Looking for original short fiction in November and December? Look no further! Tor.com has four wonderful short stories coming over the course of the next two months, including a new Mongolian Wizard story from Michael Swanwick, plus other tales from Marissa Lingen, Jenna Helland, and Brian Staveley. Emigration to the Oort Cloud, cottager rebellions, and woodpile goblins abound in these stories. To keep track of our upcoming fiction, you can always check this page.
November 4
“Points of Origin”
Written by Marissa Lingen
Illustrated by Keith Negley
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Most people who have reached their eighties without raising children have every right to believe that they will go on not raising them, and Judith and I were no different until the day they turned up with the social worker, neatly scrubbed and pressed inside their vac-suits and carrying cases with all their remaining worldly possessions. There were three of them like stairsteps, their black hair cut in fringes across their foreheads and their dark eyes shining out disconcertingly familiar at me. But it wasn’t until the social worker said, “Mr. Chao and Ms. Goldstein, these are your grandchildren, Enid, Richard, and Harry,” that I remembered, sheepishly, about the genes we had given all those years ago, to that nice couple from New New Prague, before they left for the Oort Cloud.
November 11
“The Freedom of Navid Leahy”
Written by Jenna Helland
Illustrated by Red Nose Studio
Edited by Janine O’Malley
Sevenna City simmers with tension between the ruling elite known as the Zunft and the working-class cottagers. Hoping to regain control, the Zunft cracks down on the cottagers, but their brutality just fuels the flames of rebellion. A cottager boy tries to navigate the dangerous currents of the city but finds himself on a collision course with both the Zunft and the people who want to bring them down. “The Freedom of Navid Leahy” is set in the world of Jenna Helland’s debut novel, The August 5.
December 2
“The Phantom in the Maze”
Written by Michael Swanwick
Illustrated by Gregory Manchess
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
We tamper with time at our peril. A new story in the Mongolian Wizard series.
December 9
“The Log Goblin”
Written by Brian Staveley
Illustrated by John Jude Palencar
Edited by Marco Palmieri
On a cold winter’s night, a goblin is caught stealing firewood. Then things start getting weird.
