Sunday Shorts—Cyberfruit Swamp, by Raven Kaldera

The last of the Queers Destroy Science Fiction audiobook stories I'll be chatting about on Sunday Shorts, "Cyberfruit Swamp" was a freaking joyride of queerness on pretty much every level. To break down what I loved: the genderqueerness involved was so deftly penned (I loved the term "Nachtlei Queer") and the culture Kaldera spun in the bar …

Sunday Shorts—The Lamb Chops, by Stephen Cox

I think I've mentioned a few times now as a whole Queers Destroy Science Fiction (the audiobook) was fantastic—but also often a massive downer.  It took me longer than most anthologies to listen to because of that point. It wasn't a quality thing, just that I was listening to it in the middle of winter, …

Sunday Shorts—Increasing Police Visibility, by Bogi Takács

Oh, Queers Destroy Science Fiction. So many of the stories are frustratingly dark or depressing, and while I can't say "Increasing Police Visibility" is uplifting, it was one of the most clever science fiction stories I've ever read, and I mean that as the highest compliment. It uses actual math, explained through a character who …

Sunday Shorts—Letter From An Artist To A Thousand Future Versions Of Her Wife by J.Y. Yang

Oh wow. This was such a lovely, heartfelt story. The conceit behind the narrative is a simple one: a science vessel heading out into to the edges of space includes an artist's wife. She will never return to Earth (at least, not within the artist's lifetime) because of the technology used (the scientist's consciousness was …

Sunday Shorts—Rubbing is Racing, by Charles Payseur

One of the things about listening to the audiobook of Queers Destroy Science Fiction was the overall tone of the collection: quite a few of the stories had a dark cast. This isn't surprising, given the times we're living in, but I have to admit, I stalled out on the collection a few times since …

Sunday Shorts—Madeleine by Amal El-Mohtar

When I originally listened to the Queers Destroy Science Fiction anthology, it was in the midst of winter, and I have to admit the overall tone of the stories as a whole is often only darkly triumphant (if they're triumphant at all). That's not surprising, given the times we live in, but by mid-winter, I …