"The Mad Scientist's Daughter"
We don't judge. Who, indeed, are we to do so? We have all done things of which we are not proud. The club is a haven for us, a port in a particularly stormy world.
If you are a fan of the elegant Ms. Goss, or if you would like to become one, I highly recommend you check it out.
"Beautiful White Bodies" by Alice Sola Kim
The fall after Justine moved back home, the high school girls became beautiful. She saw it herself, from behind the counter of the coffee shop by her old high school. The beauty spread viciously: first to one girl, then two, then four, and now almost twenty.
There are so many layers to this piece that I am tempted to talk about it here. But I generally let our stories speak for themselves, so I won't say anything further to prepare you for this one, except to hope there are other readers out there who will find it as awesome and fascinating as I do. Enjoy!
"Tyrannia" by Alan DeNiro
The man crashes to the ground, and then lies still, and birds fly to the site of him. They land on him from head to toe. He doesn't move, and won't move again of his own volition. In his arteries, though, are the beginnings of a journey.
Also brand-new by Alan DeNiro this week is his debut novel, Total Oblivion, More or Less. It's been getting phenomenal rave reviews all over the place, and I can't wait to read it! Plus, with a fantastic cover like that, you know it'd make an uber-cool stocking stuffer.
A Brief Investigation of the Process of Decay, by Genevieve Valentine
There was a pause before "interested" that meant "acclimated," as if Mars was going to be just like the rez, except without oxygen.
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If you're nominating short stories for any awards this year, I hope you will consider the delightful assortment available in the Strange Horizons archives. It would make us very happy to see some of our favorite stories get a well-deserved wider recognition.
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Related only by virtue of the fact that Ms. Valentine is the purveyor of all things funny and has brought this skit to my attention: I have to admit there are times when I wish Jane Austen scenes would end this way.
"True Names" by Stephanie Burgis
When I let Sam sweet talk me into moving out here to the back of beyond to be his wife, it was all about the romance of the wild, the two of us standing at each other's sides against mountain lions and poisonous snakes, and me learning to be just as fierce against them as any man. Days like today somehow never got mentioned in any of his stories, back then.
We hope you will like it!
Fans of the lovely Ms. Burgis may be excited to know that her young person's novel, A Most Improper Magick, will be coming out this spring. Here is a quickie book trailer:
And for something completely different, check out last week's story:
Nomadology, by Chris Nakashima-Brown
I watched the muted television. On-screen, stop-motion set pieces illustrated a science fiction fantasy of the destruction of the state apparatus and the abolition of private property mediated by alien invasion and natural disaster. The only sound in the room was the soft clicking of aluminum knitting needles, like a DIY Geiger counter monitoring our entropic half-lives.
"Ms. Liberty Gets a Haircut" by Cat Rambo
"If you're going to be our leader, you need to look like you haven't time-travelled here from the 20th century," Dr. Arcane grumbles to Ms. Liberty. "You may have been built with the blueprints from the Stepford wives, but you don't have to keep looking like one."
Enjoy!
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Note to all interested writers: the Strange Horizons fiction department will be taking our winter break during November and December, and during those two months we will be closed to submissions. If you want to send a story to SH before the year ends, you've got a few days left!
"The Regime of Austerity" by Veronica Schanoes
Under the Regime of Austerity, Stella can no longer afford much color. What she gets she uses on her hair and her eyes, even though all the magazines say that's a waste. Hair falls out and eyes tear up, and eventually the color wears away and she's left with nothing until her next ration coupon.
"The Second Conquest of Earth" by L.J. Daly
The bulls left us our religions; not from kindness, as some pretend to themselves, but to keep us docile—to tranquilize with hope. My mother's brand of snake-oil soothsaying passed the test, thanks to years on the best-seller lists. My con is a protected faith. That this Kus hasn't killed me tells me he thinks I can read his future.
"And Their Lips Rang With the Sun" by Amal El-Mohtar
Look at them! Are they not beautiful? Had cinnamon been ground and rubbed into their skin, they could not have been more brown, more fragrant, more beloved of the wine-bright sky.
The author is known as an award-winning poet and poetry editor, but her published stories have been all too rare thus far. I hope you find this one as moving -- and, naturally, poetic! -- as I do.
"A Safe Place to Be" by Carol Emshwiller
It started with a funny feeling in the bottoms of my feet. Something is going to happen. Perhaps an earthquake. That's what it feels like. But perhaps terrorists on the way. Whatever it is, something's coming.
The bio at the end of her story only points to Carol's SFWA page, but if you are interested in knowing more about the author (and who wouldn't be?) you may wish to check out some of the goodies Small Beer Press has collected, such as a fan letter to her from Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree, links to more of her work, interviews, and a lovely review of her novel Ledoyt by Ursula Le Guin (found, to complete the circuit, at Strange Horizons).
