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:

John T. M. Herres said...

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

Mark West said...

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

Luffy said...

!!!! Thank you so much!