I just shared my favorite short fiction that I read this week. Check it out!
myreadinglife.com/2026/01/31/f...
Also, the word keycard is used five times. But in one other place it is two words, key card.
@uncannymagazine.bsky.social I found an inconsistency in www.uncannymagazine.com/article/and-.... When she finds a keycard near the body, she drops it into her bag. Later she finds some pills and tucks them into her pocket alongside the keycard. But the keycard is in her bag.
I've once again updated my Speculative Fiction Index table. Check it out!
myreadinglife.com/speculative-...
My 2026 Reading Goals
Traditionally, I set a goal each January for how many books I want to read in the year. About halfway through 2025, I rededicated myself to reading more short fiction. Taking that into account, I have not set a goal for how many books...
Originally posted at myreadinglife.com
And once a month I update my Speculative Fiction Index at myreadinglife.com/speculative-... Happy reading!
I am taking a break from my Daily Dose of #Empathy posts for the month of October. Too many projects around the house. In the meantime, you can see what I am reading on the table at the bottom of this page. myreadinglife.com/shortfiction
This one is dark and hits close to home. It shows the extremes of our internet, mobile phone culture and how unavoidable and futile it can feel. Read it.
Length: 885 words (< 5 minutes)
My rating: 4/5
Without giving away too much, it describes a kind of hind and seek game that seems impossible to win and has existential consequences. And the second half describes a sequel that flips the script.
here it is used to devastating effect in drawing the reader in and immersing them in the narrative. Second, this isn't really a story. It is more of a description of a video game told using a narrative style. Again, seems like it wouldn't work very well, but it does.
Your Daily Dose of #Empathy (buff.ly/NTwziIr)
City of One by Stephen S. Power (buff.ly/IFl7BTA)
The author has used a number of unique tools in this excellent story. First, the story is in the second person, so it is speaking directly to the reader. I often find this distracting, but ...
Well done!
Length: 5,017 words (about 20 minutes)
My rating: 5/5
The world building here is detailed and deeply immersive without being expository, flowing organically as part of the storytelling. The best part of the story is exploring the idea I cannot reveal without spoiling the story. This is another piece of short fiction exploring ideas through story.
It's okay, though. She has a "closet" she can use. This is a technology that allows for a sort of full body mask that subsumes her consciousness during the experience. But the technology seems to be on the fritz and something unexpected happens.
Your Daily Dose of #Empathy (buff.ly/HR7edpj)
The Girlfriend Experience by @cztacks.bsky.social (buff.ly/0AITHay)
In a bleak, near future dystopia devastated by climate change, a sex worker is forced by her economic circumstances to entertain a client whose proclivity involves choking her.
Despite its brevity, it does evoke a feeling for what it is like to move from feeling estranged in a new place to loving it despite, or even because of, all its apparent shortcomings.
Length: 982 words (about 5 minutes)
My rating: 3/5
Your Daily Dose of #Empathy (buff.ly/YDS3FyM)
The Place I Came To by @filiphdz.bsky.social (buff.ly/CZnxDUy)
This is a short, simple story of how the narrator moved to a new city that he at first didn't really like but eventually came to appreciate and love.
A rather helpful message in our moment.
Length: 1,792 words (about 10 minutes)
My rating: 3/5
It shows the community that exists on board, highlighting how each member turns to care when they realize their end is near. The crew also appear to be non-human with a variety of body forms and types. All in, this is an uplifting story of community, care, and strength in the midst of bleakness.
It expands, engulfing everything in its path. It is moving too fast to avoid. The crew is in its path. We follow the crew as they prepare for their inevitable end.
Despite the grim and predetermined outcome of this story, it does have some bright spots.
Most of these involve some sort of "happy" ending where humans are triumphant in some way. This story is instead much more bleak. The crew of the Awassa are all doomed to die, consumed by a giant space creature that was thought to be a planet. Probing it has awoken it and made it angry.
Your Daily Dose of #Empathy (myreadinglife.com/2025/09/24/l...)
Last Meal Aboard the Awassa by @kcolemanwrites.bsky.social (www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/last...)
Many science fiction adventure stories involve alien encounters, learning from them or fighting against them.
My pleasure. Thanks for writing it and sharing!
I wish there had been more of that. I was left wanting to experience and learn more about the world built here.
Length: 2,610 words (about 15 minutes)
My rating: 4/5
I found this story a fascinating exploration of what life might be left and evolve after humans have left behind a ruined world. The drones are still guided by their programming and the biomechanical animals are intriguing. The author leaves out exactly how they came about.
This story (whose world reminded me a bit of the 2008 movie WALL·E) centers on one of the drones who is doing a routine inspection of the launch complex nearby. An acid rain storm approaches and the plot involves her encounter with the "animals" in her attempt to avoid the killing rain.
Your Daily Dose of #Empathy (buff.ly/HPokloM)
A World of Their Own by @robertfalco.bsky.social (buff.ly/QgKT9cy)
The Earth is devoid of humans who have all left the world they destroyed to find a new place to live. Left behind are two unique forms life—sentient drones and biomechanical animals.
Alice struggles with leaving her family behind, exploring the difficulty of relationships in a hospice situation. At the same time it tackles the experience of discovering new things about yourself. Another fantastic story that I highly recommend.
Length: 4,110 words (about 20 min.)
My rating: 5/5
The call backs to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are obvious in this penultimate story of the September issue of @clarkesworldmagazine.com. The storytelling is superb—touching, poignant, and heartfelt.
The challenge is that the mind must accept the VR as reality. But Alice struggles to do this each time she visits by noticing the impossible things in the virtual world. With time running out, she must overcome this mental obstacle or face imminent death.
