In an attempt to get the short story group I meet with once a month to read ANYTHING close to the types of stories I like, I looked up the finalists for the Locus Short Story Awards. I hadn't read any of them in advance, I just sent the list of stories to the woman who runs the group and she picked one out kind of randomly.

Now I LOVED the story, it was very much up my ally. I knew if it was up for a Locus Award I was going to like it. But she ended up picking one with a VERY heavy topic: school shootings.

We had a great conversation though and I think the woman in our group who really didn't like the story at all came around by the end of it. It's a horror story and it's not really meant to be fun to read, it's meant to shake you a bit. And I think that clicked more with her by the end.

I definitely suggest reading it (there's also a narration if you'd prefer to listen). It's called The Sound Of Children Screaming by Rachel K Jones. It's horror fantasy and plays around with the portal fantasy kind of story as (some) children try to escape the horrors of an active school shooting.

Again, this is a rough story. It touches on a lot of the real horrors of a school shooting, but it's also an important story and it touches on a lot of really relevant topics. In our discussion we saw links to the under appreciation of teachers, the school to military pipeline, the way institutions take advantage of vulnerable people, the lack of agency we give to children, etc.

If this topic isn't a major trigger for you, please read it.

https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/the-sound-of-children-screaming/
#shortstory #LocusAwards #NightmareMagazine #Horror #Fantasy #twGuns #twSchoolShooting #twChildDeath #twChildEndangerment