Juice Like Wounds, by Seanan McGuire

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Portal Fantasy; Wayward Children) In the Market, every exchange has to give fair value to both sides. Lundy and her friends want to do a quest that’ll generate so much fair value that they never have to work again. But they’re just kids. (5,894 words; Time: 19m)

Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Honorable mention

(Portal Fantasy; Wayward Children) Jack returns from the Moors and begs her classmates to help her steal her body back from her sister before the Master can turn it into a vampire. (40,029 words; Time: 2h:13m)

To properly appreciate this story, you need to at least read Every Heart a Doorway, if not the rest of the Wayward Children series. See related articles on Tor.com.

Phantoms of the Midway, by Seanan McGuire

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Full of Surprises

(Horror) Aracely loves travelling with her mother’s carnival, but now that she’s a teenager, she chafes at the restriction that she can’t leave the fairgrounds. What could it hurt? (7,592 words; Time: 25m)

Any Way the Wind Blows, by Seanan McGuire

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Multiverse Fantasy) The Cartography Corps charts alternate Earths in different realities, but today they’ve come to our version of Manhattan, where, for some reason, they’re drawn to the Flatiron building. (3,665 words; Time: 12m)

In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire

[Single]

★★★★☆ A great exploration of obligation and duty

(Portal Fantasy; Wayward Children) Bookish Katherine enters a world ruled by the requirement to “give fair value,” ruthlessly enforced by magic. As she learns how to live there, she likes it. But does she like it enough to leave home forever? (41,427 words; Time: 2h:18m)

Although this is fourth in the “Wayward Children” series, it stands alone just fine and it does not spoil any of the earlier books to read this one first

Build Me a Wonderland, by Seanan McGuire

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Modern Fantasy) Clover’s people produce all the special attractions in the Enchanted Garden region of the Dreamland park, and they’re very anxious when an efficiency expert visits for fear he’ll discover some of the magic is real. (5,830 words; Time: 19m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 (Q&A)

Under the Sea of Stars, by Seanan Mcguire

[Lightspeed]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Historical Fantasy Horror) In Victorian England, a wealthy woman finances a scientific expedition to find out what’s at the bottom of the Bolton Strid, a river whose depths seem to swallow everyone who ventures there. (5,511 words; Time: 18m)

Swear Not by the Moon, by Seanan McGuire

[Anthology]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Planetary SF) In which we learn how a wealthy heiress developed a colony on Titan and what became of it in later years. (6,269 words; Time: 20m)

Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire

[Tor Novella]

★★★★★ Sweet, Exciting, Funny, and Moving

(Portal Fantasy; Wayward Children) Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children caters to children who went to a portal world, came back, and can’t cope. No one planned on the arrival of a child born in a portal world, much less one asking for help—from a dead person. (39,193 words; Time: 2h:10m)

It’s not strictly necessary to read “Every Heart a Doorway” before this story, but it will help. See related articles on Tor.com.

How the Maine Coon Cat Learned to Love the Sea, by Seanan McGuire

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(Legend) It all started with a shipment of pure-white angora cats on a boat that sank. (2,451 words; Time: 08m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Add one star if you really like cats.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire

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(Portal Fantasy; Wayward Children) Twin sisters, Jack and Jill, escape from overbearing parents into The Moors, a fantasy land where werewolves and vampires are real. (39,787 words; Time: 2h:12m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Grim Yet Oddly Touching

Although this is the prequel to “Every Heart a Doorway,” it will actually spoil that story if you read this one first. See related articles on Tor.com.

Pedestal, by Seanan McGuire

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(Superhero) When she’s not being a superhero, Alice hides in the suburbs to get away from super villains and her fans. (5,460 words; Time: 18m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Amusing and Touching

Bring the Kids and Revisit the Past at the Traveling Retro Funfair!, by Seanan McGuire

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(Space Opera) Nora and Doc bring their show to a Dyson Sphere, but their lack of funds forces them to sell some attractions to people they probably shouldn’t be dealing with. (5,251 words; Time: 17m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Fun and Exciting

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, by Seanan McGuire

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(Horror) Jenna has lived in New York City ever since she died forty years ago. Now something is happening to New York City’s ghosts, and she’s determined to find out what and stop it—if it doesn’t find her first. (38,641 words; Time: 2h:08m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Gripping and emotional

See related articles on Tor.com.

In the Desert Like a Bone, by Seanan McGuire

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(Historical Fantasy) Coyote and the red fox girl ride across the western desert looking for a man and a score to settle. (5,045 words; Time: 16m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Regulations, by Seanan McGuire

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All across the solar system, women's roller derby is a big sport, but the injury rate is a bit too high. (4,700 words; Time: 15m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆, Not Recommended

Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire

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(Portal Fiction; Wayward Children) Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children helps kids who passed through a portal to another world and returned unable to cope with this one. (38,800 words; Time: 2h:09m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Award-Worthy

Recommended By: JStrahan Nebula Hugo Locus

See related articles on Tor.com.

The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch, by Seanan McGuire

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(Fantasy) The narrator's sister has been kidnapped from the Tulgey wood, and she makes a dangerous journey across Wonderland to try to rescue her and return home alive. (5,220 words; Time: 17m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands, by Seanan McGuire

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(SF) A scientist mourns the failure of scientists to anticipate the consequences of making contact with an alien race. (5,568 words; Time: 18m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

In Skeleton Leaves, by Seanan McGuire

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(Military Fantasy) Neverland's eternal war between the Pan and the pirates has grown unusually nasty of late, and the Wendys are concerned about it. (6,300 words; Time: 21m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆, Average