The correspondence between a writer and a man who has asked him to sell off the more salacious books in his library discloses a disturbing predilection. This is a quietly disturbing little…
Category: Story a Day 2022
“Page Turner” by Robert Shearman
A pianist falls in love with his page turner, who undergoes a strange transformation before her death. This is a sweet, if odd, little story; I enjoyed its playfulness, especially in its…
“72 Virgins” by Robert Shearman
In the after-life, a man is assigned a mansion and a motley mix of 72 virgins (not all human, and only about half female), and things don’t work out as one might…
“The Great Silence” by Ted Chiang
A parrot explains the Fermi Paradox. Less a story than a meditation and thought experiment, this piece raises many more questions than it answers: why do we search for intelligent life in…
“Prima Belladonna” by J.G. Ballard
A mysterious singer wreaks havoc on a shop that sells musical plants. This story feels about a decade ahead of its time, much closer in tone to the “Dangerous Visions”-era “new wave”…
“The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” by Ted Chiang
In parallel stories, a young man in mid-20th century Nigeria struggles to reconcile the oral culture he was born into with the literate culture introduced by European colonialism, and a man in…
“Omphalos” by Ted Chiang
A scientist in a world where all of nature points to proof of God’s hand in creation finds her faith shaken by a discovery that suggests that Earth was not the center…
“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang
A merchant tells several stories, including his own, about a gate in Baghdad that lets one visit, but not alter, the past and the future. This is a fascinating and sometimes baroque…
“Stand Your Skin” by Colin Barrett
A reclusive young man goes out for a rare night at the pub and has a really unpleasant time. The characters and voices of this story are strong and distinctive; Bat comes…
“Raining Street” by J.S. Breukelaar
A newly widowed mother is tricked by her neighbor to visit a distant district to buy exotic foods, and finds that she is trapped in the realm of the dead. This story…