Short Shorts

GENERAL SHORT SHORTS

¶ Kathryn Allen: Incubus. Short short. Also, "some short bits of fanfic, and a random piece of unpublished novel." Announcement at sfwa.

"The first time – the first that I remember – I was ten years old. I jerked awake with a scream ready on my lips, escaping from a nightmare I had suffered through several times in the previous month, to feel his weight and sense his shadow in the darkness."

¶ Aimee C. Amodio: Cutter. Short story. Also, more short fiction. Announcement at sfwa.

"Things said and stored warred for space. Boys would like you if you wore makeup and dressed a little nicer.

"Is this what going crazy feels like?"

¶ Ann Leckie: Bury the Dead. Short short. Includes links to other online fiction. Announcement at sfwa. Announcement at ipstp. See also: Userpic.

"It's the first Thanksgiving since Grandpa died."

¶ lost_due_east: Untitled contribution. Short short. Announced at ipstp.

"So there's this guy who pisses off this
gypsy, right? I mean, don't all the best
stories start out that way?"

¶ mattador: Snapshots. Short short. Also, short fiction. Announced at sfwa.

"Do we track the paintings, or do the
paintings track us?"

¶ Andrea Miccaver: Believe. Short short. Also, seven more short shorts. Announcement at ipstp.

"A woman walked by, an angel at her back. The angel glowed fiercely, the shinning sword at its hip the only thing brighter. The old man saw so few angels these days. People didn't believe in them like they used to, and it was fact that in order to be protected by something, you had to believe in it."

¶ The Philosopher At Large: Bluebeard's Bride. Illustrated short short. Announced at the creator's blog.

"The whole of the great house is
still, still as a breath held against
hearing, waiting, half in dread and yet
half-hoping for interruption, for the
jarring of door opened, footfall on the
stair, voice in the vaulting – but no
such rescue, alas, is to come."

¶ Will Shetterly: Little Red and the Big Bad. Short short. Originally published in Swan Sister, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Simon & Schuster). Also, comic books and short fiction. Announcement at sfwa. See also: Tribute to IPSTP Day.

"You know I'm giving the straight and deep 'cause it's about a friend of a friend. A few weeks back, just 'cross town, a true sweet chiquita, called Red for her fave red hoodie, gets a 911 from her momma's momma. The Grams is bed-bound with a winter bug, but she's jonesing for Sesame Noodles, Hot and Sour Soup, and Kung Pao Tofu from the local Chineserie – 'cept their delivery wheels broke down. So Grams is notioning if Red fetches food, they'll feast together."

¶ Janni Lee Simner: Dragon Offerings. Short short. (Story linked here changes monthly.) Announcement at sfwa.

"Aimee and I had been leaving Oreos behind for years, since we were little and Aimee was afraid the dragons might eat her. I'd always known dragons didn't eat people, and by now Aimee knew too, but that didn't stop us. Neither did the fact that no dragon had ever claimed our chocolate offerings."

¶ Karina Sumner-Smith: The Voices of the Snakes. Myth retelling, short short. Originally published in Fantasy Magazine. Announcement at sfwa.

"'Hello poison, hello grave-specter, hello nightmare,' the little green grass snake called, his tiny voice high and all his sibilants hissed. He flicked his tongue and uncurled his sleepy coils. 'Hello dung heap, hello monstrosity, hello ruin.'

"It was his morning ritual, and all his greetings were for her."

TRIBUTES TO IPSTP DAY

¶ A. Nakama: Web-Elf Woes. Short short. Also, three pages of script for a webcomic. Announcement at iptstp. Announcement at papersky. Announcement at sfwa.

"It's hard being a web-elf. Nobody knows what we do to keep the internet running smoothly. We scamper from server to server repairing broken links, quelling flames, and gathering stray pixels. We do what we can to herd Wikipedia – but we can't make it fabulously interesting all the time. Sometimes the truth just slips in by accident."

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