Tor.com Short Fiction: January-February 2019

This year tor.com has started releasing bundles of short fiction, free to download if you sign up for their newsletter. All the stories in the collection were eventually published on their website, but it was nice to get them bundled together and have access a few days before everyone else. Even if I didn't actually finish the collection until after they were all released. It's nice to be able to download these to my work computer and read a story over the course of a day (my work is such that I often have 15-20 minute chunks of time waiting for data to load or simulations to run, and it's a good time to get some reading in).

Some of the stories were better than others, and most were excellent. They all used fantasy elements to tackle common relationships in new ways. A chef is trying to recreate his mother's signature recipe after her death, and it takes an encounter with his abusive sister to help him let go of the past. A man is dealing with the imminent death of his spouse of seventeen years and trying to figure out what comes next. A man helps a girl escape from imprisonment and both he and his lover have to deal with the consequences. A girl reunites with an old friend and isn't sure what it means for her life going forward. A woman puts her health on the line for the sake of a friend. And a man learns to embrace all the different forms love can take.

The last story was the only one that fell a bit flat for me. It felt more like moralizing than something with an actual plot. But the rest of them were fantastic. It was great to be exposed to some new authors and ideas, and I'm looking forward to the next collection that tor.com releases.

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