ladybusiness | Entries tagged with projects: short & sweet

I really enjoy reading collections, short stories by one author collected in one volume, and anthologies, stories by multiple authors generally centered around a theme. They are great ways to explore the depth and breath of SFF. I like that collections let me see the range of a single author and that anthologies show me so many different takes on the same theme.

Recently I've been reading more collections and anthologies. While I have been having trouble reading things on screens in pandemic times, I have lots of collections and anthologies in either hard copy or ebook, both of which are easier for me. It's nice to dip into the stories between longer works.

Here are some new and some old favorites:

Xenocultivars: Stories of Queer Growth, ed. Jed Sabin and Isabela Oliveira— This is an anothology of queer plant-themed SFF. There's a wide variety of stories here. I liked that many stories featured intergenerational relationships. Also it was fun to see how many different ways stories could feature plants.

A Summer Beyond Your Reach by Xia Jia— Xia is Chinese science fiction writer whose work tends to center daily life. I had read several of the stories in this volume before, but many were new to me and a fair number were first translated into English here. These stories are emotionally rich.

Not For Use In Navigation: Thirteen Stories by Iona Datt Sharma — Datt Sharma’s stories focus on people doing unglamorous work (like siting a sewage plant) to make the world better. They also frequently deal with living in community with others. I find their writing evocative and lovely.

Spirits Aboard by Zen Cho— Cho is another of my favorite authors; she has a strong (and delightful) writing voice. This collection really showcases the breadth of her writing. I love how she brings magic to all kinds of ordinary situations

What are some of your favorite anthologies and collections?

helloladies

The world of online SFF moves really fast! There is always so much new stuff that it feels like a struggle to keep up. This means that short SFF can feel very immediate but also that we don’t often go back for older stories, either to reread or discover for the first time. While stories are sometimes reprinted, in collections or anthologies, many of them get lost. Short fiction is part of the genre conversation of SFF, but because it gets lost so easily it can feel more like an aside. ( Read more... )

helloladies

As the pandemic wears on, I’ve been finding that I often don’t have enough focus to read even a short story, and I know many other people who have been struggling as well. One thing that has been working for me is very short stories, so I thought I would make a rec list of quick reads. ( Read more... )

helloladies

2020 has been a pretty tough year for a lot of us. That has affected many people’s ability to read for pleasure. Despite this, wonderful short SFF continues to be published. That means that we are missing out on some excellent stories. While I haven’t been reading as much as I was pre-pandemic I have been making time every month to read at least a few stories, and that has added up. I wanted to highlight some stories published this year that I enjoyed, but you might have missed out on because of everything going on.

I found all of these stories hopeful. I know that what makes a story hopeful can be really personal, but for me stories that focus on people who are trying their best are very reassuring in these times. It’s grounding and encouraging. I hope you find something on this list that you enjoy. ( Read more... )

helloladies

For this edition of Short & Sweet I wanted to highlight stories by trans and nonbinary authors. It turns out that many of my favorite authors of short fiction are trans and nonbinary and their voices can always use some boosting.

For this rec post I haven’t selected stories based on themes. So this not collection of #OwnVoices stories about trans and nonbinary characters, although many of these stories have trans, nonbinary, or otherwise queer characters, or trans themes. Instead, I just picked stories I really love. It’s important to showcase #OwnVoices work, but to me it is more important to listen to marginalized voices and let them decide what they want to say. ( Read more... )

helloladies

I haven't been reading a ton of short fiction lately. As someone who is known at least in part for my short fiction recommendations, this seems less than ideal. I did a short fiction reading challenge in July, but before that I’d read barely any 2019 works. Since then, I’ve been trying to read a small number of stories online every month. But it's so much less than I used to read. I still love short SFF, and I know we are living in an amazing time for it. There’s so much diverse, creative, wonderful short SFF being published right now—much of it free to read online.

But the fact that there’s so much might be part of my problem. I can’t keep up. I could never keep up, so I don’t know why this is a problem now. But it's been feeling more overwhelming this year than it was last year. Maybe it's that I have more other stuff on my plate. However, it's also my emotional needs in the last few years. ( Read more... )

helloladies

Bogi Takács is a Hungarian Jewish disabled agender trans person, currently living in the United States. E has published numerous works of short fiction and poetry as well as being a prolific reviewer with a focus on works by marginalized creators. E has also edited multiple anthologies including the Lambda award winning Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction. Takács has also been a finalist for the Hugo and Locus Awards. E recently published eir first collection The Trans Space Octopus Congregation. E can be found online at

bogiperson on Twitter, eir review blog Bogi Reads the World, and on Patreon.

( Read the interview. )

helloladies

I’m Jewish and I love seeing that part of my identity reflected in SFF. Like many Jews I have kind of quirky relationship to my Jewish identity. But despite my fairly unconventional approach to Judaism I do find it an important source of meaning. So of course I love stories that play with and expound upon Jewish traditions. ( Read more... )

helloladies

When I enthuse about short fiction I sometimes have people tell me that short fiction is just too, well...short for them. They want something longer. (No shame if you are one of these people, we like what we like.) So for those people I present: short fiction series! I know it's still not a novel but it is more than just one story!

I’ve been thinking about writing about short fiction series for this column for a while, but now seems like an especially good time because The Universe of Xuya, one of my all time favorite series, which happens to consist entirely of works less than 40k words, is a finalist for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Series. It seems like an excellent opportunity to highlight short fiction series. I’m focusing on series that consist of only short fiction and have a least three installments.

My favorite kind of series of any length works are the kind set in the same world but taking place in many times and places featuring different people and different perspectives. I love the way this lets authors build really complex words, and I have fun teasing out the links between stories. Plus if story is in a series like this I can start with some world building background so each story has to do less work to explain things to me. This can allow short fiction to build up some really complex worlds while still having each story contain a manageable amount of worldbuilding. This type of series is also good for short fiction where readers rarely encounter stories in any particular order. All three of the series I talk about here have this kind of structure. ( Read more... )

helloladies

Robots and AIs have been featuring in a lot of recent SFF, especially stories from the point of view of robots. People say that robot stories help us explore what it means to be human. That can be true, but it's not always helpful. A lot of older robot stories explored labor and workers rights. Other stories featuring robots have explored emotions and morality.

My favorite robot stories explore family and community. Being human by yourself is hard. We need community—and many AIs do, too. AIs allow us to see these aspects of being human from a different angle. These stories are about robots trying to make friends, watch media, and figure out their place in the world. They help us explore what we owe to each other and how we can form connections with others. ( Read more... )

Lady Business

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Entries tagged with projects: short & sweet

Short and Sweet: Collections and Anthologies

Short & Sweet: Blast from the Past

Short & Sweet: Very Short Fiction

Short & Sweet: 2020 Stories

Short & Sweet: Trans and Nonbinary Authors

Short & Sweet: On Not Reading Short Fiction

Short & Sweet: Interview with Bogi Takács

Guest Column: Short & Sweet — Jewish Stories

Short & Sweet: Short Fiction Series

Short & Sweet: Pals for Robots

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