Once more, my friends, I bring you the top 5 stories from two months ago.
- The Conflagration at the Museum of You, by Adam-Troy Castro (published by www.lightspeedmagazine.com)
- The Secret Strength of Things, by Gregory Feeley (published by clarkesworldmagazine.com)
- Rondo for Strings and Lasergun, by Jared Oliver Adams (published by clarkesworldmagazine.com)
- Junk Hounds, by Lavie Tidhar (published by clarkesworldmagazine.com)
- Primordial Soup and Salad, by Gene Doucette (published by www.lightspeedmagazine.com)
The top story for the month of October (and therefore our t-shirt winner!) was The Conflagration at the Museum of You by Adam-Troy Castro. I've never read a story quite like it — implausibly bizarre and yet compellingly real. The writing is outstanding, and it really has to be to keep you reading. The story is written in the second person, discussing a museum dedicated to you, the reader. The 'why' of it is unimportant and hand-wavy, and the story could have easily been annoying to read, but it wasn't, and you should read it.
The Secret Strength of Things by Gregory Feeley is one of those fun romps where an author takes a 'what if' (in this case, "what if a mischievous experimental AI escaped the lab and tried to hide on Titan") and really runs with it. The slate of characters here is basically one, but what a fun one!
Rondo for Strings and Lasergun by Jared Oliver Adams is an incredibly well-executed cliche. The story is practically flash fiction at 1200 words, so instead of me spoiling it just go read it.
Junk Hounds by Lavie Tidhar is just a fun adventure. A salvage specialist with a talking dog (I'm always a sucker for a talking dog) does a special salvage run. The story has some nice backstory sprinkled in that gives it a great flavor.
Primordial Soup and Salad by Gene Doucette is basically an episode of Star Trek with the labels scratched off, with all the joyful implausibility that entails. How do food replicators work? How much does a captain really value sentience in other species, if it gets in the way of a cheeseburger?
That's it for now! I hope you're having a wonderful month, and I'll be back soon with my list for November.
As always I want to point out that the magazines that publish these stories operate on a shoestring budget and immense amounts of passion, and if you've been meaning to get a subscription to support their work you should go do immediately!