June Short Story Update 2

10 more stories I read.

1. Sea Superstitions by Lily Hunger in Corvid Queen

It is bad luck to have a woman on board ship. Yet they bring her aboard anyway. And when their luck and the weather turns, they know who to blame, and who to sacrifice.

And this is bad luck for them, and for all sailors.

Read This: Disaster becomes legend
Don’t Read This: Bad superstition becomes a curse

 

2. Iconography by Stephanie Frazee in Roi Fainéant

Our narrator attends mass at a Catholic church, the second time for them, the first time for their son. They aren’t Catholic, the mother being brought up in an evangelical church, now not church-going at all. It’s her sister-in-law’s funeral.

She has instructions for her son, things that he should not do, things he does not need to do, things that won’t make sense. This intimidates her. She would not trust this church, any church.

Read This: A view of a service from an outsider, telling a newcomer what they need to know, and not telling them all they do not
Don’t Read This: Churches harbour abuse

3. A Return To The Fragrant Mountain by Jonathan Louis Duckworth in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Kewy doesn’t speak, as when she did it killed her parents. Instead she has a little folded paper bird that speaks for her. Her brother rents her for a moon to the Halak-man, with his Halak-gun. Kwey is Duchari, with the face of the triplet on her stomach. Making her cursed.

It is forbidden for her to use the Halak-gun but the man lets her. He takes her back to the fragrant mountain where there is a hermit. He had a plan on how to use her, but now, now he has a different plan. Because there can be no return to the mountain.

A straightforward journey of a story wrapped in layers of mystery and deceit, of revelation and of curses. A gun is magic, and power, but also taboo. As is Kewy, dependent on the paper bird for any words at all, too dangerous in herself.

Read This: A journey through a compelling land to a destination that’s not what we expected
Don’t Read This: Woman could destroy things, mostly doesn’t

4. The Empty Throne by Benjamin C Kinney in Sunday Morning Transport

When Lea arrives at the gates of Budapest she meets the Angel Samriel. At first she thinks this is a legacy of her father the Rabbi, an angel sent to watch over her. It is not; Samriel sees the death of nations and Free Hungary has come to its end, and for now the gates of Budapest are the gates of Gehenna.

She is recognised by Acher, the legendary apostate scholar. He wants to know the names of the angels. With their power they can resurrect Hungary, drive out the Austrians, make it safe for Jews. When he had the visions of paradise he saw the Throne of God was empty leaving only the angels, no longer serving god. And for this he was cast into Gehenna.

But Gehenna is not hell, and the angels have new names and new powers.

Read This: Real history and theology wrapped up in a fantastic package
Don’t Read This: Overly neat, over-determined use of real history and theology

5. The Fleet Of Lamvula by Rab Foster in Swords And Sorcery Magazine

The Sea of Quan is now a dry desert. Out there is the fleet of the pirate-queen Lamvula, now ship-hull fortresses rising up from the dust.

Two men have undertaken an expedition to find the legendary ships, to discover if the pirate-queen’s treasure is there. They’ve hired mercenaries, members of the Legion Of Beasts who have become lost from their regiment. They take the names of animals, not letting outsiders know their previous names.

Perhaps the fleet is not as empty as they think, though stranded for many years in a desolate wilderness. Perhaps the mercenaries are not helpless when magic reveals itself.

Read This: Spooky swords and sorcery adventure with a good fistful of ideas
Don’t Read This: Dry seas, grim soldiers and betrayal are not for you

6. A Girl Explodes by Ruth Joffre in Three Lobed Burning Eye

She exploded and no one knows why, though her friends have ideas. She exploded and left behind a portal, from which monsters emerge. She exploded and her friend Mei had ideas, but Mei has gone into the portal and maybe when she comes out, if she comes out, she will have answers.

Read This: A parenthetical story of real bullying, stress and contempt, transformed into something extraordinary and inexplicable
Don’t Read This: It’s the girl who creates the monsters?

7. When Figgie Flew by Melissa Ostrom in Painted Bride

Figgie’s sixteen, friendless, she lost her dreams of flying. Her mother didn’t come to her birthday, her new family ill, and her presents are disappointing. She fades into the background at school, against the fish tank.

Then there’s a project and the teacher puts her with Angela and Odin. Angela’s nice to everyone, and she does know Figgie. She knows Figgie’s smart so lets her take the lead on the project, but contributing. Odin’s Angela’s boyfriend. Figgie wants to like him, wants to know him. He’s not interested in the project, barely interested in Angela, the actual Angela in front of him.

They’ll do the project, even if Figgie can’t fly. Even if she sees what Odin and Angela don’t. And maybe she’ll dance.

Read This: A lovely look at growing up and making friends
Don’t Read This: It’s just teenagers doing teenage things, the fish metaphor is simultaneously too oblique and too pointed

8. Erictho And The Cumean Sibyl Walk Into A Bar… by Eric Williams in Cold Signal

It’s girls’ night in Athens, and the girls are the witch of Thessaly, flying in on her dragon, and a seer with her Auroch-drawn chariot. They’re going to the Xenios tavern on the Mnisikleous Steps by the Acropolis (the witch saw it on TV).

At the tavern strange things have been occurring; ravens mobbing the place, wine spilt, a cook burning themselves. A small earthquake, which caused a small fire. A snake scaring customers, and a rain of fish that drove the rest inside – and caused them to start a theological argument that turned violent.

Compared to that two terrible old women eating out all the food, drinking all the wine, that’s almost normal.

Read This: Raucous, light-hearted and also hard-edged immortals having a night off
Don’t Read This: Frivolous use of amazing mythological figures

9. In The Canyon by Lori Sambol Brody in Mudroom

Nikki used to be in a band, The Pussy Whips, and they were doing okay. Then the bass player made her choose between the band and a baby and she got married, she’s got a four year old Freya and another on the way. She’s at a party, to celebrate Lucas, a neighbour in the canyon, who’s making a line of vegan food.

Freya kicks and demands songs to go to the toilet and sits on the toilet but doesn’t go. She wants to go out. Nikki is secretly eating beef jerky to counter her anaemia and can’t believe she ever gave up meat. She’s going to have a caesarean, to the surprise of other mothers there, one of whom had a yurt built by her husband for the birthing pool.

She doesn’t play music any more, no time between Freya and the goats. Freya wants to go outside, but there are rattlesnakes. Until Lucas invites her down the garden to the shed, where he and his band practice in their studio.

Freya’s very like Nikki, neither quite fitting easily into their place in the canyon.

Read This: Nikki’s past and present come together to show how little she’s given up
Don’t Read This: Minor party drama with some surface contemplation of life changes

10. Plume by Adrian Sobol in Cotton Xenomorph

Our narrator gets three crows in parcels through the post. They move into their house, damaging things, nesting. Eventually they manage to co-exist.

Other people have got packages with strange things in. You can see them on Youtube but the comments aren’t helpful. And there are more packages at the door.

Read This: Fabulist flash fiction about crows and getting on with life as the world gets stranger
Don’t Read This: Birds shouldn’t be in houses, and especially not mailed through the post