Short story reviews, 2021 edition

By rivqa Posted in Reviews
Stock image of a blonde person who is reading with a charcoal face mask on
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto.

Probably the only really worthwhile thing I did on my now-deleted Twitter is write micro reviews of short stories. I started doing this because short stories receive so little attention (or at least positive attention), but when they’re good they’re like a tiny perfect/imperfect world that you can discover on your phone in text or podcast form while you’re waiting for the bus. I started this project in 2020, but I fell off the wagon mid 2021 when uni heated up and I got behind in my reading. Maybe I’ll start again in 2023, but no promises. Authors and magazines, feel free to quote relevant reviews with a credit without asking me (but I’d love it if you let me know).

  • 2021.01.09: My short fiction reviews for 2021 will be hashtagged #RivqaReadsShorts2021!
  • 2021.01.09: First up is “Yearning” by Maya Beck (Strange Horizons), a subtle story about grappling with past injustice that loses none of its power for keeping the worst of the violence in negative space. I needed this hopeful start to the year. https://t.co/FukvuS3XxS
  • 2021.01.10: The Unrepentant” by Derrick Boden (Escape Pod O) is pacey, tightly plotted cyberpunk tale with some real heart. https://t.co/lEvWp4c6tW
  • 2021.01.19: “Shadowboxer” by Paul Di Filippo (Escape Pod R) is somewhat dated (not a criticism for a 2006 publication!) yet disturbingly current. Hard going, ambiguous, and an excellent showcase of what SF can do when it engages with ethics. https://t.co/hJFfHIo6SY
  • 2021.01.19: I love a story told in negative space. “The karyōbinga sings to Jiro” by Ryu Ando (Strange Horizons) is sparse, beautiful, and heartbreaking on multiple levels. https://t.co/YuEI90B4XY
  • 2021.01.21: Deep Music” by Elly Bangs (Clarkesworld) is, without a doubt, the cutest thing I’ve read in a while. So much so, it took a minute to notice the razor-sharp characterisation and excellent worldbuilding, but I got there. https://t.co/E3q6CdIiTl
  • 2021.01.21: Pulling no punches, “Intentionalities” by Aimee Ogden (Clarkesworld) was hard to read. For the dystopic child separation plot, sure, but also the too-real sense of powerlessness and not being enough. Really well spun. https://t.co/VFITExn66T
  • 2021.01.24: Secrets of the Kath” by Fatima Taqvi (Strange Horizons) is filled with beautiful language and heartache. From beginning to end, a gut punch of things the reader knows but the narrator isn’t willing to admit; masterful stuff. https://t.co/QlWIGAyrXH
  • 2021.01.24: The messages of “Balancing the Equation” by Justin Key (Escape Pod O) — about humanity’s flaws (racism) and strengths (love) — are sharp without ever being didactic. Brilliant, bittersweet and beautiful. https://t.co/vzec0fuQgl
  • 2021.01.25: “Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma” by RSA Garcia (Clarkesworld) is a worthy successor to its predecessor, adding depth but able to stand alone too. Competence, emotional bonds with AI, and pacey writing. https://t.co/XTUwhHniqP
  • 2021.01.26: The Last Civilian” by R.P. Sand (Clarkesworld) is exactly my kind of first contact story: engages with colonialism, beautifully written, wonderful setting, and has a strong emotional core. https://t.co/vBJOUb0nM7
  • 2021.01.29: “Aster’s Partialities: Vitri’s Best Store for Sundry Antiques” by Tovah Strong (Clarkesworld) is delightfully creepy, with a wonderful narrative voice. (Maybe don’t read it over lunch like I did though? IOW, CN for gore, violence.) https://t.co/cGzsuBgCbq
  • 2021.01.30: “Leaving Room for the Moon” by the always excellent P.H. Lee (Clarkesworld) is poignant and heartbreaking (as stories about ‘the last’ usually are); the accomplishment here is conveying so much anguish in so few words. https://t.co/eVaFHuRaiD
  • 2021.01.31: Revealing exactly as much as it needs to, “Deal” by Eris Young (Escape Pod O) is a gorgeous dual-level story. First contact! Linguistics! Queer women! But mostly it’s about communication, and how hard it can be. https://t.co/fd2T4kwtbG
  • 2021.02.08: “The Diamond Family Glitters” by H. Pueyo (Fantasy and Science Fiction Jan/Feb) is about family, legacy, and so much more. A delight.
  • 2021.02.08: Craving some less serious spec fic? “The First Trebuchet on Mars” by Marie Vibbert (Escape Pod R) is full of personality and humour. I would die for Jill, but I don’t think she needs it. https://t.co/3xr1gFhOMB
  • 2021.02.08: I’m in awe of “A Serpent For Each Year” by Tamara Jerée (Strange Horizons), fitting so much weirdness, intimacy, and fear of grief into such a short space. https://t.co/GRGIHUHCy2
  • 2021.02.18: “N-raptured” by Justin Key (Jan/Feb Fantasy and Science Fiction) is just… damn. Every comfortable liberal (and some leftists too) should read this.
  • 2021.02.18: “The Mercy of Theseus” by Rachael K. Jones (Escape Pod R) is such a lovely tale of friendship, with bonus thematic brilliance and solid worldbuilding. https://t.co/b6wLN9kTE8
  • 2021.02.22: “Hard!” by Van Aaron Hughes (Fantasy and Science Fiction Jan/Feb) might be the cutest [should I redact the trope? I feel like I should redact the trope] story I’ve read in a while. Just delightful.
  • 2021.02.22: “The Demon Sage’s Daughter” by Varsha Dinesh (Strange Horizons) is cleverly told, a meta-story woven as intricately as Devayani’s cloth skins. https://t.co/m5WWLfNSKZ
  • 2021.03.02: “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 51: The Great Fish” by James Morrow (Fantasy and Science Fiction Jan/Feb) is just so extremely my shit. The book of Jonah but weirder. And funnier.
  • 2021.03.02: “The Truth at the Bottom of the Ocean” by Maria Dong (Augur Magazine 3.2, 2020) is achingly beautiful, perfectly structured, and all too timely. [link to sample] https://t.co/jd9tgUBnpn
  • 2021.03.02: The amazing thing about “Ootheca” by Mário de Seabra Coelho (Strange Horizons) is that the weird and wonderful world (cockroaches for teeth, & more) isn’t even the best thing about it; the very real characters are https://t.co/W9um9TkVQf
  • 2021.03.09: “Mouth” by Sasha LaPointe (Strange Horizons) gets straight to the point: short, tragic, and brilliantly done. https://t.co/dcRBenYIif
  • 2021.03.16: “Bathymetry” by Lorraine Wilson (Strange Horizons) is haunting, unsettling, and all too real. https://t.co/OV2lyFNBTv
  • 2021.03.16: A Wild Patience” by Gwynne Garfinkle (Escape Pod R) is a delight–not only because it overturns some robot tropes (an act dear to my cyborg heart), but also because of the perfect adolescent voice. https://t.co/m3pyXEImZq
  • 2021.03.30: “Tloque Nahuaque” by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas (trans. by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Escape Pod R) is brilliantly structured, revealing only what’s needed to paint an unsettling watercolour of an end time.https://t.co/bNsKVscG0j
  • 2021.03.30: I adored the main characters of “Spaceship October” by Greg van Eekhout (Escape Pod R). The impossible situation they’re put in feels all too real in our capitalist hellscape, but what an ending! https://t.co/q2tr7bd6uL
  • 2021.04.10: “Bargain” by Sarah Gailey (Catscast R) is a fun, clever story, with just one flaw: not enough cats. Well played, EA Podcasts #AprilFools https://t.co/IAdquPBWBV
  • 2021.04.10: “The Machine is Experiencing Uncertainty” by Merc Wolfmoor (Escape Pod O) is about time loops, cyborgs, and space weirdness, but even more about personhood and found family. Gorgeous, urgent and darkly funny. https://t.co/u94ukJZBQ2
  • 2021.04.10: is challenging, and even more so when you actually want to make a point. So “The Dame With the Earth at Her Back” by Sarah Pauling (Escape Pod O) is enough of a delight even without the great characters and noir subversion. https://t.co/2YUKO5otja
  • 2021.05.02: “According to Leibniz (maybe this isn’t what he meant); or, Rasharelle Little: Goddess of Postal Worker NBs” by Isana Skeete (Strange Horizons) is a weird and wonderful exploration of self, anxiety and… pets? https://t.co/nBkqnWLddE
  • 2021.05.08: “Electronic Ghosts” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo (Escape Pod O) is a brilliant take on ghosts in the machine, the mind-body problem, and electronic malfunction. I adored the layers of ghosts here. https://t.co/fWcqmg5hbk
  • 2021.05.08: “Express to Beijing West Railway Station | 开往西站的特别列车” by Congyun ‘Mu Ming’ Gu (tr: Kiera Johnson, Samovar) has such a horror vibe, I almost stopped reading, but I’m glad I didn’t—it clarified into brilliant, beautiful SF. https://t.co/M53Om4jKzq
  • 2021.05.08: Next: the Strange Horizons Palestinian issue. Right now things are very bad in Palestine, so in addition to getting educated and supporting financially, it’s a good time to support Palestinian creators. #SaveSheikhJarrah #Palestine https://t.co/7nBSWY9DZ5
  • 2021.05.08: “Native Country” by Karim Kattan (Strange Horizons #Palestinian issue) is moody, atmospheric fantasy about terrible choices; a masterwork in showing just the right amount of detail. https://t.co/xpuSC9DAu7
  • 2021.05.08: Wills” by Wadih Haddad (Strange Horizons #Palestinian issue) is short, and so evocative it’s arguably prose poetry. https://t.co/lz2od8U7KL
  • 2021.05.08: “The Center of the Universe” by Nadia Shammas (Strange Horizons #Palestinian issue) does one of my favourite things: takes a well-worn trope and layers it with freshness and meaning. https://t.co/uuiIqY1YZB
  • 2021.05.08: “A Day in the Life of Anmar 20X1” by Abdulla Moaswes (Strange Horizons #Palestinian issue) is brilliant political satire, technology lined with trauma. https://t.co/WwCITmQR8X
  • 2021.05.08: “We Broke Nairobi” by Noel Cheruto (Strange Horizons) is equal parts weird, tragic, and all too real despite (or because of?) the fantastical elements. https://t.co/PSS2OS4K8z
  • 2021.05.08: “Seed Vault” by Marika Bailey (Escape Pod R) is an unflinching and beautifully rendered examination of colonialism. Smartarse gods are bonus. https://t.co/aliUjgOCeu
  • 2021.05.08: You probably heard me yelling about “Just Enough Rain” by P.H. Lee (GigaNotoSaurus) when I had the privilege of reading an early draft a few months ago. JEWISH ANGEL MEETCUTE. YES THERE ARE ENOUGH EYES AND WINGS. Poignant and funny. https://t.co/goS4JT44em
  • 2021.06.05: “Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet” by Catherine George (Escape Pod R) is a lovely, bittersweet story about music, marking your mark, and leaving a legacy. Loved the plural first person, too. https://t.co/V6iCcMS7cx
  • 2021.06.05: “Balfour in the Desert” by Fargo Tbakhi (Strange Horizons) is brilliant, atmospheric, and tragic; painting a picture of colonialism and even a little hope. https://t.co/V4Romn6hVk
  • 2021.06.05: “Death, the Universe, and Everything” by Sherin Nicole (Escape Pod O) is all delightful quantum weirdness and teen angst. A cautionary tale about determinism and parasocial relationships. https://t.co/xa3S3BfRo4
  • 2021.06.05: “Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five” by T. Kingfisher (Escape Pod R) is a gorgeous and funny story about birth that neither sugar-coats the experience, nor lean into body horror. https://t.co/FOUYEpKEw5
  • 2021.06.05: “Sandrine” by Alexandra Munck (Strange Horizons) is beautiful and heartbreaking as it is original and wondrous. https://t.co/t4TcPEJdsb
  • 2021.06.05: “The Golden Carrot” by K. S. Shere (Strange Horizons) is as devastating as it is short; the implications dawn on you pretty fast. https://t.co/2f9ouqbX0p
  • 2021.06.05: “The Steel Magnolia Metaphor” by Jennifer Lee Rossman (Escape Pod) comes with a ‘crying while dog walking’ warning: a child learning how to grieve as she begins to understand the purpose of metaphor. https://t.co/J2u4Ops8ao
  • 2021.06.05: “Si Shou” by E. A. Xiong (Strange Horizons) is a weird, wonderful body mod story written with pleasing scientific precision. Just beautiful, at least to my particular set of interests. https://t.co/mZijrQSQWn
  • 2021.06.26: “Ascend, Exalt, Love, Propagate, Rise!” by Sarah Kumari (Escape Pod O) is a wonderfully anti-capitalist story in a fantastic setting. https://t.co/0SW6m8bfuo
  • 2021.06.26: “Broken” by Jaxton Kimble (Escape Pod R) will resonate with some fellow neurodiverse folks (but not all, because we’re not all the same). Love the voice in this one. https://t.co/1uG8SrKJA3
  • 2021.06.26: “Scoria” by Liza Wemakor (Strange Horizons) is a gentle, lovely story. A very welcome change of pace. https://t.co/yW6cjQFz58
  • 2021.06.26: “The Machine That Would Rewild Humanity” by Tobias S. Buckell (Escape Pod R) has such a clever slow reveal: the obvious one, and then… https://t.co/H1byMEerxb
  • 2021.06.26: Ghosts?! Fandom?! Mysteries?! “Peristalsis” by Vajra Chandrasekera (The Deadlands) has so many delicate layers that fit together perfectly. Weird, heartbreaking gorgeousness. https://t.co/vOHzG5oy8v
  • 2021.06.26: The next few tweets review the fiction of the Strange Horizons Trans Special Issue!
  • 2021.06.26: “Women Want Me, Fish Fear Me” by Paris Green (Strange Horizons) is weird, dark and brilliant. Despite (or because of) the weirdness, it feels very ‘of our time’. https://t.co/IMOM4CniOU
  • 2021.06.26: “The Chicken House” by Jenny Fried (Strange Horizons) is a gorgeous coming-of-age fairy tale retelling with excellent characterisation. https://t.co/vSCQKwcvRZ
  • 2021.06.26: “A Welling Up” by Natalia Theodoridou (Strange Horizons) is a heartbreaking tale of memory and family, perfectly delivered. https://t.co/kRSEA7zYp0

Where on the internet is Rivqa Rafael?

By rivqa Posted in News

Like so many of the rats jumping ship, I’m currently in the process of winding down my Twitter account. While I have a linktree, I’ve put this post together to provide a little more detail about where I actually spend my social media time, in case anyone wants to find me while Twitter takes its last gasping breaths. In no particular order:

  • Despite its evils, I am most active on and most enjoy Instagram. I’m still working out how I want to use this newer, more public Insta, but it’ll probably be mostly writing news and dog pictures as posts and stories (I am not a video person).
  • These days I track my reading (such as it is) on StoryGraph.
  • I have a Tumblr; while I don’t use it very much, I should pick up private messages there at least.
  • If we’ve met or spoken online, I don’t mind you adding me on Facebook. I don’t use it much, but I do get private messages there. If we have no previous connection, feel free to follow me; I make most writing news public.
  • The contact form on this website usually works.
  • I use various other platforms (Telegram, Signal, Whatsapp, Discord, whatever Google is calling its chat function these days, and email, of course). If we know each other (IRL or online), send me a private message to ask for these details if you don’t have them.
  • I may set up Mastodon or something else in the future, but I already have a bunch of things I barely look at, and I wasn’t on Twitter much even before it got Muskified, so I’m not rushing this one.

Please stay in touch if you’d like to!

Brief internet appearances

By rivqa Posted in News Tagged , ,
Rivqa is smiling and holding a copy of Strange Fire

This year will probably be a quiet one in terms of my fiction, since I’m doing honours in psychology this year (reputedly the hardest part of the whole process). Still, I have a couple of things coming up soon.

In the meantime, I have managed to share opinions about Jewish Australian speculative fiction on a panel with Gillian Polack, Jack Dann, and Jason Franks. This was run by Bettina Burger and Lucas Mattila, who are lovely Australian spec fic academics and enthusiasts at Heinrich Heine University, and was a lot of fun. Watch here. One of their students has reviewed several of my short stories for their blog, so my fiction has now been officially studied! That’s got to be a square on my non-existent bingo sheet.

I also visited Elizabeth Fitzgerald’s blog, Earl Grey Editing, to share too many feelings about online spec fic conventions, burnout, and more. Check it out if you like feelings.

Last but not least, now that the USPS is shipping to Australia again, my contributor copy of Strange Fire has finally made it across the pond. I’m so excited to read this one.

The art of strange fire

By rivqa Posted in News Tagged ,
Cover of "Strange Fire: Jewish Voices from the Pandemic", edited by TS Mendola, featuring an abstract artwork

I’m pleased to announce that “Love Thy Neighbour”, my cheeky Eve + Adam + Lilith Torah fanfic short story is forthcoming in Ben Yehuda Press’ Strange Fire: Jewish Voices from the Pandemic anthology, edited by TS Mendola and out later this month. The paperback is available for preorder now, and the ebook should be available soon. Warning: my story is in the SEX section (yes, there’s a sex section).

Also forthcoming is “She Is Not in Heaven”, in FableCroft’s The Art of Being Human (edited by Tehani Croft and Stephanie Lai). I’m sharing a TOC with the likes of Kaaron Warren, Juliet Marillier, and Joanne Anderton, so I’m really excited for this. My story in this one is a genre I’m calling shtetlpunk, and it has a golem, so stay tuned for a release date for this one.

CoNZealand schedule and Ditmar nomination

By rivqa Posted in Events, News Tagged ,

[insert unnecessary apologies and obligatory platitudes about COVID-19]

I’m on two WorldCon panels this year, which is next week! One on science fantasy and one on medicine of the future. I’m looking forward to these. If you’re interested in joining in, you’ll need a CoNZealand membership.

I’m also pleased to announce that my story “Whom My Soul Loves” has been nominated for a Ditmar Award. It seems to have been a quiet year for nominations, but nonetheless I remain very proud of this story. If you haven’t read it already, I’d be honoured if you did.