December Story Update One

10 short stories etc I read earlier this year.

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1. The Brides The Hunted by Lindz Mcleod in Flash Fiction Online

The girls play at being brides, showing the tears to their clothes, chasing the boys. Stacey has sharp nails, and sharp teeth. It’s a game, it’s not a game. Our narrator’s mother could have been a bride she says. One of the pack who choose their grooms. Who lord it over the men.

Our narrator is fascinated. They choose only two a year. And they have already taken Stacey.

Read This: Learning who you are, how to overcome fear
Don’t Read This: Packs of violent brides do nothing for you

2. A Demonstration of the Abyssal Principle at the 11th AnnualFrontiers in High Energy Physics Conference at the Hotel Grande Reynard by Dixon March in Crow And Cross Keys

Dr Dancella Viel arrives at the hotel, preparing to check in for the conference. She has all her stuff in her vintage Samson Silhouette eggshell blue suitcase. In the room someone is in the bathroom; her room mate and colleague ought to be arriving later, and the luggage is not hers, but another, more battered vintage eggshell blue suitcase, containing strange equipment. The lights flicker so she decides to take the stairs down.

The discussions go wrong, or perhaps they go right. A talk on the abyssal principle, of how the universe is a hologram, and by perceiving it’s nature can fold into different forms has an unexpected demonstration. Viel has always felt like an imposter, a shape that simply fills space, a silhouette. But this conference will be different.

Read This: Fun use of scientific ideas to match imposter syndrome with cosmic horror
Don’t Read This: Fear of not fitting in, ontologically, existentially, is too scary

3. The Girl Who Went South by Chrissy Stegman in Gone Lawn

Vanity lied when she was born, lied when she said she could fly. Her mother gets cancer when she’s in high school. But she knows what to do. Is it magic or a lie?

A short story about growing up and deception, and folk magic. About recasting normal events as a fairy tale.

Read This: Brief, rhythmic story weaving lies and growing up and magic and death
Don’t Read This: She just goes to a slightly weird town

 

4. The Twelve Working Princesses by Kelly Jarvis in Corvid Queen

You know the story of the twelve dancing princesses*. Or rather you know the story that’s been told about them. They have their own story, of their own work, to tell in their own way.

A poem whose power comes from denial and repetition.

Read This: Strong poetic response to a classic fairy tale
Don’t Read This: Poems and fairy tales are not for you

 

* Hey maybe you don’t, check it out

 

5. The Rattler by Christopher Stevenson in Bull

Our narrator has a girlfriend, Candy. Candy’s dad doesn’t think much of him, because Candy’s ex Roger is still around. What kind of man can he be?

What kind of man is he? One with a rattlesnake for a penis. If he’s happy and turned on then it’s fine, but if he’s not – well to teach Roger a lesson he gets scabies so his rattler will be angry. A mean rattlesnake.

Read This: Story about drifting, manhood, regrets and a rattlesnake penis
Don’t Read This: Impossible standards of masculinity

6. Mickey McFarland In The Sweet Hereafter by Eli S Evans in Roi Fainéant

There’s a big drainage pipe being put into the neighbourhood to deal with flooding, really big. But Mickey McFarland isn’t impressed. He’s the sort of clown who always puts things down. Out west, he says, they have drainage pipes that make this look small.

McFarland always does this. He does this when the ultimate event occurs. And he does it in the sweet hereafter.

Read This: Entertaining flash fiction about a guy we’ve all met
Don’t Read This: We’ve met this guy, the sweet hereafter can’t get here fast enough for him

7. Date Night by Faith Allington in Crow And Cross Keys

She gets ready for the night, make up, dress boots. He doesn’t know they’ve met before, that he doesn’t recognise her.

He isn’t worried about going for a walk in the woods.

Read This: Short ominous story about getting ready
Don’t Read This: Liars and vengeance

 

 

 

 

 

8. A Proper Heart by Nina Miller in Sci-Fi Shorts

Lord Ludley builds mechanical automatons, giving metal life in his isolated gloomy manor. His mother wishes him to marry. Her latest visit is not on that topic; she has given up on trying to find him a bride.

Rather Miss Calliope Danger has need of his services. After a broken heart Dr Frankenstein replaced it. Not having a suitable human one he used that of an ape. Despite the arboreal advantages she wants a replacement. A mechanical heart.

A proper heart.

Read This: Glorious gothic mad science short
Don’t Read This: Some silly heart surgery played straight 

9. The Hadal Zone Trapdoor by Isabel Yacura in Trash Cat Lit

Down deep in the ocean, ten thousand feet below the surface, scientists made a discovery. Angels, clustering around a whale fall. Whale falls are a massive change to the eco-system down there; nevertheless they didn’t expect to find Angels.

It is only the start of the investigation.

Read This: Brief examination of the intersection between depths and Angels
Don’t Read This: No explanations, just mystery

 

 

 

 

10. Reciprocity by Valerie Kemp in Haven Spec

Amber, finally despairing of the abuse from her boyfriend Cash, kills herself. Three days later he raises her from the dead. He’s used blood magic, in a tattoo, to bring her back and control her.

This is what Cash has always wanted. Amber’s been dead, now under his control. Yet Cash has never been good about following instructions. And magic requires balance. And reciprocity.

Read This: Lesson in magic and relationships
Don’t Read This: Amber’s suicide resolves nothing