One family’s magical legacy intertwines with the ongoing trauma of slavery in this Reconstruction-set short from the author of The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps. Blades line every moment of “The Devil in America,” so sharp that you don’t realize you’re bleeding until it’s far too late.
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I’ve got another oldie-but-goodie for you today. E. Lily Yu’s “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” took the 2012 awards season by storm, racking up nominations for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. This Short Story of the Day pick is just as captivating in 2023, nearly twelve years after it originally appeared in Clarkesworld.
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Escape to Witch Mountain taught us that everybody has a twin. The One said we’d have to kill our double to achieve primacy. In Kelly Sandoval’s “What Sisters Take,” supernatural events lead to the births of three hidden twins, each of whom has only one goal: to siphon life from her human sister.
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I’m taking a moment to shout about an end-of-year win. My April article, “The Best Fantasy Books You’ve Never Heard Of,” took the No. 8 spot among Book Riot‘s most popular posts of the year! Many thanks to Book Riot‘s fantastic editorial team for letting me geek out over hidden gems like The Insides and The Gentleman, and use that most excellent word—mountebank—in an article.
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I love stories about what happens after the curtain closes on the tales we know and love. The fourth Short Story of the Day, Sofia Samatar’s “Selkie Stories Are for Losers,” does exactly that. This contemporary fantasy wells up with emotion where you least expect it, and I can’t wait for you to dive in.
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