Tag Archives: Beth Goder

2021 Short Fiction Round Up 5

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Welcome back to the Short Fiction SFF Round Up! I have 5 more stories I enjoyed and want to recommend to you for this, my 5th roundup of the year. I should point out that while not present in every story there is a quite a lot of grief and loss in the stories this week. That said, when those themes and experiences are in the stories I think they are handled well and explored with empathy and in the end these five stories each hit me just right when I read them and made me want to share them.

“History in Pieces” by Beth Goder from Clarkesworld #173

I’m always happy to explore stories with interesting structure and this one provides, as it’s name suggests, something of a puzzle structure. Its pieces of the tale told largely out of order come together to paint a picture of exploration and first contact, the beginnings of connection, and tragic ending for some. By the end, the alien archivist, Tan, who is creating the puzzle record, has become a fascinating character. I very much enjoyed moving back and forth through this story and its structure.

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Weekly Fiction Rec Roundup 12

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I swear I don’t set out to find themes for these roundups. I guess it’s no surprise they happen though.

My process for making these lists is pretty simple: I pick a story and read it, if I like it enough to share it goes on the list. I try and get a story every day, but I’m most often hitting 5 a week.

Reading though, is, of course, a very subjective experience. Stories are not the static things we so often think of them as, but are more like conversations between the author and reader1Or creator and audience if we want to be inclusive of all kinds of stories.. Sure, only one person (the author) gets to do the talking in this conversation, but as readers we bring our own thoughts, feelings, current mood and other baggage to the experience. It’s why one person can love something another hates and why we can have evolving2Or devolving in some cases. relationships with stories we engage with years after our first experience of them: I rewatched the Matrix the other day and was able, for the first time, to see some of what it was saying, what it had always been saying, but I never understood when I watched it3Many, many times. years ago, about the trans experience. I rewatched some Seinfeld episodes today and cringed at the explicit rape culture jokes.

So, yes, it should come as no surprise that in a week that has had me4And, many, many others. wondering about how we live in a society, and indeed world, that seems doomed, possibly within our children’s lifetimes, that I might “click” most often with a certain kind of story. This is…a dark place to find oneself, a dark conversation to be having, but I feel like most of these stories fit in this conversation and while I won’t say they have answers5I’m not sure there are definite answers to the questions these conversations raise, only ideas and choices. I do think they’re good conversational partners for the week6Oh if only it were really just this week though, eh? so many are having. Continue reading →