Short Stories 366:295 — “The Blessing Cookies,” by Laurie Stewart

This creeptastic story from Nothing Without Us was whatever you call a "slow-burn" in creepy horror fiction. It starts out with a woman with chronic pain and a strange, not quite explained job to do working in her kitchen to make "the blessing cookies," and then slowly expands to show you this isn't just a …

Short Stories 366:288 — “Search and Seizure,” by Shannon Barnsley

Despite not always loving horror, I do love a good ghost story, and this one, from Nothing Without Us, puts a medical system spin on the "haunted by someone you failed" trope in a way I really, really enjoyed, as it put me 100% on the side of the ghost. Barnsley gives us Cassie, a …

Short Stories 366:281 — “Names,” by Jennifer Lee Rossman

One of the things about Nothing Without Us that is a real delight is how the tales sharing a constant of disability means the range and breadth of what genre and style of storytelling is left completely wide open. Take, as a great example, the super-freaking-creepy "Names," by Jennifer Lee Rossman, wherein Beck, Rossman's autistic …

Short Stories 366:190 — “Dress Rehearsal,” by Nicole Zelnicker

As I read my way through the stories in Nothing Without Us, I kept coming across a sense of tone, or an angle of perception that left me smiling, even when the topics of a particular tale weren't uplifting, and it took me a while to get why it was happening: they were inhabited by …

Short Stories 366:183 — “Knit One, Purl Two,” by Carolyn Charron

I love tales that juggle tones. Or, I suppose in keeping with the narrative I'm going to discuss, I should say knitting tones. In "Knit One, Purl Two," we meet Maggie, a woman who knits as therapy (arthritis), has a keen wit, is mourning a major loss, and has just realized the fellow she rented …

Short Stories 366:179 — “Bug Hunt,” by Joanna Marsh

Okay, I love me a sci-fi story, and I love me a gritty sci-fi story about the doomed group of comrades who know they're going up against something way, way tougher than them, and when you take all of that and add the Nothing Without Us layer on top? Oh, this was so good. Mech …