Hyrmnal by Jonathan Laidlow

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: August, 2016 in Daily Science Fiction (you can read it for free at that link)

Genre: science fiction

Setting: another planet, far future

Summary: Coryde is a snail player stuck in the outer planet circuit. After her performance, she’s approached by a guy who asks her out for a drink. She agrees, just to be close to someone. Turns out, he’s part of the Mollusc Liberation Front and he’s letting her snail free so she can no longer her it.

Final thoughts: An interesting concept, playing the snail. Laidlow explains the process, which involves paralyzing snail venom and singing into the mouth of the snail so its body and shell can enhance the sound. Sounds kind of gross, and I can see why a liberation society would develop. Of course, just letting a snail go in a random wild area will likely lead to its death, but it won’t be hurt by people anymore. Just eaten by the local predator or dried to a crisp in the baking sun. People on a mission don’t think about reality like that, though.

Title comes from: Snails are hermaphroditic and the guy uses the pronoun “hyrm” for the snail. Since there’s singing involved, Laidlow made a play on hyrm and hymnal for the title

 

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Skills to Keep the Devil in His Place by Lia Swope Mitchell

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: in Shimmer Magazine (check it out – it’s got some lovely fonts)

Genre: fantasy

Setting: generic high school, present day

Summary: Rachel can see the devil, and she doesn’t know what to do about that. He dances around, trying to get her attention so he can do more evil. She lists the actions she’s taking to try to ignore him, but it isn’t working. Another high school students, Julie, can also see the devil. Julie has figured out how to placate the devil. He sucks the evil right out of her, and she can show Rachel how to do it as well. Rachel figures out that the devil is taking something vital from them, and comes up with a plan to stop him.

Final thoughts: I liked the format of the story. It’s set up in sections that describe Rachel’s plan of attack. Of course, some of those plans are more successful than others. I did find it amusing that Rachel was going to talk to Julie about whether or not she noticed the devil, but Julie seemed too perfect to have problems with him. That was just because Julie had figured out how to keep him under a bit of control. Of course, you can’t really control the devil. Rachel was the first to realize their situation couldn’t continue and made an effort to change things up.

Title comes from: It describes the sections of the story and the overarching story line

Squalor and Sympathy by Matt Dovey

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: May 2016 in Writers of the Future Vol 32; it was also a PodCastle episode, if you prefer to listen to your short fiction

Genre: steampunk fantasy

Setting: Victorian England with magic

Summary: Short version: The Industrial Revolution driven by need-based magic

Forget You by Mike Reeves-McMillan

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: in Daily Science Fiction, where you can still read it online for free

Genre: science fiction

Setting: future city on Earth

Summary: Short version: A memory gets the narrator in trouble

Long version: Our narrator meets a cute guy, but the ensuing relationship causes so much emotional trauma, she gets a memory reset to wipe him from her memory. When she leaves the clinic, she meets a cute guy at the bar next door, and the story seems to repeat itself.

Final thoughts: Our narrator seems to be in a perpetual loop. She meets a cute guy, he manipulates her emotionally, she wipes him from her memory and then falls in love with him again. I do have to wonder about him, because I don’t think he’s getting his memory wiped. Was he at that bar just because he knew she was going to get her memory wiped? If that’s true (and it seems likely to me), then he truly is a manipulative bastard. He knows just how to attract her and knows he’s got a fresh slate to work with, every time she gets her memory wiped. The implication is this is not the first time through the cycle. How many times does it have to occur before the doctor refuses to wipe the memory?

Title comes from: The narrator goes to get her memory erased in order to forget a guy who she promptly meets again without realizing they’ve had a relationship.

 

Wednesday’s Story by Wole Talabi

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: May 2016 in Lightspeed Magazine (read it for free here)

Genre: fairy tale/fantasy

Length: 11 pages

Setting: Nigeria, recent past, and an Otherworld

Summary: Short version: The story behind the “Solomon Grundy” nursery rhyme

Taking Care of Business by Victoria Sandbrook

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: September 2016 in Swords & Steam Short Stories

Genre: gothic fantasy (which is the theme of the short story collection)

Setting: Victorian steampunk England

Summary: Short version: A cyborg causes a sensation with its singing and dancing

A Human’s Life by George Nikolopoulos

This week promised to be the regular kind of busy instead of the crazy kind of busy, so I’m back to my usual blog posting schedule. As such, today’s post is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: September, 2016 in Galaxy’s Edge: Issue 22. It’s was also featured on an episode of StarShipSofa, if you prefer to listen to your short fiction as I do.

Genre: science fiction

Setting: the planet Pandaesia, far future

Summary: Short version: An alien’s guide to owning a human