The Shape of Gifts, by Natalia Theodoridou

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Modern Fantasy) An ancient oracle living in our world struggles with the compulsion to deliver prophecies that no one will listen to—especially prophecies of the end of the world. (6,938 words; Time: 23m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Another F*cken Fairy Tale, by M. Rickert

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Fairy Tale) At 98, Lucy is a bit forgetful, but she’s quite sure it’s a real fairy she found on the beach outside her cottage, even if it does have a rather foul mouth. (3,527 words; Time: 11m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

In the Eyes of Jack Saul, by Richard Bowes

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Dorian Gray Pastiche) In the world of Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a young male prostitute makes his own plans to take Dorian down. (3,609 words; Time: 12m)

An Indian Love Call, by Joseph Bruchac

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Modern Fantasy Adventure; Billy and Arlin) Long-suffering Billy finds that his talented but impractical friend Arlin has managed to mix pheromones to attract something like a sasquatch to the reservation. (5,785 words; Time: 19m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Although this is one of a series of “Billy and Arlin” stories, it’s completely self-contained.

Warm Math, by Rich Larson

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Thriller) An escape pod with two passengers needs just a bit more reaction mass to reach safety—an amount about equal to the mass of a person. (3,250 words; Time: 10m)

Since this story plays with the concept from “The Cold Equations,” by Tom Godwin, it might be worth reading that story before this one. Although considering how wrenching that story is emotionally, you might want to wait and read it after.

Eyes of the Forest, by Ray Nayler

[F&SF]

★★★★★ Plenty of excitement in a beautiful, deadly setting.

(SF Adventure) To become a Wayfarer, Sedef needs to master the dangers of the forest on her planet, which kills anything that doesn’t glow. And she has to survive an emergency run, seven hours each way, alone. (5,667 words; Time: 18m)

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

Hornet and Butterfly, by Tom Cool and Bruce Sterling

[F&SF]

★★☆☆☆

(Dystopia) When a storm destroys his raft city, former supersoldier Hornet struggles to escape with his life, but the “Butterfly” creature he helps emerge makes things even more complicated. (6,441 words; Time: 21m)

Who Carries the World, by Robert Reed

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Space Opera; Great Ship) It’s not a big deal when Perry dies in the avalanche. It’s just a little death, but the person who digs him out and puts him back together has been missing for 12,000 years. (10,144 words; Time: 33m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Birds Without Wings, by Rebecca Zahabi

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Horror) A young couple hitchhiking across Spain has to worry about “shifters,” a threat much worse than random psycho drivers. (7,399 words; Time: 24m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 (Q&A)

Stepsister, by Leah Cypess

[F&SF]

★★★★☆ A protagonist you'll love to cheer for.

(Cinderella Pastiche) Young Garrin, bastard brother to King Ciar, is sent to find Queen Ella’s stepsister and bring her to the castle. Not everyone lives happily ever after. (13,997 words; Time: 46m)

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

Byzantine, by Holly Messinger

[F&SF]

★★★★★ A delightfully complex tale at the end of an era.

(Historical Fantasy) In 1453, just before the fall of Constantinople, a slave boy secretly learns from a djinn and looks for a way out. (18,326 words; Time: 1h:01m)

The Hummingbird Temple, by C.C. Finlay

[BCS]

★★★★☆ Fun Characters, Clean Plot, Plenty of Action and Tension

(Silkpunk) When the Dynast dies, his daughter Lin flees before her older siblings can kill her. She has a place of safety in mind, but she’s never been there herself and needs help to get in. (14,968 words; Time: 49m)

The Man I Love, by James Patrick Kelly

[F&SF]

★★★★☆ A deeply moving tale of love that outlasts life itself.

(Ghosts) The clientele at Slack’s bar are rather unusual, and some of them don’t seem to be all there, like a young lady who comes in every night asking about a sailor boy. (1,905 words; Time: 06m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Hungry Is the Earth, by William Ledbetter

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Alien Invasion) The poisonous alien plants have crowded out all other plants, and humanity is dying. Isabelle keeps a garden and is trying to keep her little brother alive, but it looks pretty grim. (2,211 words; Time: 07m)

A Feast of Butterflies, by Amanda Hollander

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Dark Modern Fantasy) In a small town where justice is a sham, a young constable looks into the disappearance of five privileged youths somehow connected to a strange girl who eats butterflies. (6,046 words; Time: 20m)

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

A Solitary Crane Circles Cold Mountain, by Gregor Hartmann

[F&SF]

★★★★★ Cool characters in a chilling setting.

(Dystopia) Lili’s Foundation is close to launching their generation ship if Lili can figure a way to make the society stable and if the world government can be convinced it doesn’t undermine harmony. (6,025 words; Time: 20m)

Say You're Sorry, by Amman Sabet

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Uncanny Horror) New York City experiences a period when bad things happen to people who apologize. (6,029 words; Time: 20m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Red Sword of the Celiac, by John Possidente

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Faux SF Book Review) A reviewer is forced to review the long-lost third novel in a trilogy by a long-forgotten author. (1,582 words; Time: 05m)

The Million-Mile Sniper, by S.L. Huang

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(SF Monograph) Someone fired a projectile across the solar system to kill a senator, and no one knows who did it. (1,680 words; Time: 05m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Death on the Nefertem Express, by Brian Trent

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆ Mixed

(SF Mystery) Someone sabotaged a tourist train on planet Nefertem. It had to be one of the passengers, but can anyone solve the mystery before sunrise kills all the passengers—in just half an hour. (7,641 words; Time: 25m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)