Destinations of Love, by Alexander Weinstein

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Allegory; The Lost Traveler's Tour Guide) In which we read about various travel destinations and what they mean for lovers. (2,733 words; Time: 09m)

The Fenghuang, by Millie Ho

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Uncanny Horror) When Candice gets upset, she sometimes spontaneously combusts and then comes back to life. She needs to get this under control because her family can’t afford the medical bills. (5,370 words; Time: 17m)

The Time Traveler's Advice to the Lovelorn, by Adam-Troy Castro

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Time Travel) Samael finds himself in love with a woman who doesn’t notice him, so he asks the village time-traveler for advice, figuring he ought to know more than anyone else. (3,624 words; Time: 12m)

Melting Like Metal, by Ada Hoffmann

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Space Opera) Enga is an “angel,” a human cyborg enforcer for an AI “god.” Enga has some problems, so she’s eager to prove herself, and this new mission looks like a good opportunity. (6,283 words; Time: 20m)

The Witch Speaks, by Rati Mehrotra

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Horror) A woman who can see ghosts and foresee the future talks with the ghost of her long-dead lover. (2,572 words; Time: 08m)

Glass Bottle Dancer, by Celeste Rita Baker

[Lightspeed]

★★★★☆ A Sweet Tale with a Caribbean Flavor

(Caribbean Fantasy) Approaching 50, Mabel decides to become a glass bottle dancer. She tries to hide it from her family, but the local cockroaches notice it for sure when she gathers up their bottles, and they’ve got dreams too. (5,683 words; Time: 18m)

Voice of Their Generation, by Andrew Dana Hudson

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(SF) Thicket is sure their Detective Pikachu vs. Predator story would be a big hit if they could only get the Machine-Assisted StoryTelling platform to accept it. (2,134 words; Time: 07m)

The Least of These, by Veronica Roth

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Alien Abduction) Two women are offered the opportunity to save 50,000 human beings from Earth’s impending doom, but there’s something off about the aliens’ offer. (4,240 words; Time: 14m)

Love and Marriage in the Hexasun Lands, by Tahmeed Shafiq

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆ Mixed

(High Fantasy) Adhamrya had the distinction of being the first moral to marry a goddess. Unfortunately he also had the distinction of being the first mortal to cheat on one. (7,831 words; Time: 26m)

Tend to Me, by Kristina Ten

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Slipstream) Nora has a tendency of turning into whatever she’s dating. She became a rock climber when she dated a rock climber, a comedian when she dated a comedian. But the amateur acupuncturist goes differently. (2,290 words; Time: 07m)

Many Happy Returns, by Adam-Troy Castro

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(SF Sports) Gorman travels the galaxy engaging in all the risky sports that only the very rich can do, but he’s haunted by an annoying robot that keeps trying to interrupt him with a birthday card. (5,411 words; Time: 18m)

Giant Steps, by Russell Nichols

[Lightspeed]

★★☆☆☆

(SF Adventure) Dr. Jenkins leaves Earth for a trip to Titan looking for evidence of giants that seem to have left footprints there. (4,963 words; Time: 16m)

Toxic Destinations, by Alexander Weinstein

[Lightspeed]

★★☆☆☆

(Allegory; The Lost Traveler's Tour Guide) A tour guide of fantastic places tells us about locations we ought to avoid if possible. (2,302 words; Time: 07m)

Recommended By: 👍ABrown+1 (Q&A)

Noah's Raven, by Kij Johnson

[Lightspeed]

★★☆☆☆

(Biblical Fantasy) When the rains stopped, Noah released a raven to see if there was land, but the bird never returned. This is her story. (3,085 words; Time: 10m)

The Gamecocks, by J.T. Petty

[Lightspeed]

★★☆☆☆

(SF Dystopia) Young Leslie and Hardy make a life together, but fall on hard times when his job is automated away. (6,480 words; Time: 21m)

How We Burn, by Brenda Peynado

[Lightspeed]

★★☆☆☆

(Dystopia) Sequoia and her friends hate their overcontrolled world, where four generations have only been allowed a single child, making teens rare and coddled. (10,386 words; Time: 34m)

Fortune’s Final Hand, by Adam-Troy Castro

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Afterlife) A girl named Fortune plays cards in an afterlife where you bet with memories. (7,485 words; Time: 24m)

Destinations of Joy, by Alexander Weinstein

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Allegory; The Lost Traveler's Tour Guide) A tour guide to four cities on a new continent that recently appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. (2,290 words; Time: 07m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

She'd Never Had a Name Before, by J.R. Dawson

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆

(Multiverse) Jenna’s sister was stillborn, so it’s quite a surprise when she turns up fully grown in Jenna’s college apartment. (2,105 words; Time: 07m)

The Men Who Change the World, by Christopher East

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Alternate Reality) In a slightly different 1990s USA, Adam has a boring job doing data entry for one of the biggest companies in the world, when one night a stranger offers him a drink that changes everything. (7,252 words; Time: 24m)