Reading Those Stories

Indeed May is officially National Short Story month. I had no idea. NPR posted a nice bit about it here. There are even links to their interviews with some great short story authors, all decidedly literary, not genre. Don't hold that against them though!

I have a fair stack of paper and glue short story collections waiting to be read and ima going to get to those, really I am. This week was all about onscreen and earbuds.

First, in case you are wondering where to can find the latest genre short stories in print and online. Here are a couple places to find out about the freshest short stories in the genre.

• SF Signal regularly posts a list of Free SF/F/H fiction. For the latest listing search their site for the tag "Free Fiction."
• Over at Locus Online, Lois Tilton reviews both online and print short stories three times a month. I like her reviews because they are short and to the point and include recommendations.
• And I just discovered Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth, which I have to say is pretty awesome. In their words: They read as many SF, fantasy and horror stories as humanly possible every year; blog the good stuff; and at the end of every year, assemble lists of super absolute bestest favorites.

My reading so far -
The first three are also available as podcasts from their respective sites.

May 1 Monkeys by Ken Liu published in Nature - A nice little flash piece with a couple post docs, some monkeys, and a typewriter. You know Shakespeare is bound to show up.



May 2 Prayer by Robert Reed in Clarkesworld - I really enjoyed this one, religion, insurgency, a girl, and her sentient gun.



May 3 Our Town by Kim Stanley Robinson in Lightspeed - A rare shorter piece by K. S. Robinson. The cloud city with artists made me think of The Cloud Minders the classic Star Trek episode.  I loved the human sculpture idea.



May 4 An Old Acquaintance K.G. Jewell - Another flash piece. Short and sweet, with a likeable bogeyman. (To read this today, sign up to receive their daily emails. You won't regret it! If you don't want to weigh your inbox down just check into their site a week from now when it will be posted.)

Next week I'll try to focus on the pile of books on my nightstand.