A widow tries to find a place for the man-tree who may be her son to belong. This is an odd story that feels a bit like a fairy tale despite its…
Tag: short story
“Skinder’s Veil” by Kelly Link
A graduate student watches a secluded house with two important rules: any friends of the owner who come to the back door are to be let in, but under no circumstances may…
“Annunciation” by Lauren Groff
A young woman uproots herself from her life and moves to San Francisco, where her life becomes entangled with her garrulous landlady and secretive co-worker. Much more character than plot driven, this…
“The Flower Unfolds” by Simon Strantzas
A woman who works in an office tower and feels past her prime has a chance encounter in an elevator that leads her to the botanical garden on the top flower and…
“Tiptoe” by Laird Barron
After an unsettling experience, a man reflects on some strange events from his childhood and suspects that there was something much darker about his father than he realized at the time. This…
“Sooner or Later, Your Wife Will Drive Home” by Genevieve Valentine
A collection of vignettes tell the stories of women traveling, often alone, who appear to be on the verge of catastrophe. The scenes here have subtle echoes back and forth, with little…
“Special Meal” by Josh Malerman
A girl has to prove that she doesn’t know math. This is a weird one indeed. In some sort of dystopian world, people aren’t supposed to know math – not just more…
“Pear of Anguish” by Gemma Files
Two girls, outcasts from middle school society, dabble in witchcraft and opening portals whose keys are pain and blood. This is a terrible, beautiful, horrifying story about puberty, bullying, despair, and a…
“The Door in the Fence” by Jeffrey Ford
A widow’s strange transformation is recounted by a neighbor boy whose path crosses hers again many years later. This was a fun, strange story, that gets progressively stranger and more outlandish but…
“Refinery Road” by Stephen Graham Jones
Three friends on a desolate road at night have an encounter with mortality and consequences. This is a very Stephen Graham Jones story – well-drawn characters, strange and disorienting situation, bleak conclusion.