In September, I recommended twenty-one (21) stories and poems by eighteen (18) authors at fourteen (14) magazines on weekdays. I went on a couple reading binges for both magazines and authors. Sometimes you can tell who I have subscriptions to.
On weekends, I sometimes recommended stories I’ve suggested in the past. Those are in past blog posts, so I won’t include them here, just the new recs. You can scroll through all previous 89 Short Story Round-Up posts to see all the stories. Or you can join my Discord server for a daily throwback story as well.
On any given day, I may post a short story or poem that may have just published hot off the presses or came out 100 years ago. When I started making my recommendations, these were not tied to timeliness because I needed to do something I could do without excess stress. Also, older stories are awesome and deserve new readers. Sometimes a story just hits differently years later.
Small Wonders published:
Fat with Berries, Full of Life by Brigitte N. McCray in July.
What would you do if your wife was a bear? What memories do you keep and which do you leave? This story pricked my emotions.
Waiting for Beauty by Marie Brennan in August.
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Mirrored by Jennifer Hudak in August (reprint).
There is a girl in the mirror with a mother, and all the things the girl and the other girl and the mother do not want and want.
Labyrinth by Diana Dima in August.
A poem about a house of stone.
For All Mankind by Shana Ross was published at Ninth Letter this summer.
A poem.
Constellary Tales published CurioQueens by Ephiny Gale in 2019.
Another story that really pricked my emotions.
The Deadlands published this summer:
Inverse Requiem, by Abhinav
A poem about wishing for a loved one in death.
The Rerebirth of Slick, by Stephen Kearse
This story just needs to be read.
Rachel Is at a Protest, by Esther Alter
A weaving of the atrocities committed against Jewish people by Nazis and atrocities committed against Palestine.
Three Things That Happen the Night My Dad Dies, by Isabel Cañas
A beautiful story about death and resurrection and the consequences of such.
All Belknaps Go Under the Mountain by Margaret Dunlap was published at The Sunday Morning Transport in July.
A fun, twisty story of the fae and a family.
Interstellar Flight Press published What the Tiles Know by Carol Scheina in September.
A meet-cute with magic.
“To staunch a nosebleed” & “If I try to unfold my heart” by Shana Ross were published at yolk in September.
A couple of poems that evoke strong scenes.
Stupefying Stories published Restoration by Ephiny Gale in 2022.
A story of health, illness, and time.
Inner Worlds published in August:
Colossus, by Samir Sirk Morató
A story of living in a place so far away from everyone else.
The Flame In You, by L. Nabang
A story of life in a family who doesn’t understand you, and you don’t quite understand them until it is too late.
Last Text by Ephiny Gale was published at Daily Science Fiction in 2021.
A tragedy.
Since posting this in September, the DSF site went down. The story is available in the wayback machine or in Gale’s short story collection, Pick Your Potion.
Heartlines Spec published I Met My Wife in the Woods by Ash Vale in July.
A recollection of meeting their wife, was it at a party or in the woods?
Letters From Mt. Monroe Elementary, Third Grade by Sarah Pauling was published at Diabolical Plots in September.
A story through 3rd grade class letters to aliens coming to Earth, 1967-2024.
Frivolous Comma published As Luck Would Have It by A.D. Sui in August.
How would life work if someone attracted all the bad luck in your area? What kind of life would they have? Could they have?
Ingénue, Once by Aimee Ogden was published at Trollbreath Magazine in September.
Aimee Ogden never disappoints. A story of two ballerinas and how the one who isn’t the star deals with it.
I hope you enjoyed this group of mostly recent stories with a few older ones. I almost always only post stories that are free-to-read online, but many awesome stories require subscriptions or downloads. I’m debating including more of those, as long as they pay the author something, in my recommendations. What do you think?