From warfare to deadly plants, ghosts to spaceships, spirits to ‘droids, and then some. My ten favorite short speculative stories I read in September are scattered across worlds and time, but most will leave you with a melancholy feeling.
“The Day When the Last War is Over” by Sergey Gerasimov
Let’s start off this spotlight with an emotionally challenging story about the end of the world and all the shit that comes with it. After a nuclear war destroys most living things, the skeletons of those who remain must contend with their final day. Sergey Gerasimov is a Ukrainian author who has remained in Kharkiv since the Russian invasion, context which turns this from a strange and haunting story about the aftermath of war into something gutting and honest.
Apex Magazine (September 2022, issue 133)
“Deathflower” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe
Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe’s story gave me strong A Little Shop of Horrors vibes, not the musical with its technicolor awe and tidy resolution but the surreal and extremely unsettling Roger Corman version. A grief-stricken woman buys a mysterious plant from an even more mysterious plant dealer and soon comes to regret it.
Weird Horror Magazine (Autumn 2022, issue 5)
“Early Evening Soul” by Kel Coleman
It’s been a while since we’ve been blessed with a new Kel Coleman story! Munro helps souls cross over…or does he? When he encounters a hesitant soul, Dominic, a connection forms between them that Munro doesn’t anticipate. Both men want more than what they have but don’t know how to get it. Kel mines that liminal space between stagnation and change, that moment where you can either tip over the edge or drag yourself back to the known.
Speculative City (Summer 2022, issue 13)
“Hyphemata, or Seeing Underwater Above” by Ra’Niqua Lee
Hyphema is a medical condition where blood pools in the anterior chamber of the eye, often occurring after an ocular injury. This is a hard story to pin down, but I think that’s what I like most about it. On the surface, it’s about our narrator recalling what it’s like to date a devil while also having a conversation with another couple about the deadliness of Lake Lanier. But, like the narrator’s devil says, there are “too many layers” to unpack. It made me feel in a way I can’t really explain, and I love when fiction leaves me in such a discombobulated state.
Uncharted Magazine
“In the Dream” by Meg Elison
The trip from Earth to Mars takes about seven months by spaceship. To maximize productivity, one of the crew is a designated sleeper, absorbing the rest of the crew’s sleep so they can stay awake. On the Koyash, the DS is Rori Breyer, a woman who has slept through almost all of her interplanetary trips. Although she unconscious, she is not alone in her mind. Something calls to her from the depths of space. An great science fiction story from an author who excels at ominous dread.
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (September/October 2022)
“LAGBOT-45” by Oyedotun Damilola Muees
An android is called to testify in court against a Nigerian billionaire accused of assault. The structure is built around several first person-style accounts, or logs, of the Lagbot. The Lagbot recounts its experiences over the last several weeks, but Oyedotun Damilola Muees digs deeper than that. There’s some prime social commentary here, on the patriarchy, capitalism, and more.
Omenana (September 2022, issue 23)
“My Mother’s Love” by Naomi Eselojor
A bittersweet story about an Abiku, a being from Yoruba folk tradition. This particular child-spirit is birthed by a mother that cannot bring himself to abandon. His kind are supposed to be unmoved by their human mother’s grief at losing her child before it grows up, but Ileriayo has a change of heart. Both he and his mother want what they cannot have and must carve out new lives from the wreckage of their old ones.
Hexagon (Fall 2022, issue 10)
“Possession” by Taylor Jones
Every now and again I come across a story that takes a niche contemporary premise—in this case, African giant pouched rats trained to sniff out things that are harmful to humans—and imagines how it might be adapted to a future crisis. In the real present, African giant pouched rats uncover landmines. In Taylor Jones’ near-future story, climate change has pushed people into the Arctic Circle while also defrosting a toxic and semi-sentient fungus that colonizes human brains. It’s both clever and grounded.
Reckoning (September 25, 2022, issue 6)
“A Stitch in Time, a Thousand Cuts” by Murtaza Mohsin
“Do you think it’s possible to take all these broken pieces and make something new out of it?”A thought-provoking dystopian story. Ali lives in the Zone, territory dominated by the Occupation Housing Authority who is constantly demolishing people’s homes under flimsy pretenses. Ali has the ability to travel back in time, but only for 10 minutes. It isn’t enough to stop the bombs, but it’s just enough for him to jump back and salvage personal belongings and beloved family members. Yet not everyone wants or needs to be saved.
Diabolical Plots (September 16, 2022, #91B)
“What Was Your Inspiration?” by Sloane Leong
Shay is a VR artist creating a new piece. She pours all her feelings about her medium and how the world reacted to one of her friend’s pieces into this work. The first half of the story is mostly backstory and creation, while the rest is the comments section responding to the piece. An intriguing fiction about art, what it is and what it is allowed to be, particularly when coming from a marginalized artist.
Analog (September/October 2022)
Alex Brown is a Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic who writes about speculative fiction, librarianship, and Black history. Find them on twitter (@QueenOfRats), instagram (@bookjockeyalex), and their blog (bookjockeyalex.com).
