Short Stories 366:89 — “There Will Be One Vacant Chair,” by Sarah Pinsker

I waffled a bit over this story, and I'm still not 100% sure this story and I will see eye-to-eye, but it was incredibly well written, and once again, the setting is nearly a character in and of itself. This particular story in Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History takes place in …

Short Stories 366:87 — “Survivor’s Guilt,” by Greg Herren

If you've heard me say it once, you've likely heard me say it a few dozen times, but in the hands of Greg Herren, New Orleans is often in and of itself a character, rather than a setting. I once heard him say that so much of what he writes could only happen in New …

Short Stories 366:86 — “Perfidity at the Felidae Isles,” by A.J. Fitzwater

Ever since I first bumped into the character of Cinrak the Dapper (which was in Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space)), I needed more of the capybara pirate joy energy in my life. Luckily, A.J. Fitzwater is there for me, and can be there for you, too. The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper …

Short Stories 366:83 — “Disconnect,” by Fran Wilde

Oh wow, this story. First, I need to mention that I had multiple visceral reactions to this story, which involves a woman with a disability that involves her bones randomly teleporting out of her body and existing elsewhere (like, in orbit of Mars elsewhere), who uses a particularly modified Faraday cage and a process she …

Short Stories 366:82 — “Knotting Grass, Holding Ring,” by Ken Liu

If there's one recurring facet in Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History that I struggled with as a reader, it was how often the stories are set during (the seemingly endless) slaughter of one people by another. This time, we're in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, in 1645, and the Manchus are about …

Short Stories 366:81 — “Cloud Dragon Skies,” by N.K. Jemisin

Walking the line between science fiction and something near-mystical, this latest story from How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is a beautiful example of world-building (and, I guess, off-world-building, too). It's set after a mass exodus. Humanity has mostly left Earth (after basically ruining the place) and moved to the asteroid belt to a ring …