My short fiction spotlight for August is no themes, just vibes. These ten science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories are funny, sad, charming, mournful, vicious, stoic, thoughtful, and distressing. We’ve got a little bit of everything, from cats in space to immigrant dryads. If anything, this spotlight is as all over the place as I feel in that strange period where summer draws to a close and a new school year begins.
“12 Foolproof Ways to Solve the Grandfather Paradox” by Kurt Pankau
A demi-god becomes a “Timeline Curator” now that Cronus has made time travel possible in all universes. This demi-god is then given a list of 12 ways to prevent the grandfather paradox from destroying their universe. If you don’t know what the grandfather paradox is, basically it’s the great time travel conundrum of what happens if you go back in time and kill your own grandfather. (If you really want to get into it, check out the hilarious Futurama episode.) What better way to kick off this new spotlight than with a funny, engaging little treat. (Small Wonders—August 2024; issue 14)
“Baobab Lover” by Kwame Sound Daniels
Truthfully, I read this story last year. However, the second issue of Tales & Feathers dropped last month and it collects all their short fiction from last year, so I read it again and now I’m counting it. It’s my list, I’ll do what I want. Besides, this story is too good not to include over some silly little technicality like “time.” A dryad leaves their baobab tree, not by choice, and immigrates to the US. Here, they meet other displaced supernatural creatures and eventually meet a woman worth building a life with. A lovely meditation on diaspora and immigration. (Tales & Feathers—August 2024; issue 2)
“Endymion” by Sylvie Althoff
Mac and Selene are alone together in a forest. Or are they? I won’t give away the twist of this brilliant, visceral story, but it’s the kind that twists and twists and twists again. Sylvie Althoff doesn’t go the expected route with Mac. This isn’t about what we deserve or what’s right, yet neither is it cruel or callous. Reality is what we make of it, even if it’s fake. The more I sit with this story, the more it compels me. (Escape Pod—August 22, 2024; #955)
“Happiness Is_____________” by Rodrigo Culagovski
Sometimes you just want a little story that is the literary equivalent of a hug. Aliens offer Earthlings the opportunity of a lifetime, and Gertru takes a chance and applies for it. She longs to see the universe…as long as she can do it with her cat JamJam. This short story will leave you smiling. (Worlds of Possibility—August 2024)
“Harvest House” by Sara Omer
I adored this story! It’s like a fairy tale but from the perspective of the fairies. A family of wee folk set up home in a plant as “orange as egg yolks with warty skin, swelling to fullness under ruffled leaves,” and go about their tiny lives. They’re beset by crows and foxes, but keep on keeping on until their home eventually rots and the winter comes. If you like cozy fantasy, drop everything and read this. (PodCastle—August 27, 2024; #854)
“I Met My Wife in the Woods” by Ash Vale
“I met my wife in the woods. No, that’s not right, I don’t—I don’t know why I said that.” Our narrator describes how they met their wife, but it’s full of contrasts and contradictions. What they remember changes, but what they feel for her does not. This was short but so beautiful. I didn’t know this when I first read this story, but this is Ash Vale’s first published piece. An impressive debut! (Heartlines Spec—Summer 2024; issue 5)
“Joanie from Rupture to Rapture (Once Again Under the Spotlight)” by Carlos Norcia
I had no idea what to expect from this story, but it kept me on my toes the whole way through. A couple hundred years in the future, a music journalist interviews a once-famous singer. Joanie talks about her life and relationships before the great Exodus when people got on spaceships to flee a dying Earth. If you want to get jargon-y, this is a bit climate fiction and a bit hopepunk, but it’s also grounded with a streak of bittersweet nostalgia and the stress of paths not taken. (Interzone—August 2024; issue 300)
“Kill Switch” by A.D. Sui
In the near-future, the “deviants”—mostly women, but sometimes queer men—are controlled with a kill switch implant. This device triggers automatically anytime an infraction is detected. Of course, while the victim is incapacitated, the technicians supposed to take care of them instead take advantage. A.D. Sui delves into a version of the patriarchy that doesn’t seem that far off, given the tenor of the current election cycle. Resistance can be something as small as reclaiming your name and rejecting the box society wants to put you in. Eventually, “Mad-girl” refuses to accept she’s mad and instead gets mad. (Fusion Fragment—August 2024; issue 22)
“Mnemonic” by Lyndsie Manusos
Ellie, a high school student, gets caught up in the fraught relationship between twins June and Derek. When the three of them sneak into a movie theater to watch a forbidden film, things get weird. I don’t know what Lyndie Manusos’ target audience was, but “Mnemonic” felt like a dynamite young adult short story. The writing style, the plot, the way the characters interact with each other, it all felt like an honest and harsh look at being a teenager. Given how much YA I read, that’s high praise indeed. (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet—issue 48)
“Way Up in de Middle of de Air” by Jamie Roballo
“I musta been thirteen, the night the stars fell.” Papa Ezekiel, an elderly man who grew up enslaved, tells his granddaughter the story of the night the stars fell. In 1833, there was a massive meteor shower – this is true, not just part of the story. Across the South, thousands thought the end of the world was nigh and many slaveholders vowed to free their slaves. Of course, when Jesus didn’t make his triumphant second coming, all those promises were revoked. Ezekiel was out stealing apples that fateful night and what he saw in the stars forever altered his perception of the world. (FIYAH Literary Magazine—Summer 2024; issue 31)
