tanglepretty writes

tanglepretty writes

@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Speculative fiction reader & writer | Maine | Viable Paradise 2026

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tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

I love a) reading speculative short stories and b) making lists. Every day, starting today and going for as long as I feel like it, I'm going to post about one story that I've recently read and loved.

tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: On The Engineering of River Harmonics and the Associated Tributaries of Grief by @pelagicnatasha.bsky.social. Cool, fascinating worldbuilding. The POV character is hilariously unsympathetic, but we're rooting for the man he never understands. augursociety.org/on-the-engin...

augursociety.orgOn the Engineering of River Harmonics and Associated Tributaries of Grief by Natasha King - Augur Literary SocietyThe new engineer from the provinces was conducting exemplary musical work on some of the smaller tributary rivers adjoining the capital.
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: Like a Scorched House on Fire by @hlfullerton.bsky.social in @nightshadesmag.bsky.social. I probably shouldn't be rooting for this protagonist (for multiple reasons), but I really am. www.nightshadesmag.com/ns-like-a-sc...

nightshadesmag.comLike a Scorched House on Fireby H.L. Fullerton He'd burned down the house three times, and yet still it stood. White-skinned. Two stories squatting over a grave-deep basement. Nine eyes and devil-black mouth in the front; a set ...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: Ananconfabulation by @marofthebooks.bsky.social. "We sleep whenever we want since we don’t have day or night anymore." I love the narrative voice here: a literally limited perspective that gives just enough detail to make it fascinating. podcastle.org/2026/03/24/p...

podcastle.orgPodCastle 936: Ananconfabulation - PodCastleAnanconfabulation by Mar Vincent   Our homes are buried, so we built tunnels. From Tomas’ window to mine, from Ryan’s to Kimber’s and back to Tomas’ attached garage where it has little windows up high...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: The Homeowner's Bride by @ayidashonibar.bsky.social. Ooh, this one was so fun. Snappy, angry, and downright romantic. I especially loved the pacing. It could have easily been twice as long, but it packs so much into its 4000 words... othersidespec.com/pieces/the-h...

othersidespec.comThe Homeowner's Bride - OTHERSIDEWooden wheels crack against the dirt road, warning me of the owner’s approach. His journey up my hill is slow. The cart fights its way through the brambles and wildflowers that have made the path thei...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: Plum Century by @srinivassimo.bsky.social. I'm learning a lot about my reading (& writing) as I turn my saved story list into these posts. For example, I love powerful, ambiguously alive ladies who show up in some kind of mysterious between-place. psychopomp.com/fantasy/nove...

psychopomp.comPlum Century - PSYCHOPOMP.COMIt takes the lieutenant one hundred years to climb the hill to Lao Po’s house. By then, the warlords have come and gone, the Republic has risen and fallen, and developers have been petitioning the rul...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: The Horrible Conceit of Death and Night by @japrenticewrites.bsky.social. Of course, as a Hadestown fan, I loved this story about people trapped in stories. What if our feline Hermes actually could say something that changed the ending? www.apexbookcompany.com/blogs/apex-m...

apexbookcompany.comThe Horrible Conceit of Death and NightI was not there at the beginning of Lietta’s story (I am never there for beginnings) so I will tell it to you as I imagine it. Not from the very start—the...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: Chlorophilia by @mikethorn.bsky.social & @miriamricher.bsky.social. Love a gleefully gruesome tone and a character who is ALSO gleeful about the ghastliness. I assume spinningjenny is still thriving in the woods behind my old dorm at Bennington. augursociety.org/chlorophilia/

augursociety.orgChlorophilia by Mike Thorn & Miriam Richer- Augur Literary SocietyMr. Blake: Please find attached the email correspondences you subpoenaed for the Bennington missing persons case.
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: Protectors of the Red, Red Earth by @avramargariti.bsky.social. Two neat story arcs in a very short narrative, one secretly nestled inside the other just like....well, never mind. www.unchartedmag.com/stories/prot...

unchartedmag.comProtectors of the Red, Red Earth - Uncharted“There is an animal,” I tell my young apprentice, “that can make other species protect it to the death.” Clay keeps notes as we crouch low in the dugout, watching the ant-wasp hill under the soft redl...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: The Somnambulist by @mckatie.bsky.social. “I knew you’d be here,” he says. Something troubled and uncertain distorts his schoolboy vowels. “I had a dream about it.” I love bogs and mysteries and main characters who are in way over their heads. www.3lobedmag.com/issue46/3lbe...

3lobedmag.com3LBE Magazine - The Somnambulist by Katie McIvorIt was supposed to be a simple job. I fly into Edinburgh and get the gun from a contact in the Grassmarket. All smooth. I check into my hotel near the mark's flat and spend a couple hours scoping out ...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's SFF story: The Claywife by @tanadrin.bsky.social. This story fascinated me, and I immediately loved it. The punctuation shows as much about the main character as the prose: a mechanical rhythm can hide a great depth of feeling. othersidespec.com/pieces/the-c... @othersidespec.bsky.social

othersidespec.comThe Claywife - OTHERSIDEI am bringing a rind of bread to the daughter in the lamp-house again. This is the third time. In the path along the garth-wall a hortulan stops me and demands to know my errand. I hesitate and he dem...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's sff story: The Garden by Emma Törzs. One of the MANY from Uncanny that made me think, "huh, I've never read anything like this." The setting and narrator are both wonderful mysteries, and I loved how they solve each other. www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-...

uncannymagazine.comThe Garden - Uncanny MagazineMost mornings, the woman sits in her garden. Most mornings, I sit on my roof. In this way, looking down over the tall stone walls of her courtyard, I can see her grey head bent over her grey hands. Sh...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

Today's fantasy story: The Voice And Her Knife by @anamariacurtis.bsky.social. I love beautiful stories about terrible people. Raw meat and devotion. What else could you want? beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-...

beneath-ceaseless-skies.comBeneath Ceaseless Skies - The Voice and Her Knife by AnaMaria CurtisThe ambassador takes a bite of her fish. It rolls across her tongue, rich and sweet with the barest hint of salt. It is not the flavor that she savors. She can feel the burst of energy from it almost ...
tanglepretty writes
@tanglepretty.bsky.social

My lesson from September so far: stop choosing audiobooks that make you think "jeez, are there really still 5 hours left?" instead, choose audiobooks that make you think "OH GOODY I GET TO LISTEN TO JADE CITY BY FONDA LEE"

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