I actually read a decent amount this month, mostly because I started getting to take my lunch breaks at work again. Still doing most of my reading on my phone, which means lots of short stories and webcomics.
I’ve also been writing, yay. More about that later.
Short Stories
“I Am Not the One Who Gets Left Behind” by Eric Smith
An unnerving story about a man seizing a chance to evacuate his young son months after surviving the apocalypse. Strongly reminds me of “I can hear you” by Winston Rowntree, whose work reliably makes me cry. In fact, Smith’s story is very like if “I can hear you” had a happy ending. Which is to say that it definitely got a few sniffles out of me.
“Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” by P. A. Cornell
A terrific, star-crossed love story that gives us a hotel out of time. “What if memories stayed alive somewhere, someplace, and we could visit?” is a sentiment that remains lovely even when bittersweet.
“The Jaxicans’ Authentic Reconstruction of Taco Tuesday #37” by Stephen Granade
This story is about memory, nostalgia, and food, which is one of my favorite order combos. It’s exactly what it says on the can: Miguel Warner’s afterlife is resurrection into an alien grant study, where he’s tasked with recreating the Taco Bell knockoff he was working at when he died. The irony of aliens being the ones to finally validate the authenticity of Tex-Mex cuisine is not lost on Mike. You could even say it’s…delicious.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
I first read this one in middle school. A chilling image of mob mentality and senseless tradition.
“The Sound of Reindeer” by Lyndsie Manusos
Continuing the theme of senseless tradition, a woman’s girlfriend introduces her to a family horror.
“Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov
An eclipse story. Having seen an eclipse just days prior, I felt a lot like Theremon, deeply skeptical of the mystic doomsdays warnings issued by experts he was assigned to shadow on the big day. But this is an alien world where six suns mean they’re always bathed in light. Night is unknown, stars are mythical, the mechanics don’t quite work, but of course the doomsday fears bear out, and a total eclipse really does lead to civilization-ending madness.
“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
I like this guy from Dandelion Wine. Here he does a time travel story about safari hunting a T-rex, making full use of the butterfly effect to deliver a forehead-slapping conclusion.
“The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C. Clarke
A retrofuturistic take on the dangers of algorithms. When it comes to the themes, Clarke should envy what Scott Alexander pulled off with Unsong 64 years later.
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin
Another ‘I first read this one in school and revisited it this month’ story. “Joyous! How is one to tell about joy? How describe the citizens of Omelas?” Well—
“Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole?” by Isabel J. Kim
I found this one difficult to read because of the unusual narrative style and the lack of assigned names for the various actors. (Which, honestly? Goals. I hate coming up with names.) It’s worth it for the themes, though: Once you decide the benefits of torturing a kid outweigh the downsides, how far can that scale tip before you rethink? This is effectively another story about mob mentality and, let’s say, the momentum of tradition. And also how suffering sucks, nobody would choose to sit with it after their stamina goes out, and it’s a privilege to have the choice to walk away, turn a blind eye, or indulge in justifications. Too bad for the kid in the Omelas hole.
“Judge Dee and the Executioner of Epinal” by Lavie Tidhar
I think I’ve read all the Judge Dee stories. This one didn’t quite land for me. Judge Dee is an immortal vampire who keeps other vampires in line. The POV is his servant, Jonathon, an unimpressive Englishman who finds most of his joy in food. They travel Europe solving Vampire Crimes.
In this short story, Jonathan gets a love interest, and the twist is that the eponymous Executioner is barely around, and Judge Dee is mistaken about his business with him. This installment gives us a very different understanding of Dee as a character. Dee had thus far been a frosty intellectual type whose restraint and moral code set him apart from other vampires. But it turns out that, a thousand years ago, he was bamboozled in a love affair, and never moved on. This story sees him chagrined. I think I liked it better when he was unimpeachable.
“Blackjack” by Veronica Schanoes
On a trip to Vegas, Josephine encounters the ghost of her good-for-nothing ex-husband, who left her and their daughter more than thirty years ago. He needs her to save his soul. Then she has to decide what to do with it. At three weeks into the month, this is my favorite read. It’s a literary dark fantasy grounded strongly in place and time.
“The Plasticity of Being” by Renan Bernardo
My other favorite story at three weeks into the month. Renan is an incredibly prolific author and boy does he ever know what he’s doing. This story is about a Brazilian journalist, formerly a corporate PR shill, revisiting some subjects after her former company dissolved. Subjects of human experimentation, I mean. Renan executes a dystopic near-future vision that’s uniquely creative, utterly believable, and makes me want to check under my bed for lurking techbros. Stories like this are what made me love science fiction.
“We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick
Douglas Quail craves Mars but can’t afford to see it, so he goes to Rekal, Inc. to have false memories implanted. A layer cake of memory alteration oopsies ending in a comedic splat.
A midcentury story featuring overpopulation anxiety. Basically, what if we talked about crabs boiling in a pot of water through the lens of real estate? Though this story’s pretty dated now; we pulled off megacities without turning them into total hellholes. Here, Ballard delivers a dystopia through a narrative style that’s way more detail-centric than my preference, but works better than I would’ve thought.
“A Well-Fed Companion” by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu, translated by Kiera Johnson
Still trying to catch up on Reactor. This story is about a future where human brain impulses—souls—are externalized as biological, 3D printed companions. Dogs, mostly. So of course the POV character instead has a cat. This piece is contemplative and exploratory. I don’t think I connected with the emotions here at all, but I enjoyed Hairuo’s perspective well enough.
“Also, the Cat” by Rachel Swirsky
A novelette about three miserable sisters who die in the same house, which doesn’t free them from each other’s company, unfortunately. Pretty literary. The style reminds me of stories I read as a child. At any rate, there are plenty of rich descriptors and fun turns of phrase in the prose– And thank goodness for that, because this is nearly 14,000 words about unpleasant ladies having a boring time as ghosts.
After a terrible car accident leaves her stranded on the highway, Carla finds herself ignored by all passersby and unable to reach anyone for help on the phone. Simultaneously, people start reaching her— But they think they’re calling 911. Another more contemplative short story. Lots of viscerality.
“The Magic Thread” – author anonymous
Another reread. This story has to be one that was assigned to me in school, because it was apparently printed in an anthology I know I never saw a copy of. It stuck with me, because I remembered it nearly 30 years later. A boy is given a magic ball of thread that lets him skip the unpleasant parts of his life.
The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
More Sherlock Holmes. I didn’t realize how short these novels were. I’m going to lump it with the short stories; I read it serialized anyway.
“Jeeves in the Springtime”, “Aunt Agatha Makes a Bloomer”, and “Scoring Off Jeeves” by P.G. Wodehouse
Because I have a huge soft spot for hapless characters who get up to shenanigans.
“Gentleman and Players”, “Le Premier Pas”, “Willful Murder”, “Nine Points of the Law”, “The Return Match”, and “The Gift of the Emperor” by E. W. Hornung
Raffles and Bunny continue living up to their reputation as the criminal version of Holmes and Watson’s duo.
Books
Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin
I talked about this one here.
Comics
A complete story about a young girl tangled up in a conspiracy surrounding the release of a dangerous new AI. Another one of those vertical scrolling Webtoons best read on your phone. I liked it because it placed unextraordinary, very human characters at the center of a world-changing conflict. However, the pacing is slow, and Webtoons limits readers to one “episode” per day.
Sunset Phoenix by Chelsea Goerzen
An urban fantasy about warring gangs centered around a murder mystery. Often Webtoon comics have meh summaries, but this one’s good, so I’ll let it speak for itself:
“An immortal criminal kingpin is dead, and you’re holding the murder weapon. Things can’t look much worse for Emilia, a spy in the wrong place, wrong time. Framed for the murder, she and her reckless immortal boss Valentine must find the real culprit before the city succumbs to war between the criminal factions… and Emilia loses her own head.”
Valentine and Emilia are both fabulous characters. I think the story might be setting them up for a relationship; their chemistry is great. The magic system is well-thought out and the rules limiting what’s possible inform the murder investigation, which is a trope I really like to see done well. Plus, so far, the pacing’s been effective. I would recommend this comic to anyone who’s interested. As of April 2024, the first “season” is finished, which means the story might be at the halfway point.