Black Gate

This is the marvelous sort of story that never quite allows you to form a picture in your head, because it’s always contradicting itself. It seems to exist on three (or more?) levels at once, strange images super-imposed on each other. On the one hand it seems a story of everyday modern life, Facebook and all, told with keen emotional resonance.

There’s for instance, this passage from a mother’s perspective when her daughter has an abortion:

“And afterwards, her daughter wanting ice cream and to sit by the river and watch the waterbirds dancing in the shallow water. Alice had rested her head on Clara’s shoulder, curled her feet up under her bottom like a child. Her breath had smelled of milk and sweet biscuits, and her hair of antiseptic. It is the last time Clara can remember her daughter wanting to be held.”

This passage sounds the sort of thing you could read in any mainstream fiction magazine, rich in sensory detail and lived-in experience.

But no. It’s firmly of our genre. Do you want to discover for yourself the speculative element, which slowly and imperceptibly bleeds into the tale? Go and read this lovely tale by Nike Sulway for free at Lightspeed, here. Then click on for the full review with spoilers.

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Lately I’ve felt like using this column to cover fewer pieces of fiction, but more in depth. So for the time being I’ll write about one story per column, picking my favorites from a given magazine.

In this month’s Clarkesworld, I very much enjoyed the short story “Summer at Grandma’s House” by Hao Jingfang, originally published in 2007, and translated into English by Carmen Yiling Yan.You can read it for free right now at Clarkesworld.

Briefly, what it’s about: a young man drifting aimlessly through life who visits his grandmother for the summer. This place is not what you’d expect: “The coffeepot is a penholder, the penholder is a lighter, the lighter is a flashlight, the flashlight is a jam container.” The story has to do with what he learns about the meaning of life in this house. From here on in, we delve into spoilers, so click on (either to the story or the rest of the column).

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In this column, find recommendations for short speculative fiction from Fantasy and Science Fiction (July/August 2015), Asimov’s (August 2015), Lightspeed (August 2015), Analog (July/August 2015), and Clarkesworld (107). The Clarkesworld & Lightspeed stories are linked; the rest require a subscription.

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In this column, find recommendations for short speculative fiction from Lightspeed (July 2015), Clarkesworld (July 2015) and Asimov’s (July 2015).

“When Your Child Strays from God”
by Sam J. Miller
Clarkesworld 106

This delightful short story is the 1st person account of Bethesda Wilde, an account prepared for the e-mail bulletin of Grace Abounding Evangelical Church. In order to save her son from a life of sin, Beth goes “webslinging” (i.e., takes a drug that puts her in a shared hallucination with her son). Madness ensues. Much of the story’s delight comes from the hallucinatory imagery: inventive, funny, and creepy. Sam J. Miller’s writing bounds from one sentence to the next with tremendous energy and confidence. Aside from the insane web world, the story possesses a sincere emotional core and I found it quite moving in the end. Beth is a memorable and multidimensional character: hilarious, lovable (sometimes hateful), and with a good head for science. She has a few secrets of her own up her sleeve.

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So much short fiction to recommend! As with my debut column, this one will focus on speculative stories, novellas and novelettes, with a sci-fi emphasis, and dabbling into fantasy and horror. This column covers the month of May, and a novella published in February. Sources for this month’s list of awesome stories include Lightspeed (Issue 60, May 2015), Clarkesworld (Issue 104, May 2015), and Fantasy and Science Fiction (May/June 2015), as well as a novella published by April Moon Books. The magazines can be purchased for between $1 – $7.95, and the novella’s available for $3 in electronic format.

I only managed to review a brief selection of the many wonderful stories that appeared in May 2015, and I’m eager to know what other readers enjoyed: what they liked from this list, and what’s missing.

Onward to the stories:

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Hi Black Gate Readers!

My name is Learned Foote. Here’s the first installment of a new monthly column on short fiction. I’ll branch out from fantasy, and discuss some sci-fi publications. Each month, I’ll read a bunch of magazines and then give some recommendations for stories I particularly enjoyed (original fiction only, no reprints). I’d love to hear from you: what do you think of these stories? What’s missing from this list?

This column includes stories from Lightspeed (Issue 59, April 2015), Clarkesworld (Issue 103, April 2014), and Fantasy and Science Fiction (March/April 2015). Lightspeed & Clarkesworld can be read for free online, and F&SF costs between $1-3, depending on whether you subscribe or purchase an individual issue. Click on the issue covers above for additional details.

Onto the stories!

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