Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short Fiction Roundup: June 2019

“Unpublished Gay Cancer Survivor Memoir“, by Caspian Gray in Lightspeed
This fantastical tale plays out in the very real world of a cancer survivor, filled with colostomy bags, treatments, and smoking weed. Sydney, the gay cancer survivor of the story’s title, is sharing her apartment with her ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, a young man called Edík Němec (he’s not Russian, he’s Czech… or is he?) who seems to be a nice, ordinary fellow—a terrific cook who also cleans the bathroom and generally makes Sydney’s life better. That is until the ex-girlfriend, Michaela, shows up, demanding that Edík shows Sydney what he can really do. I love this story’s snappy dialogue and its irreverent take on both ordinary life and Edík’s extraordinary abilities. A thought-provoking, and hilarious, read.
“Sturdy Lanterns and Ladders“, by Malka Older in Current Futures
Current Futures is a new sci-fi ocean anthology published online by XPRIZE in celebration of World Oceans Day and featuring contributions from 18 authors and artists. Malka Older’s quietly compelling offering takes us into a maybe-not-so-distant future where Natalia, a freelance marine behavioral researcher, is hired to work on a project with an octopus. Initially, Natalia has some misgivings about what the research will entail, but her connection to the animal she calls Vainilla overrides her worries. The use of advanced virtual reality technology deepens their connection, and shakes Natalia to her core as she realizes that the project has a very particular use for the octopus’s mind… The bond between Natalia and Vainilla, and between the octopus and the ocean it used to inhabit, are beautifully explored. I confess, this one left me sobbing.

“Hunting by the River“, by Daniel Carpenter in Black Static #69
Lee heads home to Manchester to celebrate his sister Kirsty’s 80th birthday, but when he gets there, she’s gone. It’s not the first time she’s disappeared, but this time, she hasn’t come back. Lee goes looking, and we soon understand that this is not a simple missing person case. Something much more sinister is at work, something that may have been put in motion by Kirsty herself. Lee finds clues—a map of the city, rumors of Kirsty’s presence, her voice speaking to him through the mouths of other people—but she always eludes him. Carpenter crafts a profoundly unsettling tale that twines together the ever-changing, decaying vibe of a city with Lee’s growing sense of unease and desperation as he searches fruitlessly. It’s an atmospheric and devastating story, infused with a lingering sense of insidious horror.

“Bootleg Jesus“, by Tonya Liburd in Diabolical Plots
“Out where rock outcroppings yearn to become mountains, there was a town cursed with no magic. In this town, there was a family. In this family, there was a girl.” Liburd’s opening line pulls you into a compelling fantasy tale that is both gritty and tense, set in a world where magic flows just beneath the surface of everyday life. For the children in this world, their hometown is a treacherous place where the adults don’t always understand them, or have their best interests at heart. But the children are not powerless, especially not Mara, a girl who finds a very special bust of Jesus that answers to her and her alone. Liburd expertly brings out the darkness of the story while allowing her young protagonists to shine.

“All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From“, by Izzy Wasserstein in Fireside Fiction
This mind-bending, heart-rending, reality-shattering tale imagines a future in which people can travel between universes by “Snapping” in and out of them, dropping in on different iterations of their own lives. Some of these universes are real, but many are mere simulations, and in some of those, the inhabitants are aware they living in a simulacrum of reality. As you might imagine, this one is a trippy ride from the get-go, delving deep into feelings of loneliness and regret as the protagonist returns again and again to a home that is never quite home, and a family that both is and is not theirs, never quite finding their footing or a place to belong. It’s deeply moving story, lyrical and strange, with a dark sense of humor gleaming in its seams: “So many universes and yet, in almost every one, South Topeka smells like a family of raccoons died inside a middle school locker room.”

“Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan“, by Christopher Caldwell in Uncanny Magazine
Aboard the whaling ship Leslie-Ella, John Wood served as the skilled and confident carpenter, prone to falling into adventures (and misadventures). As the ship heads out to sea, searching for whales to harpoon and butcher, strange things are afoot on board, and John receives a dire warning from a most unexpected source. Caldwell’s prose is rich and lush, bringing a meaty tale to visceral life. The bloody trade of whale-hunting, a queer love-story, and a boy possessed by a power he cannot control: it’s a riveting deep sea read from start to finish.