Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut by Stephen King

I wouldn’t call this a horror story. Granted, there’s something quite unsettling about the titular shortcut, a sense of the Continue reading →

Blessed by Helen Marshall

Sometimes I finish a collection of stories and I’m at a loss to choose which to talk about, because there Continue reading →

Lean Times in Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber

Time to admit a heresy. This year I began reading for the first time the sword and sorcery adventures of Continue reading →

Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders

People who can see the future are fiddly characters to use. Especially if they can see their own immediate future. Continue reading →

The Rats in the Walls by H.P. Lovecraft

A week or so ago I was at Necronomicon, a four day convention in Providence devoted exclusively to the works Continue reading →

The Long Sheet by William Sansom

By this point you might have noticed that I’m fond of high concept stories, of big glittering ideas that would Continue reading →

A Tall Tail by Charles Stross

One of the things I like about this piece is how much it doesn’t feel like a story. I mean, Continue reading →

Understand by Ted Chiang

Characters who are smarter than the smartest human are notoriously difficult to write well. It’s relatively easy to get away Continue reading →