The Monthly Short Story List
Short Stories I read and liked in July 2023
It’s been a rough month for your friend, Tiernan, but short fiction is always there. I tend to prefer my stuff darker, fiction that reflects my own often difficult feelings back at me. I find it comforting. It makes me feel less alone.
Maybe these will do the same for you.
The Nonce by Allison Rumfitt: Tell Me I’m Worthless was a surprise word-of-mouth hit and I think Rumfitt has something really special. The Nonce is a nasty, bleak, sad little short, very rooted in working class Britain. Well worth a read.
and it’s place remembers it no more by Neal Auch. Neal is primarily a visual artist, creating still lives of meat in various stages of decay. His short story has some of the same feel to it, the same connection of flowers, flesh, and death.
Aberration by Samir Sirk Morató: A haunted house that wants to keep you - and will abuse you to do so. Some absolutely gorgeous descriptive phrases in this one, all contributing to the sense of sick unease throughout the piece.
My friend Taliesin Neith has released To Haunt and To Hold on Itch.io for only $1. It’s a beautifully written gory and erotic tale, deeply transgressive. Only for those with strong stomachs.
The new CloisterFox Zine is out and on its third issue of UK weird fiction. Standouts for this ‘Ruins’ themed issue are A Feast of Houses by R.L Summerling and Clean Up by Aliyah Whitely. Both handle their themes deftly. Summerling’s piece, especially, is beautifully lyrical.
Technically I read this when the issue came out, but it’s available for free now and it’s astonishing. Endless Yearning by Judith Shadford is a devastating short told entirely in dialect. It will hurt you.
That’s it for this month, but I would be remiss in not directing you towards my own Seize The Press story, MYCOPHILIA. Please read it before you read Endless Yearning, because Endless Yearning is better and I can’t live up. Thank you.
Are any of these particular standouts for you? Did you have any favourite shorts you read this month? Let me know.