Artists should get paid.
Woops, I probably just lost a bunch of people there, but bear with me. A lot of the short stories I list in this series are “free,” but I encourage you to find a way to support the publications you love.
I put free in quotes on purpose up there, because all the publications I list here pay their authors, most all of them pay professional rates, so the stories are not free to the publications, although they might be free for you to read. Authors should get paid. Publishers should get paid. If you find yourself frequenting a publication find a way to support it. They offer subscriptions and anthologies, and Patreon or Drip subscriptions.
Artists should get paid and those that produce art too.
End of the soap box, on to the May stories!
Stats
Stories read in April: 37
Words read in April: about 147,000
Stories read this year, so far: 187
Words read this year, so far: 604,000
OMG I So Love These Stories!
These are what I consider “must read” stories. As in you MUST read them! Now!
The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births
José Pablo Iriarte
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 92, free, approx 7,500 words
An amazing story about being different and the kinds of assumptions we all make about each other.
The Satyr of Brandenburg
Charlotte Ashley
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2018, $8.99 for the ebook issue, approx 9,000 words
It took a bit to settle in to the environment and names (the story takes place in France with fantasy elements), but once I did it was great fun. Wonderful dialog and great fight scenes.
Laurie
Stephen King
StephenKing.com, free, approx 7,000 words
I’m not much of a horror reader, but I love how Stephen King writes (and btw,this is not a horror story). He has a way of totally sneaking up on you while he renders believable characters in a rich world. This story has a bit of sudden violence (very King) but ended up really getting me with the emotions he was playing with. Free and well worth the read.
The Things That We Will Never Say
Vanessa Fogg
Daily Science Fiction, free, approx 1,200 words
A beautiful story about the many possible futures and how some things will never be no matter what we do. Very potent for its short length
Other Stories I Love
I love these stories too, just with a bit less passion. It’s okay, I can love some stories more than others.
Deep Sea Fish
Chi Hui translated by Brian Bies
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2018, $8.99 for the ebook issue, approx 8,600 words
This is a strange story in how it is structured and flowed, I think because it was written in another language from someone who grew up in another culture. That said, the imagination and beautiful imagery used are not to be missed.
The Beast from Below
William Ledbetter
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2018, $8.99 for the ebook issue, approx 3,900 words
A retro story featuring a radioactive Armadillo in Oklahoma. Silly and great fun.
This month’s winner of best publication for Stories I Love is The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2018 Issue. It’s $8.99 for the ebook, but boy did this one hit me right. The stories are just excellence (IMHO).
