Wednesday 29 December 2021

Favourite Short Stories: 2021

Here we go, my favourite post of the year...

This is the ninth time I've done this (you can find links to lists from previous years here) so I won't bore you with too much preamble. Suffice to say, these stories (and the odd poem) really worked for me and I hope you find some which work for you too. (For each, I've linked to the publication where I read the story, which isn't always where they were first published.)


G.V. Anderson: Shuck (The Deadlands #2)
Kelly Armstong: Drunk Physics (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
Jen Ashworth: The Note (Out Of The Darkness, Unsung Stories)
Elizabeth Bear: On Safari In R'lyeh & Carcosa With Gun & Camera (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
Simon Bestwick: The Hungry Dark (Out Of The Darkness, Unsung Stories)
Gary Budden: Collector Of Games (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Nadia Bulkin: Someday You Will Regret Not Replying (Southwest Review #106)
A.S. Byatt: The July Ghost (Sugar & Other Stories, Penguin)
A.S. Byatt: The Changling (Sugar & Other Stories, Penguin)
Ramsey Campbell: The Page (By The Light Of My Skull, PS Publishing)
Ramsey Campbell: The Watched (By The Light Of My Skull, PS Publishing)
Ramsey Campbell: The Wrong Game (By The Light Of My Skull, PS Publishing)
Eliza Chan: The Making Of Broken Embers (Cooties Shot Required, Broken Eye Books)
Autumn Christian: A Human Rupture (author's website)  
Chloe N. Clark: Swingman (Monkeybicycle
Aislinn Clarke: Skeleton Day (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Georgia Cook: Ghost Light (The Quiet Ones #1)
Georgia Cook: Haunted (Reflex Action)
M.R. Cosby: The Bells Line Of Road (Oculus Sinister, Cthonic Matter)
M.R. Cosby: The Trains Don't Stop Here (The Trains Don't Stop Here, Dark Lane Books)
M.R. Cosby: Not So Much Pride, More Perseverance (The Trains Don't Stop Here, Dark Lane Books)
Steve Duffy: White Noise In A White Room (Weird Horror #1, Undertow Publications)
Brian Evenson: Mother (The Baffler July 21)
Brian Evenson: The Other Floor (Oculus Sinister, Cthonic Matter)
Brian Evenson: The Shimmering Wall (Electric Lit)
Tracy Fahey: I Write Your Name (I Spit Myself Out, Sinister Horror Company)
Tracy Fahey: Ghost In The Machine (I Spit Myself Out, Sinister Horror Company)
Corey Farrenkopf: The Burnt Floor (Florida Review)
Emily Faulkes: Feeling Watched (The Antihumanist 2nd Ed.)
Kurt Fawver: Introduction To The Horror Story, Day 1 (Nightmare #98)
Kathy Fish: Collective Names For Humans In The Wild (Jellyfish Review)
Laur A. Freymiller: The Mothers (Nightmare #111)
Gary Fry: The Careless Companion (Shades Of Nothingness, PS Publishing)
Gary Fry: Abolisher Of Roses (Shades Of Nothingness, PS Publishing)
A.T. Greenblatt: The Family In The Adit (Nightmare #103)
Thomas Ha: Where The Old Neighbours Go (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
Sarah Hans: Chorus Of Whispers (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
Lucie McKnight Hardy: The Devil Of Timanfaya (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Sean Hogan: To See The Sea (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Jess Hyslop: Food Of The Gods (New Myths #54)
Jess Hyslop: The Last Scribe Of Tazarhal (Translunar Travelling Lounge #5)
Gabino Iglesias: Bad Green, Quiet Black (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
Michael Kelly: That Which Crawls From Dark Soil (Nightmare #102)
Michael Kelly: In The Blue Hour (The Antihumanist 2nd Ed.)
Chris Kelso & Brian Evenson: Jenny Longlegs (Three-Lobed Burning Eye #34)
Alys Key: Scratching (Weird Horror #2, Undertow Publications) 
John Langan: Where The Hollow Tree Waits (Weird Horror #1, Undertow Publications)
John Langan: Vile Jellies (Oculus Sinister, Cthonic Matter)
John Langan: Washed In The Blood Of The Sun (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Eileen Gunnell Lee: You Cannot Return To The Burning Glade (Reckoning #5)
Tonya Liburd: 10 Steps To A New You (Fantasy Magazine)
James Machin: The Tribute (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Tim Major: Goodbye Jonathan Tumbledown (Out Of The Darkness, Unsung Stories)
Laura Mauro & Chris Kelso: The Recidivist (Punk Noir)
J.A.W. McCarthy: Contrition (Oculus Sinister, Cthonic Matter)
J.A.W. McCarthy: With You As My Anchor (Sometimes We're Cruel, Cemetery Gates)
J.A.W. McCarthy: Black Doves (Sometimes We're Cruel, Cemetery Gates)
Victoria McCurdy: This Is How You Fail To Ghost Him (Monkeybicycle)
Gary McMahon: On The Walls (At Home In The Shadows, Black Shuck Books)
John McNee: Midnight At The Doom Cabaret (Doom Cabaret, Sinister Horror Company)
Alan Moore: Not Even Legend (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Adam Nevill: On All London Underground Lines (Hasty For The Dark, Ritual Limited)
Aimee Ogden: The Cold Calculations (Clarkesworld #183)
Jon Padgett: Flight 389 (Nightmare #109)
Hailey Piper: Why We Keep Exploding (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
H. Pueyo: Nobody Lives Here (The Dark #66)
Gareth E. Rees: Meet On The Edge (Out Of The Darkness, Unsung Stories)
Sally Rooney: Mr Salary (Faber Stories)
Iain Rowan: Now, The Weather (101 Words.Org)
Robert Shearman: Shaggy Dog Story (We All Hear Stories In The Dark, PS Publishing)
Phil Sloman: The Interview (Meghan's Holiday House Of Books)
Simon Strantzas: That House (Bourbon Penn #25)
Ashley Stokes: Hardrada (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Sonya Taaffe: Every Night And All (Nightmare #109)
Sonya Taaffe: Tea With The Earl Of Twilight (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
Steve Rasnic Tem: The Dead Outside My Door (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
Patty Templeton: Artown Correctional Center (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
Kristina Ten: The Dreadful & Specific Monster Of Starosibirsk (Weird Horror #2, Undertow Publications) 
Ali Trotta: When The Wraith Smiles (Nightmare #111)
Cameron Ulam: Propagate (It Calls From The Forest 2, Eerie River Publishing)
Stephen Volk: Adventurous (Weird Horror #2, Undertow Publications) 
Kelly White: When The Snow Falls (Monkeypantz)
Shaoni C. White: Diamond Cuts (Uncanny #41)
Aliya Whiteley: Luisa Opines (Fearsome Creatures, Black Shuck Books)
Aliya Whiteley: Wrapped (Fearsome Creatures, Black Shuck Books)
A.C. Wise: To Sail The Black (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
John Wiswell:  Open House On Haunted Hill (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)

1 comment:

Steven Arellano Rose Jr. said...

I'm glad to see that someone besides myself is giving the attention short stories get too little of. I'll try to check out some of these. Thanks and Happy New Year!