Things I enjoyed in 2026 (Part 2)

Short Stories

“Let’s Go to the Zoo” by Louis Evans (2026): Wanna watch the last sane human being through glass?

“Welcome to Heroism” by John Wiswell (2026): There are some very cute lines (“Her mix of speed and spite was too potent for mortal algorithms.”) in a type of story I normally feel meh about. But reading it in early April (right after the “ceasefire” ahead of the civilization-ending-deadline) was something.

“Sloth Metamorphosis” by Effie Seiberg (2026): I really appreciate Effie explicitly engaging with Covid in her stories; there’s altogether too much memory-holing. My own sloth metamorphosis was not nearly so complete, but this story still resonates.

“Constellations” by Jeff VanderMeer (2026): A doomed, surreal journey with a comforting nugget of moral choice.

“The Universe Ends on a Tuesday” by Aimee Ogden (2022): I missed this one the first time around, but did see the reprint. It’s sad and oddly uplifting.

“Bone Talker, Bone Eater” by D. S. Ravenhurst (2024): Excellently sketched backstory grounds this tale and really makes it shine.

Novelettes

“Courtney Lovecraft’s Book of the Dead” by Sam J. Miller (2025): Why wouldn’t spirits speak through a drag queen in Poughkeepsie? And why wouldn’t they be pissed off at, well, everything?

Novellas

The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella (2025): The voices of ancient stone and instantiated concepts strike the right balance between mythic and distinctive.

#recommended #recommended2026