The Wind Whispers Secrets To The Sea, by Jordan Kurella

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Surreal) A plural female entity has a doomed relationship with a mortal firefighter. (919 words; Time: 03m)

The Skinwalkers Ball, by Hammond Diehl

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Dark Fantasy) The Pro-Am All-Bohemian Invitational competition for the best skinwalkers is just starting, but there’s an unexpected extra contestant at the last minute. (4,802 words; Time: 16m)

Dem Bones, by Lavie Tidhar

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Surreal) Ezra was hooked on apples before he went to prison, but now that he’s out he’s willing to kill for them, and he thinks he knows where to find an apple tree. (2,216 words; Time: 07m)

The Imaginary Palace of the Winter King, by Sarah Tolmie

[Strange Horizons]

Not Rated No Speculative Element

(Historical Fiction) In the midst of the Thirty Year’s War, the former King of Bohemia, now an exile in the Dutch Republic, obsesses over a painting of him and his wife in a grand palace. (4,412 words; Time: 14m)

The Magician's Clown, by ML Kejera

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Modern Fantasy) When winter won’t let go, the town holds a sacred ritual in which a magician and a clown try to summon spring by making the children laugh. (3,181 words; Time: 10m)

The King's Mirror, by M.K. Hutchins

[Strange Horizons]

★★★★☆ An honest man in an impossible position.

(Mayan High Fantasy) The king demands a mirror he can use to see the future, and he’ll enslave Wak-Lamat if the young man can’t make one good enough. But Wak already knows his mirror works because it persists in showing him terrible things. (5,966 words; Time: 19m)

We Are Here to Be Held, by Eugenia Triantafyllou

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Slipstream) When you’re 12 years old, you don’t expect your mom to swallow you whole and only spit you out years later when you’re past puberty. (2,188 words; Time: 07m)

2086, by T.K. Lê

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Ghost Story) The narrator tells how her grandmother disappeared trying to use a new teleportation device to go home to Vietnam but her spirit stayed around afterwards. (6,361 words; Time: 21m)

Sequestration; Vitrification, by Allison Jamieson-Lucy

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Near-Future SF) In the shadow of a looming nuclear war, Lynn researches the effect of nuclear waste on diatoms, but she increasingly feels life is pointless. (4,413 words; Time: 14m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+2 (Q&A)

How Pleasant the Red Bloom, by Lucy Harlow

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Fantasy Horror) In which we read the writings of a former innate in this cell and gradually get an idea of what really goes on in this prison. (1,519 words; Time: 05m)

Toothsome Things, by Chimedum Ohaegbu

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Fairy Tale Pastiche) The Big Bad Wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood” tells us how lots of fairy tales happened a little differently from the way we might have learned them as kids. (2,408 words; Time: 08m)

Missed Connections, by Alena Flick

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Ghost Story) A lonely young woman makes fanciful posts in an online forum for folks who’re trying to find people they met but never exchanged contact info. (3,756 words; Time: 12m)

Some Personal Arguments in Support of the BetterYou (Based on Early Interactions), by Debbie Urbanski

[Strange Horizons]

★★★★☆ Shattering

(Near-Future Dark Fantasy) The narrator’s homelife has fallen apart since she told her husband she’s asexual, so they order a device that looks and talks like her, but with “improvements.” (6,334 words; Time: 21m)

De MotherJumpers, by Celeste Rita Baker

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Mixed

(Alternate History Fantasy) Long ago, some people leapt from a slave ship, and something transformed their bodies so she they could breathe water. Today, her descendants try to cope with a changing ocean. (9,146 words; Time: 30m)

A note on the dialect: This story is written in the Caribbean dialect, which is related but not identical to African-American Vernacular English. Here are some tips to make it easier to read:

• First, read in the morning when you’re fresh. It’s harder to read an unfamiliar language/dialect when you’re tired.
• Second, if you find yourself getting tired, stop. Put it aside until later—or until the next day. Your brain will often improve its ability to read it while you sleep.
• Third, stick with it. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it.

The Fortunate Death of Jonathan Sandelson, by Margaret Killjoy

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Hacker SF) When someone murders the corporate executive Jae has spent the past year cyberhacking, the Feds come looking for her. (7,995 words; Time: 26m)

Asphalt, River, Mother, Child, by Isabel Yap

[Strange Horizons]

★★★★☆ A Host of Great Characters

(Afterlife) Mebuyen doesn’t get many lost souls anymore—modern Filipinos have moved on—so when a bunch of young people start showing up whom she can’t send along, it’s time to visit the Earth and learn what’s going on. (7,016 words; Time: 23m)

The Palace of the Silver Dragon, by Y.M. Pang

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Chinese Fantasy Adventure) Aliah flees the destruction of her family and their home, seeking refuge under the sea with the Silver Dragon, even though legends say the Silver Dragon’s only gift is death. (7,820 words; Time: 26m)

Tamales in Space, and Other Phrases For the Beginning Speaker, by Gabriela Santiago

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Aliens) Carmen works on a space station where she caters to a clientele of “Lenguas,” who are aliens whose language is based on scent, not sound. (2,351 words; Time: 07m)

Mountaineering, by Leah Bobet

[Strange Horizons]

★★★★☆ A Chilling Testimony to Grief

(Allegory) Eli follows his dead brother up a mountain into the bitter cold. (2,484 words; Time: 08m)

Seedlings, by Audrey R. Hollis

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Slipstream) Pamela swallows a cactus, and grows spines all over, causing various problems at work and with her girlfriend. (2,690 words; Time: 08m)