To Us May Grace Be Given, by L.S. Johnson

[GigaNotoSaurus]

★★★★★ Intense and Powerfully Moving

(Western Fantasy) Addy and her mom barely scratch out a living on their homestead. Bill Boyland is going to take their land away, but Addy’s mom is ready to do a deal with the devil to stop him. (15,368 words; Time: 51m)

The Greatest One-Star Restaurant in the Whole Quadrant, by Rachael K. Jones

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(SF Horror) A group of runaway cyborgs has to prepare meals for unknowing human ships or else blow their cover. But they’re short on one critical ingredient. (4,287 words; Time: 14m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Both Rare and Well-Done

Three May Keep a Secret, by Carlie St. George

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(Horror) At a drunken party, Scarlett tells the new boy a ghost story she’d promised her now-dead best friend she’d never repeat. (7,682 words; Time: 25m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Tense yet Endearing

In Calabria, by Peter S. Beagle

[Single]

★★★★★ Beautiful, Charming, and Uplifting

(Modern Fantasy) Claudio tends his farm alone down at the tip of the Italian peninsula until a young woman and a pregnant unicorn disturb his tranquility. (31,954 words; Time: 1h:46m)

Recommended By: 🏆Locus+2 🏆WFantasy+1 👍RHorton.r+1 👍RSR+2 (Q&A)

There is no connection with the Last Unicorn stories.

The Garden of Eating, by R. Boyczuk

[Interzone]

★★★★★ Amusing, Chilling, and Mysterious

(Post-Apocalypse) Alone in the ruins, Boy finds an “Amerigun,” and he’s sure she’s up to no good. His failing robot tutor gives him strange instructions, and for the first time, he’s not sure what to believe. (5,192 words; Time: 17m)

Twenty Excellent Reasons, by Bennett R. Coles

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(Military SF) The rebellion on Thor is getting worse, and Jack has to lead a mission from orbit to rescue some hostages. His craft isn’t designed for this, there’s no ground support at all, and he’s got a newbie to nursemaid. (5,976 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Tense, exciting, and stirring.

The Wages of Honor, by Catherine Asaro

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(SF Adventure) Eldrin and Althor have grown up in the low-tech, honor-based culture of their father’s world, but they are heirs to their mother’s high-tech, off-world culture. At age 16, each will have to choose between honor and necessity, with results that will change them and even their world. (12,098 words; Time: 40m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Great Characters in a Great Setting

The Prisoner of Limnos, by Lois McMaster Bujold

[Single]

★★★★★ Lively, Imaginative, and Touching

(Fantasy Adventure; Five Gods) When Nikys asks for Penric’s help rescuing her mother from an imperial prison, he jumps at the chance to win her affections back. It’s obviously a trap, and he doesn’t know anything about the place, but he does have a demon to help him. (44,652 words; Time: 2h:28m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 👍RSR+2 (Q&A)

There isn’t enough backstory here to make it possible to begin the series with this novella. New readers could start with “Penric’s Mission,” although the most fun would be to start from the very beginning with “Penric’s Demon.”

The Smoke of Gold is Glory, by Scott Lynch

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(Fantasy Adventure) Tarkaster Crale, a young thief down on his luck, meets up with friends who want to assault the Anvil, the mountain where the last dragon hid its hoard—and from which it dares people to try to take it. (16,850 words; Time: 56m)

Rating: ★★★★★ A Great Tale, Well-Told

The Dragon of Dread Peak, by Jeremiah Tolbert

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(YA Portal Fantasy; Dungeonspace) Flip and his teenage friends accept a dangerous mission to steal from a dragon. They’re really too green to attempt this, the dragon is very old and powerful, and they’re falling behind on their trigonometry homework. (23,963 words; Time: 1h:19m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Fun, Exciting, and Touching

Although this can stand by itself, start with Cavern of the Screaming Eye.

Weather Girl, by E.J. Swift

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(Military SF) Lia’s top-secret work uses hurricanes against America’s enemies by falsifying the weather and satellite records to fool enemies into thinking no storm is coming. (7,928 words; Time: 26m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Sophisticated and Heart-Wrenching

Dear Sarah, by Nancy Kress

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(Military SF) The new tech the aliens gave us created a golden age for some and abject poverty for others. MaryJo joins the army to get out, knowing she may end up fighting rebels who are friends or relatives. (4,443 words; Time: 14m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Powerful Coming-of-Age Story

The Secret Life of Bots, by Suzanne Palmer

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(SF Adventure) The ship hadn’t activated Bot 9 in a long time—it’s an unstable model—but in a desperate situation it needs all its resources. And how much trouble can it get into hunting down a rat? (8,975 words; Time: 29m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Fascinating, Gripping, and Fun

i know my own & my own know me, by Tracy Canfield

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(SF Adventure) A team trying to understand what happened to a human colony whose members have all regressed to animal intelligence is distracted when someone uplifts their cat to human intelligence. (8,432 words; Time: 28m)

Rating: ★★★★★ A Great Read

Children of Thorns, Children of Water, by Aliette de Bodard

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(Alternate History Fantasy; Dominion of the Fallen) Two people from a secret, underwater House try to infiltrate a troublesome surface House that rules much of a Paris still recovering from long-ago magical wars. (11,966 words; Time: 39m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Great Characters, World, and Plot

Although this story is set in the world of the author's Dominion of the Fallen stories, it is an excellent standalone read.

There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House, by David Erik Nelson

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(Horror) Glenn’s boss sends him to check out a new house he plans to flip, but just getting inside turns out to be harder than anyone could imagine—never mind getting back out. (23,491 words; Time: 1h:18m)

Rating: ★★★★★ A Real Page Turner

Recommended By: SFRevu:4 GDozois:4 RHorton:5

An Evening with Severyn Grimes, by Rich Larson

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(SF Thriller) After terrorists spring her from cryo-prison, talented hacker Girasol goes into cyberspace to help them target the rich businessman who put her in prison in the first place. (7,216 words; Time: 24m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Exciting, Gripping, Touching

Recommended By: GDozois:5 RHorton:5 JStrahan

How Sere Picked Up Her Laundry, by Alexander Jablokov

[Asimov's]

★★★★★ Colorful, Exciting, and Fun

(SF Mystery; Sere) A struggling private investigator in a city full of alien refugees, Sere risks her life seeking connections between some mysterious aliens and an exterminator who blew himself up. (19,217 words; Time: 1h:04m)

Recommended By: 🏆Readers+0 👍GDozois.r+1 👍RHorton.r+1 👍RSR+2 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Destroy the City with Me Tonight, by Kate Marshall

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(Superhero) The disease that turns Cass into a superhero makes her almost invisible to ordinary people without her costume. (3,313 words; Time: 11m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Powerful, Sad, and Moving

Utopia, LOL?, by Jamie Wahls

[Strange Horizons]

★★★★★ Hysterical and yet Touching

(SF Humor) After Charlie is unfrozen, Kit guides him around the future. It’s, like, TOTALLY not what he expected, and yet, like, kinda familiar, LOL. (5,025 words; Time: 16m)

Recommended By: RHorton+2 JMcGregor+1 CPayseur+2