I have, so far, read Rabbit Test, To Walk The River of Stars, and Transference from this issue.

Review for Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills, winner of the 2023 Locus and Nebula Short Story Award.

Samantha Mills presents a bleak future (and past and present) outlining the history of abortion and reproductive rights. Rabbit Test is great at informing the reader of the long line of changes in legislation as well as the fickle-ness of those laws. I've been reading short fiction released in the past year and a lot of it has to do with the horrifying changes happening all over the world, but mainly in America when it comes to the different civil rights of oppressed people. It's sad that so much of our fiction has to be about that but it is also hopeful that maybe this can spread some awareness among the bigots of our age.

Mills' writing was great at making me tear up near the end because it all felt so unfair and unfixable. Women have been fighting for bodily autonomy forever and it seems like we will have to keep fighting for it evermore because no one can predict when laws and amendments get overturned. Reading this really made me consider deleting my period tracking app. The future Mills presents might be horrifying and dystopian but it isn't unimaginable, rather it's something that is true for many parts of the world.

To read more about the author's research process, check out her blog post, where she talks in detail about the history of pregnancy tests and abortion laws.

Short Story July - 3/31

Review for To Walk the River of Stars by Emily Y. Teng - 3 stars

Very very short story for today because I've had a couple of very busy days at work. This was nicely written and seemed to carry some kind of deeper meaning but I couldn't really find an interview with the author where she explained more about it.

Short Story Month - 6/31

Review for Transference by Vivian Shaw - 5 stars

Transference is about the lingering effects of a disturbing piece of art. I loved Vivian Shaw's writing, it set the mood for this story so so perfectly. Transference felt like an episode or statement from The Magnus Archives. I'm trying to think which entity it would align to (probably The Eye or The Desolation). While I was listening to TMA I couldn't help but wish Jonny would add eldritch paintings related to the entities. Much like the Litener books or the magic artefacts. This short story is exactly what I would have wanted from a TMA painting statement. I want to read more short horror fantasy pieces like this because yes this this is my niche genre! To all TMA fans, please please give this a read/listen, I swear it's worth it.

Shaw talks more about her writing process here and her love for horror. She also mentions the painting that inspired this story (go check it out! It really is disturbing!). It isn't much of a surprise that she's an M. R. James fan. No wonder her story reminded me of Magnus! I'll probably go hunting for her long and short works. She's also married to Arkady Martine which is wow, because they are both such talented people.

Short Story Month - 7/31