this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 30: MR. SALARY - SALLY ROONEY
oh, man. this is such a tender and vulnerable love story. because the reader only gets the female POV, it's also a little painful and uncertain, trying to read between the lines of his words and actions; their shared past, not knowing what he's thinking or feeling, trying to gauge his level of investment and unsure whether we should be feeling sorry for her or not. which, basically, puts us in the same emotional boat as the protagonist; spinning in the insecurity of the relationship. deft and authentic bones, here.
i read one of her short stories last year for this project (don't go looking for it, it's one of the reviews goodreads DELETED, before putting the book back up, so i COULD restore it, if i wasn't feeling so once bitten/twice shy about it. still debating whether it's worth my time to restore all the deleted reviews). in any case, this story makes me want to jump on the sally rooney train and read those two books everyone is always going nuts over.
it's also a CHRISTMAS story, sort of, which was an unexpected treat as i continue to grasp at festive feelings in this horrorshow of a year.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 29: UNDER THE WAVE - LAUREN GROFF
And all was stripped from her and all she was was wildness and pain and her lungs bursting in the cage of her chest and her body battered by a hundred invisibilities and the terrible swirl.
Out of the wildness, the branch of an oak plucked her from the water and she clung there, animal, as orange dawned over the marsh made alien with mud.
if you think it's a cop-out to use a quote in place of an actual review, you're gonna love this:
fulfilling book riot's 2020 read harder challenge task #5: Read a book about a natural disaster
yeah, how you like me now? look, 2020 was HARD, and i didn't get to meet all my goals, so i'm using this short story to complete that task and i don't wanna hear anything out of y'all, especially if you get to work from home and aren't one of the handful of suckers commuting into a pandemic-y city each day; at-risk and exhausted, breathing through damp cloth with foggy glasses on. boo-urns. i didn't think this particular prompt would be one of the last ones rattling around, scrambling to be met, since i LOVE natural disaster books, but it was a weird year all around, i guess.
anyway, it's a great story, and the immediacy with which she wrote the natural disaster part of it was exquisite and got me right in my anxious bits.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 28: THE MARTIANS CLAIM CANADA - MARGARET ATWOOD
the queen of the long pen interprets canadian history, from a cluster of mushrooms' perspectives, as told to martians, both of which groups seem inordinately preoccupied with musicals as a testament* to 'making it.'
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 27: TWO DREAMS ON TRAINS - ELIZABETH BEAR
ah, the generational chasm when it comes to values, or rather, how those values are defined - 'cuz sometimes a train is not just a train, but an opportunity, and mothers and sons'll have different ideas about what opportunities a train'll represent.
four more days of this! sorry for such shorty-pie reviews. end of year gets BUSY for karen! and i am so, so tired.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 25: CHRISTMAS TALE - MARK LAWRENCE
yes, i've already read a mark lawrence story during this year's short story advent calendar, but this one is called CHRISTMAS TALE, for goodness' sake! and, since it is a christmas story involving satan and demons, (theoretical/conceptual) dead puppies, and bread falling buttered-side down, it is pretty much the perfect holiday story for our collective 2020 moods. may your days be merry and bright, all! or at least virus-free. make good choices!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 24: I, CTHULHU, OR, WHAT'S A TENTACLE-FACED THING LIKE ME DOING IN A SUNKEN CITY LIKE THIS (LATITUDE 47° 9' S, LONGITUDE 126° 43' W)? - NEIL GAIMAN
You know what killed off the dinosaurs, Whateley? We did. In one barbecue.
merry christmas, i'm already exhausted from typing out that title.
ANYWAY, when i saw this:
Please enjoy what has become a quiet holiday tradition in the Tor.com offices: the reading of Neil Gaiman’s original story: “I, Cthulhu, or, What’s A Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing In A Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9’ S, Longitude 126° 43’ W)?”
Merry Christmas!
as the intro to this story on the tor.com site, i thought that meant that this story had xmas content, and decided xmas eve would be the perfect time to read it, even though, say it with me, class: karen doesn't like lovecraft.
turns out it has zero holiday content, but i enjoyed it anyway, because it acknowledges the things about lovecraft's stories that are ridiculous and has a little fun at his expense, as cthulhu narrates its memoirs, using all the buzzwords that make me cringe, and making me wonder—is there a lovecraft version of scrabble?
this in particular made me laugh:
To tell the truth I wasn’t all that fond of my cousins, and due to some particularly eldritch distortion of the planes I’ve always had a great deal of trouble seeing them clearly. They tend to get fuzzy around the edges, and some of them—Sabaoth is a case in point—have a great many edges.
anyway, i have some holiday drinks in me, so that's all you get, but ho ho ho and be merry!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 23: BRIDESICLE - WILL MCINTOSH
in the future, things are very weird, indeed. some things are the same: dating is awkward, mothers are critical, men lie to women, true love waits, but death is not quite the end, and if you don't quite achieve your happily ever after, there are ways to get the next best thing, even if you have to have a baby with a stranger to get there.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 21: RUB-A-DUB-DUB - TONY MILLIONAIRE
so, yeah, i didn't know that this story was only a 2-panel illustrated nursery rhyme when i chose it, but do i regret choosing such a shortie after being on my feet all day booksellin' and shoppin' and walking home to save $$$ and avoid the maskless dummies on the subway? i do not. it has been a long day and doing a one-a-day obligation means that sometimes it is a blessing to not have to think too hard or write too much. i love tony millionaire and i thank him for making my night easier.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 20: DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE - GG
i read this story early in the morning prior to trying to squeeze in some xmas shopping before my 10:00 am shift, and it put me in the LEAST FESTIVE MOOD EVER. this is a graphic short, and i love the artwork and the story both, but the message is a downer: bullying only gets worse as you get older, and even if you have love and family and you're doing everything right, if you're working poor and 'other,' nothing really changes because assholes get older, too, and they just get more powerful. whee.
early morning heartbreak for me. guess i was naughty this year.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 19: NO PERIOD - HARRY TURTLEDOVE
...make him think i've forgotten that supervolcano trilogy—i have not—but this proustian paragraph of a story—this joycean rivverrun ouroboros—is a successful writing exercise; telling a story 'membering things past—lost love, regret, &yadda—rippling the, "what if we'd done this?/what if we'd done that?" conceit beyond the actions of two mortal lovers, spinning it wider and wider to encompass history's game changers, nature's full stops—with ample dadjoke wordplay on the word 'period' in a story containing none—though it loses cool points, from me, for canceling out the success of pulling off the challenge by gauchely going one step too far with the LOOK AT ME SUCCESSFULLY PULLING OFF THE CHALLENGE of it (meanwhile, the back of my mind chuckles and mutters, "pulling off"); which going one, two steps too far (particularly in the 'humorous' elements), was one of the big dealbreakers for me in t-dove's writing—the cringey corny neverending (riverrun) of ostensible humor; something i haven't encountered in any of the short fiction of his i've dared to read, but was supersaturating those unforgivable, unforgettable supervolcano books, so even though it's not the case here, you can kind of feel his impulse on standby, testing the air with its l'il feelers—and it's relevant, here, to mention—just as it's relevant to wearily acknowledge the inevitable urge reviewers will feel to mirror, in their reviews, the style, the cleverness, the challenge t-dove himself takes on, but i'm here to tell you—i don't want to...
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 18: DEMOLITION - FIONA MCFARLANE
okay, just letting you know—for the next few days, these things are gonna get real perfunctory. not all of us get to work from home, pandemic or no pandemic, and i'm behind on ALL my holidaying.
i read this on my lunch break, so it had my full attention—i just don't have much left in the tank for any kind of thoughtful review now.
it's a story very much worth reading, even if i can't do it justice, about a longtime resident of a small town whose memories of the house across the street are not—like all of the journalists and looky-loos who have gathered to watch it be torn down—about the famous serial killer who lived there, but about the family before them; the girl who was everything to her: childhood, love, loss, and her purest realization of self.
i didn't clock that it was written by the woman who wrote The Night Guest until i'd finished—but i loved them both and now i really want to (finally) read her book of short stories: The High Places: Stories.
okay, gotta go make stock and sew &etc so i can make some freaking merry for others.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 17: THE WAITER'S WIFE - ZADIE SMITH
a perfect story, and another one i wouldn't have discovered without the demands of this project pitchforking me in the back.
i read White Teeth before goodreads even existed, so my memory of it is foggy, but this story was ringing enough familiar bells that after reading it, i looked into its provenance. i think i have traced it accurately, but if i'm wrong feel free to correct me. politely.
this story ran in granta in 1999, a year before White Teeth was published, and it features some of the same characters, so at first i thought "oh no, this is not a short story at all, but an excerpt from her (at the time) forthcoming novel!" i do not have my copy at hand, but thanks to google books et al., i was able to determine that while chunks of this story do in fact appear in White Teeth, some of it was left on the cutting room floor, and the story itself—in this form and arrangement—is its own thing.
long story short:
for you—if you haven't read White Teeth, this story won't spoil anything for you and you don't have to have read White Teeth to understand or appreciate it.
for you—if you have read White Teeth, this will be like getting some deleted scenes gently folded into the novel batter and baked into a satisfying little cupcake
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 16: CLEARING THE BONES - CELESTE NG
this is another audio short, by an author who has not failed me yet. here, she reads her story about two sisters, bound by family grief, and how hard the habit of fierce sisterly protectiveness is to abandon, even when it is no longer necessary. it's a slow-dawn of a story, and does a fine job of showing-not-telling the evolving relationship between the two women. lovely and touching and beautifully done.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 15: DURING THE DANCE - MARK LAWRENCE
a little sentimental for stonehearted me, but i still enjoyed it. everyone's always telling me to read this guy, and now i have, even though they prolly didn't have these stories in mind when they were saying i HAAAAD to read him. i suppose at some point i should take all those suggestions to heart and give him a proper go, but it has been a long day and right now all i'm thinking about is beer and popcorn and getting ready for this blizzard.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 12: TERRAIN - GENEVIEVE VALENTINE
You just can’t be dead enough for some people. They want to burn your footprints right off the earth.
uuuuuuuggghhhh, this is heartpunchingly wonderful. i somehow missed this one way back in 2013—i probably skipped it because it was a long'un, comparatively, but i'm so glad i made the time to slide into it this morning.
it's a bleak steampunk western about a man named elijah who takes in a group of individuals who have only ever received the short end of the white man's stick and gives them a home, making of them a sort of family. frank and faye are shoshone siblings who escaped an abusive mormon school, joseph is an emancipated slave, ex-soldier and blacksmith, fa liang is a chinese mechanical engineer who had been laying railroad tracks until his brother was killed in a blast, and maria is, presumably, a mexican woman run off of her farm after her husband died. separately, none of these people are considered people by the law, but with elijah, they are given a respectable purpose, providing "a service too useful to run out of town;" running a messenger service using 'dogs'—nimble six-legged manned mechanical contraptions designed by fa liang capable of clambering up and over places that couriers on horseback cannot.
with elijah, they are safe and reasonably tolerated by the township, although faye; fiercely protective of her brother, is always braced for the inevitable conflict that will break this tenuous homestead apart.
which—naturally—does occur, when railroad men come a-calling, offering elijah big $$ for his land, and, when he refuses, playing that shady strategy card; tempting locals with promises of what the town could become with the railroad's prestige and spreading lies about elijah and the others.
things get bad. then they get worse.
it is a powerhouse of a story, beautifully written and highly empathetic. the only 'genre' thing about it is that mechanical dogs exist, so even if you're not into steampunk, that shouldn't stop you from appreciating all the rich and heartbreaking humanity of it. if you're a goddamn racist, it's probably not for you, and fuck you anyway.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 11: HORROR STORY - CARMEN MARIA MACHADO
That was the biggest indignity: the landlord had rented us a haunted house for above market rent and we didn’t have the money to move. We left him a few voicemails about the matter but aside from sending a handyman – who dredged up clumps of blonde hair and a sparrow bone branded with an unreadable symbol from the depths of the drain – he didn’t seem particularly concerned with our plight.
this is going to be one of those times when i am too tired for extensive commentary. today was a rough day at the old book factory, and i am a weary goose. i really liked this story, though, and i suggest you check it out. sometimes a haunted house story is less about ghosties and more about what has withered and died in your own lives while you were looking the wrong way.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 10: MARGOT'S ROOM - EMILY CARROLL
another chilling little graphic short from emily carroll. this one begins with a poem that tells you how to proceed:
first he gave me flowers & second I made her a doll but third he’d be gone for hours & fourth we hit a wall. LASTLY THERE WAS BLOOD, (rich & raw in the light of the moon) I can’t forget I will always regret what happened in MARGOT’S ROOM
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to read the story in order, you first click on the flowers, then the doll, then the window, then the mirror on the wall, and finally, the blood on the floor.
if you do, you will discover the story of a relationship that begins inauspiciously
[image]
becomes spooky
[image]
and ends tragically
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like all of the stories i've read from her, i'm not 100% on the details, but her artwork is great and she's always amazing at establishing atmosphere, and this one's a lot of spooky-good fun.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 9: STET - SARAH GAILEY
stories like this one are why i'm glad i do this exhausting project every year. i probably wouldn't have discovered this if i hadn't been specifically hunting for short stories to stockpile for this endeavor. it's by no means my favorite short story ever, but i appreciate the innovative way the story is told so very much. it's a single paragraph of extremely dry textbook-writing with clickable links to annotations, which themselves contain clickable links to the editor's notes and the author's responses to her notes.
ostensibly written in 2042, the subject matter is AI in the field of self-driving automobiles, with a particular focus on the algorithm determining priority-of-life in "trolley problem"-like situations, where impact is inevitable with one of two different entities, activating a decision-matrix that assesses which of the two should be avoided in the collision.
[image]
the back-and-forth comments between the author of the piece and her editor are where it's all at, storywise, as facts illuminating the author's experiences and the relationship between the women unfold and it becomes clear that maybe someone else should be writing this textbook, for reasons of professional objectivity and personal decency.
great story, and a really fun way of telling a story.
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 8: A STATEMENT IN THE CASE - THEODORA GOSS
YEAH, I KNOW WHAT I SAID! rule number 2/2 = "listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity," and this one is NOT, but you gotta break some rules to make an omelet. or something. and since i know there's a good chance many of these short story advent calendar reviews won't make it to adulthood, being gobbled and shat out by GR's birds of prey, i'm gonna read this theodora goss story because i like her and i want just one small moment of happiness, is that okay with you, 2020?
not my favorite of hers, but i regret breaking my own rules not at all. she's great, and she's story number eight, and that's enough of that rhyming stuff!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIWELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.
IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.
DECEMBER 7: VAMPIRE - ROBERT COOVER
my saving grace during these advent calendars = FLASH FICTION! thank you, robert coover, for writing this tiny surreal suburban satire about vampiric malaise that didn't...WAIT FOR IT...suck.
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