The Stitch Beneath the Ice, by Ranylt Richildis

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Horror) During Prohibition, a coffin maker who often brings bodies over the frozen St. Lawrence river in the winter decides to earn some extra cash bringing a coffin full of liquor instead. (5,651 words; Time: 18m)

The LEAP Test, by Alex Jennings

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Portal Fantasy) Refugees from other worlds have to pass regular tests to make sure they’re integrating properly into our world. (2,414 words; Time: 08m)

Last Orders in the Green Lane, by Stephen O'Donnell

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Horror) A group of faming families gathers to make their last stand against an attack they know is coming. (978 words; Time: 03m)

68:Hazard:Cold, by Janelle C. Shane

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(First Contact) An escaped droid with a downloaded human mind crashes on a hostile planet, where she finds an alien artifact and desperately tries to convince it to help her. (6,016 words; Time: 20m)

Monsters Never Leave You, by Carlie St. George

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Fairy Tale Pastiche Horror) Two little children come to a gingerbread house in the woods. The lady of the house is a witch, but so are the kids, and one of them is already dead anyway. The real problem is the people looking for them. (6,668 words; Time: 22m)

The Bee Thing, by Maggie Damken

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆

(Alternate-History Horror) When her head turns into a beehive, the narrator loses her boyfriend, drops out of school, and moves home with her family. (5,717 words; Time: 19m)

Glass Frog, by Remy Reed Pincumbe

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆

(Horror) Molly and her “friends” explore a haunted house together. (3,733 words; Time: 12m)

The Present Only Toucheth Thee, by Kathleen Jennings

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Fantasy) Across the ages, an immortal writes in his book and protects it from a soul that keep getting reincarnated to try to take it. (1,192 words; Time: 03m)

The Husker, by Jessica P. Wick

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Horror ) A young farm couple wake up together on a cold morning and the woman explains to the man what a husker night is. (907 words; Time: 03m)

The DEATH/GRIP Challenge, by Johnny Compton

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Horror) A meme based on a spectacularly bad movie takes a dark turn as people start maiming themselves online. (5,883 words; Time: 19m)

Martian Cinema, by Gabriela Santiago

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Kids' Adventure) Three little girls look for Martian monsters in the empty lava tubes under the Mars Colony. It’s off-limits, but there can’t really be anything there, can there? (5,094 words; Time: 16m)

Have Your #Hugot Harvested at This Diwata-Owned Café, by Vida Cruz

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆

(Modern Fantasy) In Manila, a Diwata opens a cafe to cater to humans and to other mythic creatures. Humans usually can’t eat mythic food, though, and mythics often prefer to eat humans, so this is going to be interesting. (2,812 words; Time: 09m)

Our Souls to the Moon, by Tamara Jerée

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆

(Fantasy Dystopia) Rich people get high looking at the moons of Neptune, but poor people have to make due with dangerous drugs. Then Bimi’s friend learns you can send your soul to those moons, but at a price. (4,683 words; Time: 15m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+1 (Q&A)

The Longest Season in the Garden of the Tea-Fish, by Jo Miles

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(High Fantasy) When an accident kills most of the fish the tree-people depend on, everyone has to go dormant except one who has to watch over rebuilding the shoal and protecting the rest while they sleep. (5,181 words; Time: 17m)

The Pride of Salinkari, by Elizabeth Crowe

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Colony SF) In a culture that teaches that you should commit suicide when you’re at your peak, a young man kills himself after winning a prize and his parents prosecute his teacher. (6,745 words; Time: 22m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+1 (Q&A)

Three Days with the Kid, by Tara Calaby

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Post-Apocalypse) In the ruins of a dry, blasted Australia, Edward looks after an abandoned nine-year old girl as they travel in search of an old reservoir. (3,202 words; Time: 10m)

Cairns, by Jason P. Burnham

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Ecological Dystopia) In a world dying from pollution by micro plastics, Ana struggles to protect her family, but even the food they eat is slowly killing them. (5,208 words; Time: 17m)

Dirty Wi-Fi, by Porpentine Charity Heartscape

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆

(Slipstream) The narrator connects to the internet by collecting Wi-Fi in a dish and pouring it into a combination router-humidifier. (2,756 words; Time: 09m)

The Touch Pool, by Lisa Nan Joo

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆

(Horror) A mermaid visits a woman whose house is about the be claimed by the rising seas and who mourns the loss of her daughter. (3,395 words; Time: 11m)

La Bête, by Leah Bobet

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆

(Historical Fantasy) In post-World War II France, the young narrator acquires an old château, but she discovers the roses are going to present a difficult problem. (4,725 words; Time: 15m)