September was full of lyrical, poetic, and haunting stories. These ten science fiction, fantasy, horror, and otherwise weird and wonderful speculative stories were a joy to read (and sometimes terrifying). I bring you a tormented wife, hungry monsters, murderous ravens, dystopian futures, and torturous deaths.
“Cuckoo” by Esra Kahya, translated by Aysel K. Basci
I don’t know that I can nor want to try and explain this strange story. All I will tell you is that it’s about a young woman named Nuran tormented by an old woman who hates her. But what makes this story worth reading is Esra Kahya’s gorgeous writing style—and, by extension, Aysel K. Basci’s translation. It reads like a Grimm Brothers’ fairytale and a surreal poem. “The night behind the window turned completely dark. It gathered everything from the ground and pulled it toward the sky. It heard the old woman, but pretended it didn’t. Besides, if it was going to bring her son back, would it ask her? If the son was going to come back, would he lie lifelessly near that rock behind two mountains?” (khōréō—vol 4, issue 3)
“Daring Again to Wave Goodbye” by Nkone Chaka
Sedge confronts a chimera and gets his prosthetic arm crunched in the process. Exactly as he planned. In a blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, Nkone Chaka describes the sounds of the rainforest Sedge stalks his prey through, the feel of the beast’s teeth crunching through his titanium arm, and the smell of the creature’s death-throes. Although this story is under a thousand words, it’s quite striking. (Three-Lobed Burning Eye—July 2024; issue 42)
“Fragments (From a Film)” by Avra Margariti
Weird Horror never manages to disappoint, and neither does Avra Margariti. They often turn up in speculative magazines with beautiful poetry, but this time we get a new short story in a great magazine. It does the story a disservice to say it’s about people watching a snuff film, although that’s the basic premise. A director cuts themself open and breaks their own bones on camera, and our narrator watches the whole thing. It’s distressing and disturbing, a horror that latches onto its audience so strongly the screen becomes reality. “We are still crying, still smiling, when the director swings their mallet on repeat, breaking every bone of their skull while blood and brains fly like vestigial pieces of that primordial dream.” (Weird Horror Magazine—Fall 2024; issue 9)
“Freezer Burn” by Cat Isidore
It may still be fall, but this winter-themed horror story will chill you to the bone. Andy, our narrator, takes their dog Daisy for a late-night run at the dog park. Usually Andy spends the time small-talking with other dog parents. Tonight, however, a new woman appears. A woman who seems unperturbed by the freezing cold. A woman so mesmerizing that time seems to stop when talking to her. A woman entirely too interested in Andy. Semi-tangentially, the cover for this issue is amazing! An armored porpoise soaring over a sailing ship, islands in the background and a full moon looming in the sky. The artwork was created by James Beveridge. (On Spec Magazine—#129, vol 34, no 3)
“Open Them If You Don’t Believe Me” by K.C. Mead-Brewer
“It was chill autumn and suddenly midnight. The woman stretched her hands to toast by the fire, but she should’ve known: When you burn something beautiful, its flames will never warm you.” This online magazine isn’t on my usual reading rotation, but I’m so grateful this story came across my social media feed anyway. Several people experience an act of violence or trauma. That moment haunts the rest of their lives while also jumping to its next victim. It’s an evocative piece of speculative fiction, a nightmare and a hallucination all at once. (matchbook—July 1, 2024)
“Reconstructing “The Goldenrod Conspiracy,” Edina Room, Saturday 2:30-3:30” by Gabriela Santiago
Structured like you’re listening to a panel at a convention, this story digs into fandom with wry humor. “The Goldenrod Conspiracy” is an episode of Backwards Man—think Doctor Who but weirder—a show from the 1960s that was lost after the censors destroyed it. The world this panel takes place in is just a little to the left of our own. The panel host talks about the history of the episode and the version fans made years before based on interviews with the few people who remembered bits of the original, and shows the reconstructed version using salvaged clips. If you’ve read this column before, you know how much I enjoy stories that don’t flow in a typical story format, and this is one of those. It’s simple at first glance, but doing a lot of heavy lifting. (Lightspeed—September 2024; issue 173)
,“They Remember Faces” by Leo Oliveira
“That which humanity finds useful will never go extinct.” Our narrator used to work at Ovil Industries, breeding endangered species only to feed them to other endangered species. In his letter, Sebastian describes the toll his work took on him, as well as his painful childhood suffering at the hands of his cruel father. Moving from one abusive asshole to another, Sebastian breaks under the strain his employer puts him under. A sharp, vengeful story about an animal lover driven to extremes. (Radon Journal—September 2024; issue 8)
“A Very Short History of the Discovery and Origin of Homo Sapiens Microplasticus in Three Parts” by Joshua Ginsberg
Another flash fiction story with an unexpected twist hitting the list this month. Eight hundred years in the future, archaeologists specializing in the “Plastec and Silicon Era” discover something that had once only been a theory. There’s debate as to whether this creature, dubbed “Rainbow Man” but known scientifically as Homo sapiens microplasticus, is truly a separate species of human or a mutation caused by external forces. Joshua Ginsberg takes us first to the discovery of the skeleton and then back to when the skeleton was inside a guy named Jim dating a divorced mother of a precocious little girl. It’s a cheeky short story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. (Apex Magazine—issue 146)
“Water Baby” by Tonya R. Moore
Big fan of Tonya R. Moore over here. Besides her great short stories, she also handles editor duties for poetry for both Solarpunk Magazine and FIYAH Literary Magazine. Her latest published story is set in a near future ravaged by climate change. Niobe lives in a drowned city. Most residents fled, not wanting to spend the rest of their lives stuck on canoes, but many have also disappeared without a trace. Like her mother. Something hunts in the waters, and when Niobe discovers what it is and where it came from, her world will never be the same. (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction—Summer 2024)
“Whale Fall” by J.L. Akagi
A whale that isn’t a whale dies while flying through the skies over New York City. It crashes to the ground, not unlike a dead whale in the sea sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor, except this one smashes into buildings on its way down. Dar and Porter race down to Manhattan to strip the corpse, along with every other human scavenger in the area. As accurate as J.L. Akagi’s title is, I guess I wasn’t expecting whale fall on the surface of the earth rather than in the ocean. A compellingly odd story with characters can’t help but enjoy hanging out with. (Strange Horizons—September 16, 2024)
