Short Stories 366:265 — “Vadija,” by Catherine Lundoff

It's sad to be at the end of Out of this World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories, because it's been such a wonderful companion and a highlight of my reading this year. But, as they say, "all good things..." And the collection ends with such a unique story, and with such a brilliant emotional tone for …

Short Stories 366:258 — “A Day at the Inn, a Night at the Palace,” by Catherine Lundoff

This is yet another case of Lundoff's writing where I would cheerfully read the novel series spun out from the characters, world-building, and events in the story. "A Day at the Inn, a Night at the Palace" is a sword-and-sorcery fantasy setting, with a man and woman, cousins, who are blades-for-hire. She has a reputation …

Short Stories 366:251 — “Red Scare,” by Catherine Lundoff

There's this thing that sometimes happens when you're reading a collection of short fiction where you realize you've been cresting for multiple stories in a row. Sort of like the moment you're on a roller coaster, and you're doing that clack-clack-clack thing up to the top of a big drop and you know the drop …

Short Stories 366:244 — “Beauty,” by Catherine Lundoff

Okay, if there's any single thing I can say about Catherine Lundoff's collection Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories, it's this: the stories go in so many different directions, both narratively and within the larger descriptor of 'speculative fiction,' but they always do it in a very queer way and a very clever …

Short Stories 366:237 — “Spell, Book and Candle,” by Catherine Lundoff

Out of this World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories continues to deliver a wonderful range of stories with "Spell, Book and Candle." It's another example of Lundoff's "just enough, and just when you need it" worldbuilding skills, in that we meet a woman running a (somewhat run-down and inherited) magic shop, learn we mean magic-magic, and …

Short Stories 366:230 — “At Mother Laurie’s House of Bliss,” by Catherine Lundoff

Today's entry in my journey through Catherine Lundoff's Out of this World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories is one of my favourite of the collection. We follow a young sex-worker in a "House of Bliss" who is with an influential client (not that he's supposed to know that). The man he's with is very close to …