Hell to Pay by Mark Johnson
I enjoyed this story about identity theft and a deal with the devil. If it was any longer, I probably would have found it tedious, but as a flash fiction piece it worked well, and definitely made me smile.
You can listen to it here, at the Manawalker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast.
Schrödinger’s Catastrophe by Gene Doucette
Lightspeed published this novelette in two parts. I thought it was clever and quite a bit of fun, especially with the way it started and ended. A research ship gets stranded in a sector of space where what we perceive as the basic rules of the universe turn out to be variable, and a rescue attempt goes hilariously awry. Unlike many of the stories that Lightspeed has published in the past, this one has absolutely no intersectional identity politics (or really, any politics in general), which was gratifying.
You can find part one here and part two here.
The Preserved City by Charles Schoenfeld
This is my favorite story from this past week. A struggling young Italian composer seeks supernatural help from the spirit of one of the greats, only to receive it—and it doesn’t turn out as she expects. Really made me think about the tension between the things that drive us to create and the struggle and pain of the creative life, which sometimes threatens to destroy the thing that drove us to create in the first place. The ending was perfect.
I’ve been really impressed with the stories coming out lately from Metaphorosis Magazine. They consistently manage to put out stories that I not only enjoy, but that stay with me long after I’ve finished them. In fact, it seems that all the semi-prozines tend to be more consistent about producing stories that I actually enjoy, as opposed to the professional magazines which seem to be more interested in chasing awards, especially the Hugos and the Nebulas.