The love and loyalty of dogs never end.
“And All the Fields Below” by Sarah Grey (2023) — 2,625 words (about 11 minutes for the average reader)
Published in Lightspeed magazine issue #157, June 2023.
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." – George R. R. Martin
The love and loyalty of dogs never end.
“And All the Fields Below” by Sarah Grey (2023) — 2,625 words (about 11 minutes for the average reader)
Published in Lightspeed magazine issue #157, June 2023.
A female programmer who can create golems uses them to thwart the very software she develops at work.
(emet) by Lauren Ring (2023) — 7,470 words (about 30 minutes for the average reader)
I first heard it on PodCastle, published 30 May 2023.
An automaton cares for an abandoned library even as the books decay.
“The Belfry Keeper” by S.L. Harris (2023) — 845 words (about 4 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Lightspeed magazine issue #156, May 2023.
This feels appropriate on this day of standing up to oppression.
“Braid Me a Howling Tongue” by Maria Dong (2023) — 9,099 words (about 37 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Lightspeed magazine issue #152, January 2023.
A short story with a long title.
“A Man Walks Into a Bar; or, In Which More Than Four Decades After My Father’s Reluctant Night of Darts on West 54th Street, I Finally Understand What Needs to Be Done” by Scott Edelman (2023) — 5,977 words (about 24 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Lightspeed magazine issue #152, January 2023.
A story of siblings and magic.
“Cold Relations” by Mary Robinette Kowal (2023) — 8,256 words (about 3 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Uncanny magazine issue #50, January/Februaty 2023.
The last one! Tomorrow the winners will be announced!
“Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka” by Christine Hanolsy (2024) — 9,884 words (about 40 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine issue #405, 18 April 2024.
“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (2024) — 2,832 words (about 12 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Lightspeed magazine issue #168, May 2024.
Almost there!
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (2024) — 8,370 words (about 34 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Clarkesworld magazine issue #212, May 2024.
“V*mpire” by P.H. Lee (2024) — 5,320 words (about 22 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Reactor magazine, 23 October 2024.
My continuation of nominees that can be read online for free.
“Joanna’s Bodies” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (2024) — 11,100 words (about 45 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Psychopomp magazine, 1 July 2024.
“Evan: A Remainder” by Jordan Kurella (2024) — 4,483 words (about 18 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Reactor magazine, 31 January 2024.
Two more nominees that can be read online for free.
“What Any Dead Thing Wants” by Aimee Ogden (2024) — 16,300words (about 66 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Psychopomp magazine online, February 2024.
“The Witch Trap” by Jennifer Hudak (2024) — 3,080 words (about 13 minutes for the average reader)
Originally published in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet magazine issue #48, September 2024.