the yearly eligibility post
I had a very quiet 2015 on the story front—working two jobs plus writing a novel will do that for you. (2016 may not be much better, unfortunately.) The one story I had out is a doozy, however: “This Wanderer, in the Dark of the Year” appeared in Clarkesworld last year.
It starts this way: I am a journalist. I interview the inhabitants of war zones. I go to Afghanistan, Iraq, the DRC. The stories are all different, but after a while they begin to blur together. The women are tired, and children with thin arms cling to them. We cannot get bread, they say. Or clean water. My husband died last night. My brothers have been taken.
You’re a disaster, Annelise says on the phone one night, voice distant and crackling over the satellite phone. I think her tone is fond. It’s difficult to tell, with the static. Come home safe.
I did some reading last year (never as much as I’d like) and these were the stories that stood out for me:
“Geometries of Belonging” by Rose Lemberg in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. This story is at the top of my list for awards this year. It’s that good.
“Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World” by Caroline M. Yoachim in Lightspeed. Gorgeous, complicated, at once distant and emotionally rich—easily my favorite SF short story of the year.
“Needle on Bone” by Helena Bell in Strange Horizons. This one stayed with me like a half-heard tune, and it makes me shiver every time I read it.
“Psychopomp” by Indrapramit Das in Interfictions. A gorgeous meditation on the afterlife, realities, and the end of time.
“Primaflora’s Journey” by Cat Rambo in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I loved Cat’s book Beasts of Tabat as well, and “Primaflora’s Journey” is the story of a minor character from the book–who has a story of her own to tell.
