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Thursday 28 December 2017

Favourite Short Stories: 2017

Doesn't seem like a year since we last did this, but here we are: the favourite short stories I read in 2017. And it was another year in which I read a lot, of which these can be considered the creme de la creme.

As ever, these are all recent stories (although in a few instances I've bent the the definition of 'recent' to sneak a good one in). I've listed where I read the story, which isn't necessarily the place where it was originally published.

I hope readers of this blog will sample at least a few of the stories below. Enjoy!

(You can find my lists for previous years here.)

G.V. Anderson: I Am Not I (Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction July/Aug 17)
Andrew David Barker: Bank Holiday All-Dayer (self-published)
Matthew M. Bartlett: No Abiding Place On Earth (Nightscript #2)
Matthew M. Bartlett: Spettrini (Weird Fiction Review)
Brook Bolander: Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies (Uncanny Magazine #13)
Charlotte Bond: The Lies We Tell (Great British Horror #2, Black Shuck Books)
Gary A. Braunbeck: In The House Of The Hangman One Does Not Talk About Rope (Another Dimension, Willy Writers)
Daniel Braum: A Girl's Guide (Great Jones Street)
Georgina Bruce: The Book Of Dreams (Black Static #61
K.T. Bryski: Her Hands Like Ice (Bracken Magazine)
Amber Burke: My Last Day At MacKenzie Pestaway (Spelk Fiction)
Ramsey Campbell: Speaking Still (New Fears, Titan)
Eliza Chan: Datsue-Ba (Asian Monsters, Fox Spirit)
Chloe N. Clark: The Average Man Is Not Hard To Mystify (Cheap Pop)
Chloe N. Clark: A Reward For You & The Ones I Don't Think You Need (Occulum)
Shara Concepción: Brujitos (Flash Fiction Online)
Colette de Curzon: Payman's Trio (Nightjar Press chapbook)
Kristi DeMeester: In The Dark, Quiet Places (Nightscript #2)
Kristi DeMeester: The Language Of Endings (The Dark #23)
Malcolm Devlin: The End Of Hope Street (You Will Grow Into Them, Unsung Stories)
Malcolm Devlin: The Last Meal She Ate Before She Killed Him (You Will Grow Into Them, Unsung Stories)
Jennifer R. Donohue: Daddy's Girl (Syntax & Salt)
Tracy Fahey: Papering Over The Cracks (The Unheimlich Manoeuvre, Boo Books)
Tracy Fahey: Tracing The Spectre (The Unheimlich Manoeuvre, Boo Books)
Tom Fletcher: The Home (Nightjar Press chapbook)
Jeffrey Ford: Daddy Long Legs Of The Evening (Lightspeed #80)
Cate Gardner: Fragments Of A Broken Doll (Great British Horror #2, Black Shuck Books)
Ed Grabianowski: Extraneus Invokat (Black Static #21)
Brady Golden: The Family Car (New Fears, Titan)
Christopher Golden: The Abduction Door (New Fears, Titan)
Michelle Goldsmith: Love Story: An Exorcism (Gamut)
Camilla Grudova: Waxy (Granta)
Carly Holmes: A Small Life (Black Static #61) 
Andrew Hook: The Nomenclature Of Fear (In Short Publishing)
Timothy J. Jarvis: Hands Lying Light In The Interstices, You Rave (interactive online)
M.P. Johnson: Necksnapper (The Dark #31)
Carole Johnstone: /’dʒʌst/ (Great British Horror #2, Black Shuck Books)
Mat Joiner: To Utter Dust (Supernatural Tales #35)
Cassandra Khaw: Don't Turn On The Lights (Nightmare #61)
Gary Kilworth: Atlantic Crossing (The Fabulous Beast, Infinity Plus)
Gary Kilworth: Phoenix Man (The Fabulous Beast, Infinity Plus)
Gwendolyn Kiste: The Twelve Rules Of Etiquette At Miss Firebird's School For Girls (Mithila Review)
V.H. Leslie: Shell Baby (Shadows & Tall Trees #7, Undertow)
Sarah Lotz: The Embarrassment Of Dead Grandmothers (New Fears, Titan)
Alison Littlewood: Sally's Wishes (Stranger Paths, PS Publishing)
Alison Littlewood: 4am When The Walls Are Thinnest (Stranger Paths, PS Publishing)
Ken Liu: Good Hunting (Asian Monsters, Fox Spirit)
Usman T. Malik: Blood Women (Asian Monsters, Fox Spirit)
Helen Marshall: One Quarter Dreaming, Three Quarters Want (Liminal Stories #2)
Laura Mauro: Sun Dogs (Shadows & Tall Trees #7, Undertow)
Manish Melwani: The Water Kings (Shadows & Tall Trees #7, Undertow)
Wyl Menmuir: Rounds (Nightjar Press chapbook)
Alison Moore: Overnight Stop (The Pre-War House & Other Stories, Salt)
Alison Moore: Small Animals  (The Pre-War House & Other Stories, Salt)
Ralph Robert Moore: For Whom The Dogs Bark (Black Static #61)
Steve Mosby: Wishing For Alison (author's website)
Sandra M. Odell: Meat (Pseudopod #536)
Kristine Ong Muslim: Holocene: Microfilm Reel 82 (The Cincinnati Review)
Linda Nagle: Smallman Wears The Sky (Stranger Companies, Kuboa Press)
Linda Nagle: Deathsmell (Stranger Companies, Kuboa Press)
Adam Nevill: What God Hath Wrought (Some Will Not Sleep, Ritual Limited)
Adam Nevill: Yellow Teeth (Some Will Not Sleep, Ritual Limited)
Thana Niveau: To Drown The World (Unquiet Waters, Black Shuck Books)
Brian O'Connell: My Mother's Skin (author's website)
Suyi Davies Okungbowa: Can Anything Good Come (The Dark #21)
Jon Padgett: Origami Dreams (The Secret Of Ventriloquism, Dunhams Manor Press)
Jon Padgett: 20 Simple Steps To Ventriloquism (The Secret Of Ventriloquism, Dunhams Manor Press)
Sarah Pinsker: And Then There Were (N-One) (Uncanny Magazine #15)
John Llewellyn Probert: The Church With Bleeding Windows (Great British Horror #2, Black Shuck Books)
Nicholas Royle: Jizz (Ornithology, Confingo)
Nicholas Royle: Pink (Ornithology, Confingo)
E. Saxey: There Is A Willow Grows Aslant A Brook (Reflections, Fox Spirit)
Jeremy Schliewe: Gustavo's Book (Supernatural Tales #34)
Effie Seiberg: Strong As Stone (Cast Of Wonders #278)
Christopher Slatsky: An Infestation Of Stars, (Alectryomancer & Other Tales, Dunhams Manor Press)
Christopher Slatsky: The Ocean Is Eating Our Graves, (Alectryomancer & Other Tales, Dunhams Manor Press)
Carlie St. George: If We Survive The Night (The Dark #22)
Andrea Tang: Cassandra Writes Out Of Order (PodCastle)
Steve Rasnic Tem: Her Oh So Pretty Face (Hex Publishers)
Natalia Theadoridou: The Birding: A Fairy Tale (Strange Horizons)
Jeff VanderMeer: This World Is Full Of Monsters (TOR)
Ursula Vernon: The Dark Birds (Apex)
Eliza Victoria: Queen Midnight (The Dark #24)
Michael Wehunt: An Ending (Ascent) (Gamut)
Michael Wehunt: Greener Pastures (Greener Pastures, Apex)
Michael Wehunt: October Film Haunt: Under The House (Greener Pastures, Apex)
Mark West: What We Do Sometimes, Without Thinking (Things We Leave Behind, Dark Minds Press)
Conrad Williams: The Closure (Shadows & Tall Trees #7, Undertow)
Conrad Williams: Succulents (New Fears, Titan)
A.C. Wise: Excerpts From A Film (1942-1987) (Tor)
Gordon White: As Summers Mask Slips (Nightscript #2)

3 comments:

  1. I sure wish one of mine could make a list like this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks very much for the mention, James, really pleased you liked the story enough to put me amongst such stellar company!

    ReplyDelete