fiction recommendations for 2021. And it’s happening in the first week of 2021 even! Happy New Year. Welcome. I hope it’s a great year for everyone.
Now, a bit of a strange thing happened when I put this round up together. In attempt to be proactive and organized I started diving into some of the magazines I subscribe to that had new issues available for stories to read this week. Start the new year off ahead of the game for once, right? Well I ended up very ahead of the game as none of the stories I read and recommend below are currently available for free. Most magazines release their full issue to subscribers first and then release the content online slowly over the course of the month. That is one of the perks of subscribing. So, four of these five stories will be available for free eventually. But if you want to read them right now you’ll have to buy the relevant issue or subscribe (assuming you don’t already).
I felt a little worried about that when I realized what I’d done, but, on the other hand magazines need support to survive and I don’t feel it’s wrong to point that out sometimes. So, for now each link takes you to the website for each magazine where you can purchase a copy of the issue. As the stories are released online I will update my links to take readers directly to each story.
“Delete Your First Memory For Free” by Kel Coleman from FIYAH Magazine #17
There many different ways a story can surprise you. Some are great, like cleverly subverting and playing with tropes. Some are not great at all, like the “shocking twist” ending that is only a surprise because it was completely unearned.1These can work, especially in flash fiction, but often just feel lazy at best. This story surprised me by simply not going where I thought it would. In a story about a character dealing with anxiety and the technology for deleting memories (such as an embarrassingly bad joke told the first time you met your crush) I expected something in the sci-fi horror realm to develop. In some, perhaps many, writers’ hands I think it would have. Instead we get something sweeter. Something kinder. With more understanding of just how awful and very real it can be to kick yourself months or even years later for that awkward thing you said when you were trying to be anything but. It is also a wonderfully real take on just how things probably would play out if a nascent memory deletion technology were to become available.
“Distribution” by Paul Cornell from Uncanny Magazine #38
“Distribution”2I admit, it was a bit of a fannish moment that made me say “oooh I want to read that first!” when I saw Paul Cornell’s name in the TOC for the newest issue of Uncanny Magazine. Cornell has written many things across many mediums but for me personally he is the writer of two of my favorite Doctor Who episodes: the two-parter Human Nature & Family of Blood. Of course, these posts are for stories I liked and want to recommend to others. Sometimes I read a story from an author I’m excited about but the story doesn’t work for me and those don’t end up part of these posts. Luckily that wasn’t the case here. is, above all, interesting and thought provoking. How far in the future it takes place I can’t tell you, but it is far enough that what it means to be human, to be a conscious mind, has evolved far beyond us. It is also a world where how we engage with each other and function as a society (or not) seems to be an evolving question. In this world we get to meet Shan Tiree an investigator sent from the local collective to discover if Dr. Kay, an individual living locally but separately, is in need of assistance or perhaps being preemptively placed under the control of the collective if he is a danger to himself or others. I found what plays out both dazzling for it’s glimpse of a fascinating future and unsettling for how I found myself both attracted to and disturbed by Shan’s society and Dr. Kay’s new kind of individualism that is also anything but. Which, honestly feels about right. Right now we are still grappling with issues of consent, freedom and how to face the future as a collective society and it’s certainly not something that always feels easy. We should find the future uncomfortable and unsure at times because it should progress beyond us.
“10 Steps to a Whole New You” by Tonya Liburd from Fantasy Magazine #63
I am an absolute sucker for titles like this and short stories that use a list-style format. I have an appreciation for all stories that are told in a way that embrace the unique qualities and potential of the format they are told in. This story feels like a half-way point between a traditional short story and the modern list-style story and that in itself feels different and I quite enjoyed the format. Even more important I really enjoyed the story that brings us a tale of Soucouyants – Caribbean shapeshifters and bloodsuckers. The story itself is straightforward enough (a woman is lured in by her Soucouyant neighbour and is turned into one herself) but it will still send your head spinning with thoughts of consent and the fact that what should be a horror feels like something glorious in the end. Note: Though I like and recommend the story I will add a content warning: one scene absolutely reads and feels like a sexual assault.
“Love, That Hungry Thing” by Cassandra Khaw from Apex Magazine #121
Apex magazine returns! After a year and a half long hiatus the great Apex Magazine is back and I couldn’t be happier. For it’s return three of it’s frequent and most popular contributors (Alix E. Harrow, Cassandra Khaw, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor) have all contributed stories. I’ve recommended stories from all three authors before and was so excited for them to be part of this issue as I have to agree they perfectly capture the Apex Magazine story aesthetic. The first story I read was this one and I knew I had to include it in the roundup. A far future setting where the apocalypse included an exodus from earth and a return of gods of each and every kind imaginable and now a military unit has returned to earth on a mission that isn’t in and of itself particularly important to this story. What is important is Ama’s personal mission to bargain with her chosen god for the benefit of a man she acknowledges will never even appreciate or understand her sacrifices. The story is full of lush, gorgeous prose. I wouldn’t call it purple prose, though I actually appreciate that sometimes, but sentences and dialog that are knife sharp and evocative and, frankly, a joy to lose oneself in reading. Especially when they touch upon Ama’s obsession and drive to self sacrifice. Highly recommended and I can’t wait to read the rest of Apex’s return issue.
“Mouth & Marsh, Silver & Song by Sloane Leong from Fireside Magazine #87”
The longest story of this week’s roundup is a great fantasy tale also full of wonderful prose. It is a fantasy with evocative imagery and if I tell you you’ll come to sympathize with and cheer for a leech-creature full of mouths and teeth you probably won’t believe me but I’ll bet on it anyway. Here our protagonist is, in fact, a leech-queen creature whose songs of prophecy effectively act as coronation for kings. Unfortunately these songs can only be stolen from her by cutting her body to create a new mouth to sing them from. An unpleasant existence to be sure but one that, like many terrible systems, may not be quite as unchangeable and necessary as those who benefit from it think. Throw in some revenge and battles with knights in armor and you have all the ingredients for a fun and unique fantasy tale.
That’s it for this week and as always If you’d like to see the full list of previous Roundups and the authors included in each you can find that here. I hope to be back in a week with another roundup. If you find something you enjoy reading in my recommendations I hope you’ll shout that story out to people you know. Short fiction authors and markets need our love and support and word of mouth is a great way to do that.