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SF/F Short Fiction Recs

Acatalepsy

Acatalepsy

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There's a lot of good science fiction out there. In User Fiction in particular, we spend a lot of time diving into what are frankly literal piles of crap looking for gems - wouldn't it be better if someone else did that for us? Wouldn't it be even better if they edited, provided illustrations for, and produced audio readings of high quality science fiction and fantasy stories?

Wouldn't it be amazing if these hypothetical people who I am about to discuss concretely would then release these stories for free on the internet?

Congratulations, SV. You're in luck. These things are everywhere, they do amazing work, and you should check them out. In no particular order, my list of science fiction and fantasy e-zines (and any others that get posted as well).

In addition to the e-zines, a great deal of other original science fiction is published online, sometimes by the author on their personal website or blog.


Some works that will temporarily be available for download.


A lot of old, classic SF/F is out of copyright and hosted on places like Project Gutenburg.

This is the thread for posting such links, and drawing attention to or discussing specific works, authors, or whatever.
 
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Oh, and because I thought it was awesome: Foxfire, Foxfire, a short story about tricky fox spirits and giant robots. It is currently one of my favorite things. Also high on my list of favorite things is Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command, which is approximately as great as it sounds (ie, very). For the drabblecast, if you can, listen to the audio version - it's very well done, and almost always chilling.
 
Creative Mung from Eric Burns-White — Banter Latte

Home to some good works including Interviewing Leather (a sort of story about supervillains and why they exist done in expose style) Lovelace 1/2 (one of the most evocative works about super-intelligence I've seen) and Corbett-877 (an exploration of certain themes in science fiction technology).

Unfortunately it has not updated in years, but still worth a read through.
 
I still find the Clarkesworld guidelines to be hilarious:
Though no particular setting, theme, or plot is anathema to us, the following are likely hard sells:
  • zombies or zombie-wannabes (seriously, I'm not kidding)
  • sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, wicked witches, or demonic children
  • stories about rapists, murderers, child abusers, or cannibals
  • stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines
  • stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory
  • stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or the Spartacist League, etc. take over the world and either save or ruin it
  • stories in which the words "thou" or "thine" appear
  • talking cats or swords
  • stories where FTL travel or time travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies
  • stories that depend on some vestigial belief in Judeo-Christian mythology in order to be frightening (i.e., Cain and Abel are vampires, the End Times are a' comin', Communion wine turns to Christ's literal blood and it's HIV positive, Satan's gonna getcha, etc.)
  • stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).
  • stories about the stuff we all read in Scientific American three months ago
  • stories about your RPG character's adventures
  • "funny" stories that depend on, or even include, puns
  • stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange
  • stories that take place within an artsy-fartsy bohemia as written by an author who has clearly never experienced one
  • stories originally intended for someone's upcoming theme anthology or issue (everyone is sending those out, wait a while)
  • your trunk stories
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Identity Theft by David Atos on 365tomorrows is a great piece of flash fiction with a killer finish.

Mongoose by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette is a pretty great blend of Lewis Carroll and H.P. Lovecraft by way of adorable eldritch abominations (@Admiral Skippy will confirm its adorableness) and spacewhales. Listen to the Drabblecast reading of it, it's excellent.

The Harry and Marlowe series of short stories by Carrie Vaughn is pretty fun serialized pulp steampunk (@Sarpedon and @100thlurker will back me up here). One Two Three Four Five

Why Don't You Ask The Doomsday Machine? by Elliot Essex is a pretty great science fictional short story set from the doomsday macguffin's point of view.

The Battle of York by James Stoddard is American history as fantasy future myth.

The Things by Peter Watts. His take on The Thing, featuring the Thing's point of view. It's horrifyingly Watts in the best possible way :D.

Acatalepsy said:
Also high on my list of favorite things is Testimony Before an Emergency Session of The Naval Cephalopod Command, which is approximately as great as it sounds (ie, very). For the drabblecast, if you can, listen to the audio version - it's very well done, and almost always chilling.
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And this is a great short story with one of my favourite readings ever.

I'll post some more stuff I like later and probably some more magazine links. I've been looking for an excuse to sort out my incredibly long list of bookmarks.

EDIT: Stickying this as a useful long term thread for curating short story recs.

EDIT2:

MJ12 Commando said:
I really liked The People of Sand and Slag:

The People of Sand and Slag
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There is also a podcast version of this available at Drabblecast (with adorable cover art, of course). ^^
 
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A couple of my favorites:

"The Gravity Mine" by Stephen Baxter. A beautiful story of self-discovery. Set post-heat death.

"Superiority" by Arthur C. Clarke: Short story of a space opera war. 'More advanced' doesn't necessarily mean, 'better.'
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Someone already beat me to The Last Question, so I'm just going to recommend What Is This Thing Called Love? in which aliens are very confused by sexual reproduction. Definitely not the most profound of Asimov's shorts, but it is one of the funnier ones.
 
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I have to say, this thread became a golden mine for me, not only as a constant source of reading about new worlds, but also as a source to work on translations.
 
I am extremely pleased with this thread.
I'm presently a subscriber to the (physical!) sci-fi magazine Asimov's Science Fiction and I read Analog Science Fiction from my local library. Can be hit or miss, and do cost money if you aren't getting them at the library, but is a great source of physical, professionally edited science fiction.
 
The House of Aunts by Zen Cho is a fantasy novella featuring Malaysian vampires, all but one of whom are the titular Chinese-Malaysian aunts. It's probably more slice of life than SV's usual fare, but I liked the author's touch- lighthearted and thoughtful as appropriate.
 
I got recommended this over on Discord by @Jemnite : About the Reckless Girl who kept Challenging a Reborn Man like Me

It takes the usual anime reincarnation premise and spins it on its head by making it be about the protagonist and his relationship with his childhood genius friend with no special powers or abilities involved. The only thing out of the ordinary is the protagonist's inheritance of his memories. It has a happy ending but it does have its moments where the protagonist doubts himself and his place in the world.
 
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