Of Roses and Kings, by Melissa Marr

[Single]

★★★☆☆

(Alice-in-Wonderland Pastiche) After the events in the story, Alice became the new Red Queen, and here, in the words of her Personal Maid, Beatrice, we learn just what sort of queen she became. (8,094 words; Time: 26m)

If you haven’t read the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this story will make absolutely no sense to you.

Go Fish, by Ian Rogers

[Single]

★★★☆☆

(Paranormal Investigation) A team of unlikely investigators comes to a warehouse to look into the murder of a security guard whose body was literally torn to shreds. (11,956 words; Time: 39m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword, by Garth Nix

[Single]

★★★☆☆

(Sherlock Holmes Pastiche; Magnus Holmes) Despite laboring under an awful curse, Sherlock Holmes’s young second cousin, Magnus, assists in cases that involve the supernatural, such as a spectral knight wielding a legendary sword. (6,815 words; Time: 22m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Note: Readers who like this tale will be interested to know that it’s a sequel to the author’s 2011 story, “The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder,” which is available in the author’s collection “To Hold the Bridge.” There’s no need to read that story before this one (neither has spoilers for the other), but it’s entertaining in its own right.

How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar, by Rich Larson

[Single]

★★★★☆ Non-stop Thrills, Chills, and Excitement.

(SF Thriller) The narrator and a friend plot to steal a valuable artwork from an underworld boss who’s pissed them off. (11,417 words; Time: 38m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+1 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Ormeshadow, by Priya Sharma

[Single]

★★☆☆☆

(Modern Fantasy) In 19th Century England, a boy and his family move from Bath to a sheep farm where his father grew up—a place said to lie atop a sleeping dragon. (32,576 words; Time: 1h:48m)

The Vetting, by Michael Cassutt

[Single]

★★★☆☆

(SF Thriller) A lawyer dying of cancer represents a Syrian researcher who’s trapped in immigration but who claims to have scientific proof of the afterlife. (6,685 words; Time: 22m)

Desdemona and the Deep, by C.S.E. Cooney

[Single]

★★★★☆ A Fun Little Adventure across Three Worlds

(Portal Fantasy) When Desdemona’s wealthy father sacrifices some coal miners for a new source of oil, she decides to confront the Koboldkin King in the World Beneath the World Beneath. If she can even get there. Or get back. (41,028 words; Time: 2h:16m)

See related articles on Tor.com.

For He Can Creep, by Siobhan Carroll

[Single]

★★★★☆ Warm, Delightful, and Uplifting

(Historical Fantasy) A poet’s cat fights fiercely to defend him from the demons that plague him, but it’s much harder to stand against Satan himself. (7,908 words; Time: 26m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+1 👍KBurnham+1 👍MHaskins+1 👍RSR+1 (Q&A)

A Forest, or A Tree, by Tegan Moore

[Single]

Not Rated No Speculative Element

(Mainstream Horror) Four college girls go on a camping trip in the woods. (8,126 words; Time: 27m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+2 (Q&A)

Skinner Box, by Carole Johnstone

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Thriller) Evie has decided to get rid of her abusive husband, but on a space ship in the asteroid belt, that’s easier said than done. Especially if she wants to get away with it. (11,037 words; Time: 36m)

Mama Bruise, by Jonathan Carroll

[Single]

★★★★☆ Deliciously Creepy

(Horror) A young couple has enough relationship troubles without a mischievous dog that appears to have telekinetic powers. But there seems to be a pattern to its mischief. (6,352 words; Time: 21m)

Painless, by Rich Larson

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Supersoldier) With tremendous powers of regeneration, Mars is an incomparable killing machine, but he’s on the run, and there’s one special prisoner he’s determined to rescue. (5,412 words; Time: 18m)

One/Zero, by Kathleen Ann Goonan

[Single]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Dystopia) In the Third World, a teenage girl sees her whole family killed and flees with her brother. In Washington, an old woman gradually gives up on life. Somehow, their paths cross. (10,254 words; Time: 34m)

Knowledgeable Creatures, by Christopher Rowe

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Mixed

(Alternate Reality Fantasy) Detective Connolly is a dog in a world where some animals are “knowledgeable” and can talk like humans. A human professor hires him to help cover up a murder . . . (5,870 words; Time: 19m)

The Song, by Erinn L. Kemper

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Near-Future SF Horror) A lonely widower on a whale-processing station in the middle of the Pacific strikes up a friendship with a woman researching whale behavior, which has lately been getting very strange. (7,016 words; Time: 23m)

AI and the Trolley Problem, by Pat Cadigan

[Tor.com]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(AI) Helen’s job in “Machine Ethics” gets a lot more serious when she needs to learn why a military AI destroyed an American ground control station. (6,593 words; Time: 21m)

Triquetra, by Kirstyn McDermott

[Tor.com]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Fairy Tale) Snow White’s life with the prince isn’t going so well, and her wicked stepmother—now a prisoner—seems determined to torment her about it. (11,840 words; Time: 39m)

The Kite Maker, by Brenda Peynado

[Tor.com]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Alien SF) Refugees from the destruction of their own planet, the Dragonflies struggle to find a place in a world that doesn’t welcome them. (7,026 words; Time: 23m)

Recoveries, by Susan Palwick

[Tor.com]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(SF) An anorexic woman has an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with her alcoholic roommate, her “friend” since childhood. But she also has a monstrous secret. (7,955 words; Time: 26m)

Meat And Salt And Sparks, by Rich Larson

[Tor.com]

★★★★★ Great Characters in a Great Setting

(SF Mystery) An enhanced chimp and her human partner investigate an apparently pointless murder committed by a woman who was under remote control from an unknown source. (7,373 words; Time: 24m)

Recommended By: GTognetti+2 KBurnham+2