For this spotlight on ten of my favorite science fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories that I read in April, I have stories that will make you angry, stories that will make you anxious, stories that will empower you, stories that will disturb you. you, and simply bizarre stories.
“The Burial Cave” by Wailana Kalama
“The Burial Cave” was the first story I read in this new horror magazine, and what an introduction! Two children explore a cave and only one comes out. Something terrible is happening out there in the dark, but it’s not quite what you expect. This was also the first time I read anything by Wailana Kalama, but it won’t be the last. A moving story so well written that you can almost hear the bones crunching.
The Maul (April 2023; issue 2)
“The House, the Witch, and the Cane Stalks” by Amanda Helms
“The house awakens from its slumber as the witch trudges along the path made of pies… Happy that she is safe, the house opens its front door and rolls out a mat of pie dough. “Thank you, House,” the witch says, and she enters, letting the house close its door behind her. Set in 19th century New Orleans, a Creole witch is asked to help on the Underground Railroad. The story starts off whimsical and cute and takes a rough turn towards the real story, but Amanda Helms keeps the content and tone well-balanced. The witch has worked hard to build a life for herself, and she’s not about to let a gang of fanatics keep her from it.
Lightspeed (April 2023; issue 155)
“How to Stay Married to Baba Yaga” by SM Hallow
“1. Don’t ask if the roast is made from human meat. 2. Human meat is an acquired taste. Acquire it. There are 35 steps in SM Hallow’s list; they start briefly and become more becoming longer and more complicated as the story progresses. At first, you might think it will be a depressing story of a woman who demands too much from her partner and a partner who is willing to cut himself to pieces for keep the woman she loves. But Hallow goes further than that. Compromise is not abandonment; it can sometimes be a coming together in mutual understanding.
Baffling Magazine (March 2023; issue 11)
“Living off the Land” by Toby MacNutt
“Sometimes people come into my woods. Most of the time, they leave again. I did not do it. Neither does this one. A spirit watches a human get lost more and more in the first. The spirit counts on their death, but the human wants to live. So much so that the mind can’t help but want to save them. You might think it’s a dark fantasy about a haunted wood, but there’s an undercurrent of connection, how hard it can be to accept when someone hands you hand.
The Future Fire (April 2023; issue 2023.65)
“Loving Bone Girl” by Tehnuka
The April issue of Summit was dedicated to stories by Asian and Pacific Islander authors. There were so many great stories in this issue that it was hard to choose which one to feature. But out of all of them, Tehnuka’s is the one that kept popping into my head. The story is more mood than plot, but the moods are as sharp as a knife. It’s about the pain and beauty of diaspora, about death, about respecting your culture even if your connection to it weakens.
Apex Magazine (April 2023; issue 137)
“Re: Your Stone” by Guan Un
In the February 2022 edition of my short fiction, I covered Guan Un’s film. “Passenger reviews for FerrymanCharon” which has a similar narrative structure to “Re: Your Stone”. Both filter Greek mythology through the banalities of modern technology. A work order is issued for Sisyphus to move a work of art titled “Higher, Faster, Boulder” from the first floor to the second. But someone keeps bringing it back down. Poor Sisyphus tries to delete the work order, but it gets tangled in the web of HR forms and technical details.
Evil Plots (April 2023; #98A)
“Salt Water” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
The people of Anissa all have a bubble in their belly that carries a particular type of fish. As the fish ages, it takes shape, preferably as a mermaid. Sometimes they become an octopus, a creature feared, feared and ridiculed, and the person is excluded from the community. No one really knows what happens to Anissa’s fish, but since he doesn’t look “normal”, they send him to visit the octopus woman on the outskirts of town. Eugenia Triantafyllou writes a beautiful story about learning that being different can be a kind of power. Anissa learns that our labels do not define who we are forever but simply describe who we are in this moment.
Tor.com (April 12, 2023)
“Still Life with Killed God and Lemon” by Anne Leonard
I missed when the new issue of Translunar Travelers Show came out a few months ago, but I’m so glad I went back and read it. It’s the story of letting desire and heartbreak consume you until there’s nothing left. Francisco continually paints a dead god with the face of his former lover Marco. He paints the god so much that his own body begins to change and take the shape of the painted figure. His obsession drives his new love away, and the more he changes, the angrier he gets.
Translunar Travelers Lounge (February 2023; issue 8)
“The True Name of the Sharp-Toothed God” by KT Bryski
Looking for something dark, sinister, and ship-related? A sailor on a ship bound for a land of ice carries two passengers: “A pretty young man and a harsh gray woman. » The sailor, the woman and the young man (who slept with the sailor) arrive at their icy destination in search of an almost forgotten god. Typical of KT Bryski, this piece is laden with lush, chilling prose that is both evocative and tense.
Cosmass Infinies (April 30, 2023)
“A Witch’s Transition in Ghost Town” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe
A witch excluded from her people falls in love with a forest spirit. The Witch is a trans woman in a sapphic relationship with an entity that the other women in her coven view as dangerous. The witch fought so hard to gain even a modicum of tolerance from her fellow witches. Will she give up everything and betray the only person who ever accepted her for who she is? I liked it so much that I read it twice in a row.
Under an incessant sky (April 20, 2023; issue 380)
Alex Brown is a Hugo-nominated and Ignyte Award-winning critic who writes about speculative fiction, librarianship, and black history. Find them on Twitter (@ReineDeRats), Instagram (@bookjockeyalex), and their blog (bookjockeyalex.com).
