It’s been a while since I did one of these. I’ve been reading a bunch of short fiction lately and a friend asked for some recommendations and links. For now, I’m just recommending three stories because I read somewhere that no one really checks out recommendations past the third one. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but I find long lists overwhelming sometimes.

So, in no special order:

“Thirty-Three Percent Joe” by Suzanne Palmer

‘[CC] Welcome online, Cybernetic Elbow Model CI953-L. This is your introductory Initial Boot orientation. You are currently in a locked and muted configuration while external medical systems run diagnostics to see that your replacement procedure has been fully successful. If so, you will fully join the collective cybernetic units that currently comprise—with your addition—approximately thirty-three percent of the biological unit known as “Joe.” ‘

“The Oracle and the Sea” by Megan Arkenberg

‘When she plays, it’s the old songs—not her heavy concertos but brisk two-fingered melodies, folk tunes and old hymns, the first songs her youngest students would master. Every month when the soldiers bring her supply of flour and milk, they also bring waterproofed parcels of manuscript paper and cool bricks of ink. She always refuses them.’

“How to Swallow the Moon” by Isabel Yap

‘Tonight, as in every night, she smiles when the door opens. Her arms loop over your neck; she leans in and rests her head against your cheek. She looks down at the basket between you. “Is this for me?”’

Hope you enjoy!