This month, the list is rather long. This explains my lateness in putting up this post (sort of… I’m also lazy!). I discovered a cache of new magazines this month, thus adding greatly to the number of stories I read and liked.

Several weeks ago I lamented about the fact that there weren’t many markets for long stories such as novellas and novelettes. As a result, people kept suggesting markets to me. I was reminded that Electric Velocipede takes longer stuff, and introduced to GigaNotoSaurus and The Red Penny Papers, which both take novelettes. I’ll put up a post later this week with a longer list.

As always, I welcome any discussion of these stories in the comments. let me know if you liked them or not and why an feel free to tell me I’m wrong and have bad taste! Also, consider dropping a comment where the option is available on the original stories.

• Breaking the Frame by Kat Howard
  There are a million post modern, female centric takes on fairy tales out there, but I particularly like the frame (hahaha) Howard uses for this story. At first I was not down with the cliched relationship at the beginning, then I realized the author was doing that for more than just hipster irony. Highly recommended.
• Cutting by Ken Liu
  Stories that require a particular kind of layout can be difficult to do well without seeming gimmicky. No surprise that this is not the case for Ken Liu. Short and amazing.
• The Last Supper by Scott Edelman
  This is one of the best zombie stories I’ve ever read. I’m not that into zombies, so my view may be skewed. However, I love the POV here and how Edelman is able to bring all this tension and foster engagement with a character that should be really boring and tedious.
• muo-ka’s Child by Indrapramit Das
  Touching first contact story that takes a different angle than most. Again, I really like stories where the aliens are SO very alien.
• Mrs. Henderson’s Cemetery Dance by Carrie Cuinn
  I had no idea where this story was going when I started, but I loved where it ended up. Funny and touching.
• The Harpy by Laura Heron
  Another story that hits many of my kinks. Kinks include dudes who leave their wives for younger women getting what they deserve. Also: women finding their crone power.
• Sexagesimal by Katharine E.K. Duckett
  Duckett’s vision of the afterlife pulled me in, but the ending is what completely sold me on this story.
• The 17th Contest of Body Artistry by Alex Dally MacFarlane
  Obviously, I’m a fan of stories that take some format other than a straight up narrative, so this one hits my kink in that arena. Plus, it’s just very good and once again has me thinking about aspects of my own worldbuilding. The things that can be revealed about a culture from such things as an art contest and how people react to it is many and varied. Lovity love.
• Night’s Slow Poison by Ann Leckie
  A story about a boring 6 month trip through dead space on a small ship might be super boring itself in the hands of a less skilled author. Instead, Leckie nails it.
• Secrets of the Sea by Jennifer Marie Brissett
  Touching story that centers on a father/son relationship. Its all blendy with the SF and fantasy, though perhaps if you ask Jenn she would say it’s all SF.
• Garlic Squash by Nicki Vardon
  This one is just a lot of fun, especially for those of you tired of people falling in love with sexy vampires. They are not sexy!
• On Higher Ground by Annie Bellet
  Normally, I don’t care for stories about sports or where the protagonist is super interested in a sport. But, I have to admit that the author’s descriptions of skiing were so beautiful that I almost wanted to go out and learn to ski. People who are fans of high class sports and the ridiculousness corporateness of them will like this.
• Je me souviens by Su J. Sokol
  Trigger warning: rape and child abuse. This one got a little rambly in the middle, but really resonated with me in the end. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between the father and son. I also like that it can be read as speculative or not.
• Heaven Under Earth by Aliette de Bodard
  The story as a whole didn’t do it for me as much as I hoped it would in the beginning and middle bits. I am very much enamored with the worldbuilding and the gender politics at play. Would love to discuss such with other folks who read this.
• The Fourth Exam by Dorothy Yarros
  Political intrigue! I’m not usually a fan of that, but this pulled me in. Unfortunately, the story feels more like the backstory to a fantastic novel about a political coup and the bureaucrats caught in the middle of the struggle than a standalone. At the end I felt very much like I’d read a prologue.

Visit my Favorite Fiction tag to see all the other short stories I’ve liked so far this year.

As I predicted, this is way late thanks to WorldCon. All things can be blamed on WorldCon. The good thing about going was being at the Hugo ceremony to see many deserving writers and artists get their shiny rockets. It’s sort of a coincidence (but not exactly) that many of the Hugo Award winners also have fiction on my list below. A coincidence because I didn’t plan it that way, but not because it’s no surprise that I’d love their stories given their track record.

Last month I also did some novel reading. I finally finished Liar by Justine Larbalestier. If you haven’t read it yet, go now! It’s so good. I also read the last of the Midnighters books by Scott Westerfeld. I put it off a long time because I love the first two so much I didn’t want to be done with those characters.

September is already shaping up to be a great month, especially since there’s a new issue of Electric Velocipede out. Also, did you know they have a Kickstarter? They so do.

• Waiting for Beauty By Marie Brennan
  So, this story. It’s fairly short, but even so I saw the ending coming pretty early. I’m not sure how I feel about what it says about Beauty and the Beast, and thus I’m not sure how I feel about the story as a whole. I’d welcome some discussion on it.
• The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species by Ken Liu
  “Everyone makes books.” Not only do I just love this story for the glimpses into other worlds and other species, I also love that it made me start thinking about the kind of books exist in the worlds I create in fiction. Oddly, it’s not a question I generally ask myself, though you’d think it would be one of the first things to come to mind. Wouldn’t this make an excellent interview question for any writer? What kind of books do your characters create?
• Mantis Wives by Kij Johnson
  I’m not entirely sure this is science fiction or fantasy, but it’s certainly speculative. Regardless, Johnson pulled me in with the descriptions of these intricate art pieces.
• Honey Bear by Sofia Samatar
  This story is just sad! I feel like people who desperately want to be parents will appreciate it in particular.
• Fade to White by Catherynne M. Valente
  Because I read the first paragraph of this story, got interrupted, then came back later, I didn’t remember that Cat wrote it until I got to the end and went back to read it again. I love, love, loved this and I already suggested it to the Tiptree jury. I really dug the way she played with gender roles and with the commentary on advertising and marketing slyly added in. It’s just a really good story, go read.
• The Bear with the Quantum Heart by Renee Carter Hall
  At first, this story reminded me a lot of the movie A.I., but it did move beyond that. I’m including this on the list less because it’s a favorite story and more because I want to discuss it with people who’ve read it. Would love to read some reactions to the Kayla character.
• Love Might Be Too Strong a Word by Charlie Jane Anders
  Charlie Jane spins a lot of cool stuff about gender in this with a little bit of commentary on the nature of love in the public square.
• Cotillion by Delia Sherman
  I can’t decide which aspect of this I like best: the funny take on life as a Deb, the old-school New York, or the mythy aspects. As usual, Delia blends everything perfectly.

Visit my Favorite Fiction tag to see all the other short stories I’ve liked so far this year.

Sorry I’m so late in posting July’s picks, all. Got caught up in work stuff, as usual. I’m also behind on my August reading. And with Worldcon coming up in a couple of weeks I might be late with my picks after that.

Speaking of WorldCon, one of the reasons I started these lists and keeping track of the stuff I read that I like is that I’m trying to be better about suggesting fiction for awards. Not just the Hugos, but also the Tiptree, Carl Brandon, World Fantasy and Million Writers Awards, to name a few. Remembering favorite short stories is harder for me than remembering favorite novels. Now I have all of the stuff I like cataloged over on Delicious with tags that will help me find appropriate stuff easier.

If anyone would like to join me in tagging and keeping up with loved stuff in this manner, my username on Delicious is ktempest.

And now, the fiction:

• One Ear Back by Tina Connolly
  People who don’t like cat stories might still like this one. Again, the conclusion of this story is what sold me on it. And again, it would be a spoiler to tell you why.
• Song Of The Body Cartographer by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
  I initially wasn’t going to put this on my favorites list because, when I got to the end of this I thought: this is half a story! But I decided to include it, anyway, because I like so many other things about it.
• Lady Marmalade by E. Catherine Tobler
  Not sure I really get this story completely, but I love the imagery and the writing a lot. I like the idea of memories, impressions, essence being stored in jars of marmalade.
• We Can Remember It For You Retail by Mary E. Lowd
  Unexpectedly depressing… Still, a good story. The reason I like it so much has to do with the ending, and I don’t want to spoil it.
• Lost by Seanan McGuire
  Being a tween is hard and full of sorrow.
• Astrophilia by Carrie Vaughn
  Post-apocalyptic stuff usually isn’t my thing, but this story manages to make that trope feel less like window dressing than most other stories I’ve read.
• My Teacher, My Enemy by Kelsey Ann Barrett
  I don’t even know how to describe this one except to say that, when I started reading, I didn’t think I would like it and by the end I did.

Visit my Favorite Fiction stack to see all the other short stories I’ve liked so far this year.

June was a really good month for fiction! Must be all that summer reading we’re all expected to do. I didn’t get very far in my novel reading this month, but I did start on The Shadowed Sun by N. K. Jemisin, Redshirts by John Scalzi, and continue working through Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. I also picked up Ancient, Ancient  by Kiini Ibura Salaam.

• Contact by Eileen Gunn
  I love stories where humans encounter aliens that are SO alien. This one is told from the alien’s POV and works really well.
• Winter Scheming by Brit Mandelo
  [TRIGGER WARNING: Domestic Violence.] What I like best about this story is that it starts out in an unexpected way given what’s really going on (which you understand at the end). Very well structured and executed.
• Immersion by Aliette de Bodard
  I had trouble with this one at first because one of the POVs was hard to grok, but I liked where the story went in the end.
• If The Mountain Comes by An Owomoyela
  Engaging meditation on scarcity and class.
• Mother of All Russiya by Melanie Rawn
  I’m not sure about this one. I liked he story in general, but I’m concerned about the characterization of Master Cheng. I’d be interested in discussing it with anyone who read or will read it.
• Tiger Stripes by Nghi Vo
  This story slowly builds up and worms into you.
• The Inconstant Moon by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  If you haven’t read Alaya’s novel “Moonshine” and you’re into vampires or the 1920s or supernatural-inflected historical fiction, go out and get it RIGHT NOW. It’s jazz vampires! If you’ve read “Moonshine” or the sequel “Wicked City” then you’ll like this story, too. It’s a prequel and tells the tale of how the novel’s protagonist, Zephir Hollis, first came to NYC.
• Daddy’s Girl by Amy Sundberg
  I love the main character of this story like burning. She’s is so damn fierce!

Visit my Favorite Fiction stack to see all the other short stories I’ve liked so far this year.

I came home from WisCon 36 with a big to-read pile (though these days it’s less of a pile and more of a list on my Nook) and so June’s favorite fiction list may include less short stories and more novels. Also, I don’t think I scooped every new May story into Readability, so I’ll probably a have few more published last month in the next list.

One last thing — I notice that Rahul Kanakia keeps popping up everywhere and I must say I’m super pleased about that. I’ve liked everything I’ve read by him so far. If he’s as prolific as he seems, I will have plenty to catch up on over the next few months.

• Tomorrow’s Dictator by Rahul Kanakia
  As a person who spends much time going to conferences and networking, I find the setting of this story very funny. Great tale about mind manipulation (the consensual kind).
• Decomposition by Rachel Swirsky
  So, this is a zombie story. But in true Rachel Swirsky style, it’s not the kind of zombie story you’d expect.
• What Everyone Remembers by Rahul Kanakia
  A really touching post-apocalyptic story with all kinds of crunchy science and morality questions to work out.
• My Dignity in Scars by Cory Skerry
  This story snuck up on me. I wasn’t sure I’d like it at first, but the tone drew me in and the conflict eventually engaged me.
• Alarms by S. L. Gilbow
  I dig stories where characters make OCD lists about things. I also just like the way this one flows. The main character is very relate-able, even with the odd sfnal things going on.
• Her Words Like Hunting Vixens Spring by Brooke Bolander
  Revenge story! And it doesn’t pull punches in the end. I am a fan of that.
• The Chastisement of Your Peace by Tracy Canfield
  I’m a sucker for parallel world stories. I like how this one plays with the idea of the same person from multiple versions of the universe.
• Machine Washable by Keffy R.M. Kehrli (podcast)
  This is a short one, but oh so much fun. And read really well.
• The Rugged Track by Liz Argall (podcast)
  This one made me smile because I know that Liz’s love of roller derby is the reason it exists. Even if you don’t love roller derby, this beautiful story about love and difficult choices and daughters and mothers will totally make you cry.

Visit my Favorite Fiction stack to see all the other short stories I’ve liked so far this year.

Lately I’ve been making an effort to read more short fiction since I’ve been on an almost exclusively novel diet for a couple of years. But now that online magazines are making it easy for me to read them on my eReader or phone or tablet, I will do my bit by actually reading them.

Last month I started in earnest, so here’s a list of the stories I read and loved in April.

• An Early Adoption by Rahul Kanakia
• I really enjoyed the descriptions of the impossible, unreal things in the virtual world. I don’t know that I identify with the main character’s reaction to them, but then I’ve always wanted to live in a holodeck.
• The Second Card of the Major Arcana By Thoraiya Dyer
• Interesting interpretation of the Sphinx. I like the clash between ancient and modern and the unrelenting nature of the main character.
• Electric Rains by Kathleen Ann Goonan
• Due to the setting and a sort-of similar theme, this reminded me a lot of The Drowned Cities, except I like it a lot more. Dystopian, post-apocalyptic, very personal and close and sad.
• Mother Ship by Caroline M. Yoachim
• I’m not such a big fan of stories that offer resonance and not a real resolution, but the pull of the character in this one really grabbed me.
• Sunlight Society by Margaret Ronald
• Very interesting read, especially when juxtaposed with the new Avengers movie. It’s not actually about superheroes. Not really…
• My She by Mary Rosenblum
• Really liked this story when I read it in Federations. Quiet and affecting meditation on technology and humanity.

Visit my Favorite Fiction stack to see all the other short stories I’ve liked so far this year.

Also of note: just finished N. K. Jemisin’s The Killing Moon and it’s amazingly good. You’ll love it if you liked her Inheritance trilogy. I also got hooked into E. C. Myers Fair Coin even though I already read that book long ago. Yet somehow it completely sucked me in. I guess this is why io9 called it pure, awesome crack ;)