LINKDING

excerpt: She knew to expect Kierk’s homegrown MDMA analog to hit like a blissy staticky tsunami. She knew to expect Mona’s band—formerly the Noctambulists, now Gristleswing—to pack the dancefloor into an electric sea of skin and sweat. She knew to expect the long rambling goodbye pep-talk from Vawn on the rooftop and the frantic-turned-tender goodbye sex with Ilya at hers. She did not expect to stumble home and find a corpse on her doorstep. ➜ a short story about a dystopian future, a murder investigation, community, and someone who's trying to leave the only home she's ever known ➜ the information reveals over the course of the story are handled so well ➜ and the narrative tone of...hm. of inevitability? of sadness. of people trying their best to hold the line against the constant pressure of external forces. idk it's real good. ➜ written for a Stop Copaganda short story contest! ➜ 4.7k words

excerpt: Fig. 1. Gold coin, 356 P.F. (post-foundation). Obverse: profile of Auréle, right-facing. Legend: REGENT ETERNAL. Reverse: Tree, fruiting (symbolizing prosperity). This five-sorel piece is in fine condition. The design is sophisticated, improving upon the bronze Auréles minted throughout the 340s. Trees were a common peacetime motif and recur in coinage from Auréle’s accession in 339 onwards. They cut off Auréle’s head and they put it on a pike above the city’s third best bridge. To me, that seemed a shame. I had only just got his nose right. // ➜ SFF short story telling of a year of political upheaval through the eyes of someone who works in the minting of coins ➜ and through the coins' archaeological analysis, in the far future ➜ I love this double-vision on events, what the historians can and can't know through the coins, and the struggles and lives of the people who were just trying to get through those times, the desperation and the personhood ➜ 3.6k words

excerpt: Sandrine dropped into the chair beside me and stretched her back dramatically. I took the opportunity to admire the view, as I was sure she intended. “Ugh!” She wiggled her fingers high overhead. “Never be a compositor, Mylène my beauty. You’ll have to typeset a scholar’s list of sources in eight point, half of them in Greek.” “I don’t speak a word of Greek,” I pointed out, though it didn’t need saying. When would a girl from a little Normandy village have learned such a thing as Greek? Sandrine was the one who had grown up in this printshop two streets from the Quartier Latin, not me. I had the impression that she didn’t read it terribly well herself, come to that; the king’s censors had been striking out texts so eagerly recently that the shop had been taking on jobs we might ordinarily have farmed out. ➤ as one would expect from the venue, this short story is about historical lesbians! ➤ specifically, historical lesbians working in a parisian printshop in 1830 (2 years before Les Mis is set, if that's relevant for you) ➤ ahhhh I love all the different women in this story, their relationships with each other and their work and their beliefs ➤ and the main character a provincial girl who's finding a place for herself and coming to understand the world of revolutionary paris she's found herself in! ➤ I also love how real and grounded the printshop work is that they all do ➤ it was great from start to finish <3 ➤ and yes the author is a friend but I'm not biased at all!! ➤ 5k words in length ➤ available as written text and as podcast; I have been told that the podcast version is excellent too.

excerpt: We drove out to Joshua Tree for the star party—a gathering of amateur astronomers under a clear, dark sky. It was Holly’s idea, an impromptu adventure on a Friday after work: “Hey, Lou, do you want to go look at the moon tonight?” Holly had the best ideas and the worst ideas, and in the daylight, it was hard to tell them apart at first glance. I took a gamble. I said yes. And I meant it—I wanted nothing more than to lay down under the Milky Way with my hand in hers and gaze into forever. For a long time, our love was the biggest thing I knew how to believe in. ➤ an sff novelette about family dynamics, religion, queerness, trauma, and the beauty of the night sky ➤ it's a horrifying story even as it's also beautiful, exploring its ideas in ways that leave me not quite sure what to think about any of it, but in a way that's clearly done with purpose and care ➤ content note for explicit child murder. I am serious about the horrifying aspects of the story! but if it's something you feel able to read, it's definitely worth it imo ➤ 9k words in length

Excerpt: Scene 1: The Wedding [ORION stands alone on an otherwise bare stage. He is dressed for a wedding, but the clothes are in a state of disarray. Tie loose, shirt unbuttoned. The overall effect misleadingly implies a walk of shame. There are stains on his sleeves that look like gold paint.] ORION: I met the Admiral of the Ocean Sea at a wedding. I’m not going to say his name. Not here. Not yet. Macbeth doesn’t really show up for every new staging of the Scottish Play, but the Admiral is always listening and hungry for praise. I come to bury him instead. But first, the wedding! ➤ an sff short story written as the script for an experimental theatre piece ➤ I love the conceit of the piece, and seeing as it unfolded more and more just where it's going with everything ➤ about the mythologising of history, the "discovery" of the americas by columbus, the power of theatre, and ghosts ➤ perhaps a bit blunt in its themes in the end but I had a lot of fun anyway! ➤ 6k words in length

excerpt: Every date followed the same pattern. After the dinner and drinks, and the long moonlit walk along the canal, Jules would casually remark that the hangar was not far from here, and would they like to come see? Once outside the heavy metal door, he would pause with his hand above the security scanner, as if having second thoughts about inviting an unauthorized guest. The hesitation was no more than a cruel act. It was the look on their faces that made him keep doing it. As if it was just hitting them in that moment, how lucky they were to get both Jules Mercer and his giant robot on the same night. ➤ a short story about a mech pilot taking his date for a ride in his giant robot ➤ I love the uneasy way the narrative sits with the point of view the main character provides ➤ and the way the story opens up to questions about the way this society is structured, the things it values and the things it ignores ➤ and the strength of the ending in its refusal to tie things up tidily ➤ it's really good! ➤ 5k words in length ➤ I also liked the author spotlight in which they were interviewed about this story: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/author-spotlight-sagan-yee/

Excerpt: After we kill our father but before we leave the island, we argue. Cal doesn’t want to go; he’s afraid of the water. Even after the rest of us outvote him two to one, he refuses to move, crouching on the ground, pressing the ruined side of his face into the earth, snarling whenever we try to touch him. In the end Ari has to sit down with him and say something in a quiet soothing susurrus, like they do, and the whole time Mir is pacing in the waves at the very edge of the water, where it barely comes up to her ankles. She is moving back and forth and back and forth, with her eyes on the horizon, and when this is happening Father’s blood is still on all of our hands but mostly on hers. ➤ that's a very evocative short story title right there and it's like. yeah. that's what the story is about! ➤ a fantasy story about three teens who have escaped their powerful and abusive father figure, who are a team in escaping, who might not always like each other but who are bound together in inextricable ways ➤ the entire story takes place in a boat as they make their way away from the island, hoping to find the mainland, but it never feels static, it's always pushing you onward, as you get more hints of the backstory, of what exactly all the context is for the murder and the escape ➤ it's so good!!! ➤ also. it's told in plural first person? which is so cool. The three teens are the "we" and "us" of the narrative voice. it's so well done! I love when stories play with pov. ➤ also. trans characters! ➤ 5k words

Excerpt: I had warned a hundred mortals not to trust the boatman. I’d told them: No matter how much you pay him, no matter what you promise, it will never be enough. Yet somehow, I found myself surprised when he grabbed my wrist before I could step off the boat. I gave him my most forbidding stare, which only made him smirk as he held out his other hand. We had an agreement, I almost said. I caught myself just in time—I would have to shed my mainland habits, and fast, now that I was back. ➤ A novelette inspired by the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses ➤ about one of the princesses who managed to escape, but who comes back ➤ a fascinating reimagining, leaning into the dangerous appeal of the fae, and the desire for belonging, and what you will and won't do for love -- or for freedom ➤ I've read a lot of retellings of this fairy tale and there are a lot of good ones but this one definitely ranks pretty high on the list! ➤ 10k words

excerpt: When Irena was young and strong and still the third-most beautiful girl in Březina, she could walk from her mother’s cottage to the birch grove in only an hour—even if she stopped to cool her feet in the creek or fill a basket with blackcurrants. But she is not so young and not so strong now, not for all her wishing, and the journey eats up the morning and a slice of afternoon, too. ➤ a lovely short story about a human woman who loves a woodmaiden ➤ about choices, and appreciating your life for what it is, and the passage of time ➤ and old women dancing together in a birch grove in a forest ➤ 3k words

Excerpt: I was no friend to the god of high places, of peaks and spires and rope bridges over narrow canyons, and I had no reason to expect that he was a friend of mine. But my mother kept asking, what could it hurt to ask for his favor. What could it hurt to try. ➤ a fantasy short story about a disabled woman going on pilgrimage with her mother, and ending up helping out the god whose temple they go to, who has been beseiged by another god ➤ I enjoyed the portrayal of the relationship between parent and child, where the parent is very genuinely caring and doing her best to be helpful and has been an important ally against the ableist world.....and also is just. a bit much. and can't accept that actually the child is an adult these days who's very happy with her life as it is! ➤ 3k words

excerpt: The oldest members of the asamblea all agree that the idea for El Zopilote came out of the Plantation in Texas, back when it was still one more state in the old US. The Plantation is what they called the Sysco-Bush Memorial Carceral Center and it had slaves’ quarters and a master’s house and Black and brown inmates working for no pay all the day long, so it earned its nickname. The white patriarchal establishment said they were criminals. The truth, however, even in Texas, was common knowledge. ➤ a near-future novelette telling the story of the dystopian breakdown of the USA ➤ told by the granddaughter of a black woman who escaped prison slavery to head south of the border and found a new community for fellow escapees ➤ I love the voice of the narrator, her efforts to tell Symphonie's story in an objective and appropriate historical style, but with occasional notes to herself interjecting, wondering about if she's approaching her writing in the right way ➤ I also love the relationship between Symphonie and Karla! ➤ and the themes about how the past can't be left behind, it is an important part of what makes you what you are today ➤ 8k words

Excerpt: Can someone get the doors? Thanks. Please remember we’re on an honor system for chairs—if you’ve eaten today, please leave them for someone who hasn’t. We don’t need another fainting incident. First of all, if you’re looking for a technical look at restoring and reconstructing lost Backwards Man episodes, that’s Greg Bakun’s panel tomorrow morning at 9:30, which I really recommend checking out if you’re not too hungover. This panel is about the recent recovery of clips of “The Goldenrod Conspiracy,” the changes to the story that arise from them, and what it means that every single surviving frame of “The Goldenrod Conspiracy” comes from censorship board clips. ➤ a short story with the conceit that it's a transcript of a con panel, in a futuristic dystopian world ➤ but even in this future where food is hard to come by, fans still gather to talk about their fave media ➤ I loved the history of the fan relationship to the (fictional) show in question, and in particular the lost episode that the panel is about! ➤ the rest of the worldbuilding about the dystopia was pretty broad-strokes and not particularly developed, but I enjoyed all the fan and panel content so much and that's where the focus really is ➤ 5k words in length

quote: There are seven hundred aliens hidden in Miko’s backpack, and the Galactic Security Agent currently studying her passport (hopefully) has no clue. The agent is an alien themselves, some tentacular species with assistive devices hooked into its uniform to mist its soft skin every few seconds. A puff of evaporated solution exits from one of the devices by its neck as it draws her passport closer to its pitted eyes. ➤ a scifi short story set in space, about a smuggler who left her sister behind when she left the shitty planet she grew up on ➤ but her latest mission has her returning to that planet to deliver the goods ➤ (the goods are hundreds of teeny tiny sentient bioluminescent jellyfish fleeing civil war) ➤ I enjoyed the worldbuilding, and the difficult emotions about family, and how the things that felt world-endingly true at 17 don't need to be true forever ➤ 7k words in length

quote: Andrew was convinced the writer had been trans. By this point his friends were tired of hearing about it, but he had no one else to tell besides the internet, and he was too smart for that. That would be asking for it. ➤ short story about a trans man who's obsessed with the m/m novels of a dead historical novelist who he's convinced was trans ➤ and about the dreams he has where he meets her and talks with her ➤ it's a story that feels unsatisfying but like, in a satisfying way? ➤ idk how to explain! it makes me want to reread it 3 more times and think about the way one's relationship with oneself is mediated through the stories one reads and loves ➤ it's really good ➤ 6k words in length

quote: Alice wants to hold a funeral for me, which is disconcerting because I’m not dead. But humans, like all aliens—and certainly all single-forms—have their own idiosyncrasies. ➤ scifi short story about a multi-bodied alien in a relationship with a human ➤ questions of identity, of whether you're being seen for who you truly are by people who want to interpret the whole world as being inhabited by people like them, eyes closed to the reality of differences ➤ I loved the intertwining of the worldbuilding and the relationship drama, and I loved that we got to see Yonder's relationships with other people, friends and siblings and so forth, the ways those relationships are different than the one with Alice ➤ 6k words in length

Quote: Outside the viewport, light and shadow stitched a tapestry across the surface of Himalia. The shuttle ticked the countdown, thrusters firing to control descent to the docking cradle at Base Camp. I videoed everything, but the footage looked like a million other landings on a million other rocky airless surfaces. What made this different? Well, it was me, and this was home. ➤ Scifi novelette about growing up somewhere you always know you're going to have to leave eventually, because it was never intended to be permanent ➤ and leaving your best friend behind, who wants to never leave, because it's home ➤ it's really good!! I had a lot of feelings about the characters, and the way Niri is drawn in Jenny's life through her absence in this day of her return ➤ also it's set in space, on one of the satellites of Jupiter! ➤ wistful vibes ➤ 8k words in length

quote: Dad says Auntie was beautiful when she was young, with a bright-eyed gaze, pure yet alluring, and a slender, curving waist. When happy, her face was like springtime. When sorrowful, she was like a thin willow bending in the wind. Sometimes I try to imagine my aunt’s youthful beauty, and I end up thinking of those fox demon women in Zhiyi novels, eyes flickering like stars. With a slight twist of the demon’s waist, your soul is hers. But Auntie was the type who’s a thousand miles removed—aloof, full of rebuffs. Every boy who saw her back then suffered pangs of desire, yet they shunned her. Before Deng Baolin met her husband, she scratched the faces of thirteen boys. She was a prickly beauty, a thorny rose. In short, she was completely unlike the person before my eyes. ➤ scifi short story translated from chinese; originally published in 2021 ➤ it's a fascinating outside-outside pov, a nephew telling the story of his aunt, whose story is that of her famous physicist-astronaut husband ➤ the multiple layers of abstraction work well for this story -- and the narrative loops around itself in how it's told too, wandering forwards and backwards in time to circle around the heart of things ➤ which is really a story about family and about place and about how you decide what to prioritise in your life ➤ it's lovely and thoughtful and wistful. I really liked it! ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Eveline yellow-dressed golden-hair. Eveline. She came to me four years ago. I think it was four years. Maybe five. No, no. Seven. Time passes so strangely now, after so long, the world drip-dropped now like honey, sticky and swimming. I was a different woman once. So bright and sharp. Now I have the dreaming sickness, a cruel twist of modern medicine, time coming unglued, the price we pay for longevity. If you can pay for all the treatment, you all end up like me in the end. Not the old kind of dementia, where you abandon pieces of yourself to time, no, we’ve cured that—this kind is new, I abandon nothing, all of it just as sharp and kept as ever within the cage of my mind. The dreaming sickness takes away its relevance, its place. I am, as Vonnegut said, unstuck in time.</blockquote> ➤ A sci-fi short story about an elderly woman hundreds of years old, making use of every life extending treatment she can, but her grasp on time and on memory is no longer good ➤ Focuses on her relationship with her family, with her home aide, with her fear of death, with her experience of the confusion of past and present ➤ Evocative melancholy wistful tone, really effective! ➤ At the end of the story I'm left with many questions, but in a good way ➤ 4k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Ojoa and I had to keep Dr. Brinsen happy, because he was going to save the world. Under his leadership, Matora Facility had been tasked with ending the deadly outbreak that had earned our planet the designation of failed colony in the Interstellar feeds. Immunodeficiency was common on terraformed worlds, but novel pathogens rarely survived the medical regimens that kept colonists safe. Our virus, the exception, had killed thousands and put an end to off-world transit. Compared with the work of developing a cure, Ojoa’s projects were fanciful distractions. I was a distraction.</blockquote> ➤ an original story about AI personhood, and about the bond between one AI who is different from the others, and their bond with a human who is different from other humans ➤ it's also about the difficulties of caregiving during a pandemic, and the toll it takes ➤ a beautiful, quiet, tender story about finding where you belong, no matter what others think ➤ and ultimately, in my read, about a neurodivergent robot and a queerplatonic relationship, which like. AS ALWAYS, TAKE ME TO THERE. I'm here for it. ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>He could see some of those flies as he came level with the glass-paned door. That Mask-damned cuff just left his wealth strewn about, jewelry box open, silk neck-cloths on the bed. Once, Tseges would have considered those neck-cloths alone a splendid haul... but now he wanted more. These people owed him more. First, though, he had to get inside.</blockquote> ➤ an original story that I believe to be set in the same world as Carrick's Rook & Rose trilogy, which I haven't read yet but which is on my tbr list ➤ having read this story and enjoyed it definitely increases my interest in that trilogy! ➤ this one's about a thief who gets talked into helping a legend steal information to get back at people who misuse their positions of power ➤ the importance of public infrastructure! the usefulness of recordkeeping! the will to carry out audacious crime! ➤ fun and interesting and I want to know more about this world ➤ 9k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Maribel heard but did not see when the new pig-boy was named. She never went down into the village of San Rafael if she could help it. But she couldn’t miss the wailing lament of the village mothers echoing from the church courtyard, a wrenching sound, though traditional and expected. It made Maribel shiver despite the heat. It had only been a month, Only a month without a pig-boy. But she should have known that the new one would have to be named soon. The sun was retreating, the nights getting longer, and that meant the high season for pilgrims was coming.</blockquote> ➤ in a village where people possessed by demons are turned into javelinas, cared for by a pig-boy for the rest of their lives, what happens when the new pig-boy has a little too much empathy for his charges? ➤ excellent use of fantasy alternate world to engage with questions of the failures of the justice system and the penal system, and the ways people become complicit with the system ➤ really well done pov character ➤ 5k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The far stall in the ladies room in the Land of the Dead was backed up again. The day had already started terribly, with an email that hit my phone as I walked the 387 steps from my staff cabin to the front desk, an email from Lana saying Vera, I wanted you to find out directly from me that I’ve started seeing somebody. Call if you want to talk.</blockquote> ➤ about queer intergenerational friendship and mentorship, about being a young adult trying to find your place, about death and what it means to you, about living through the death of all your peers and coming out the other side, about hope and love and making connections. ➤ holy shit this gave me so many emotions. READ IT READ IT READ IT. ➤ also I adore the title. pinsker writes great titles. ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>According to the ways, when the head of a household passed away, his womenfolk had to refrain from lifting their feet in dance and their voices in song until the moon cast its full light down for the third time. During that interval, which, to be clear, could be three months, the mourners remained cloistered in their home and performed ritual ablutions to cleanse themselves of death, while their family and friends slowly entombed them within walls of food containers and condolence cards. When her mom asked Oona to join her in observing this ancient duty, Oona said nah. The explosion that followed was totally understandable, but through it all Oona remained immovable and flippant.</blockquote> ➤ about the difficulties of being a teen girl whose dad just died, and who is trying to figure out her identity as an othered visible minority, with a large and close-knit multigenerational family whose older generations are more connected with traditional culture and who want her to be too ➤ the traditional culture is selkies ➤ yeah it's a GREAT premise and I love how carefully and believably the selkie culture is imagined, and what the experience of being part of a landed selkie family would be ➤ very emotionally affecting too! ➤ 8k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Mirae sits on her bed, parting her hair with one hand and feeling for the access port on the back of her head with the other. She finds the notched edges of the cap and twists counterclockwise until it comes loose. Her eye twitches as she slides the plug into her skull. The sensation isn’t strong enough for her to say it hurts, but she doesn’t know how else to describe it. Her post-op recovery had been difficult. She had fever dreams of worms crawling into her brain through the still-healing metal port. Even after she was fully recovered and ready to be plugged in for her first update, images of the plug’s pin connectors piercing too deep and puncturing her occipital lobe made her hands shake.</blockquote> ➤ a short story about a young woman who was given a neural implant to improve her abilities and skills in school to be able to get a good job ➤ about parental expectations and abusive control ➤ trying to figure out who you are and what you care about when you've never been given the opportunity to be anything but obedient ➤ I had feelings ➤ 4k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>In your head, the dead man wakes up crying. He stutters into awareness just as you manage to stanch the tears welling in your eyes, a response to the pressure of his presence on your limbic system. Your fingers brush, irritated, against the port at the back of your neck, catching at the ridges of the drive that carries his consciousness. He’s confused, lashing out to wrest temporary control of your limbs from you in quick staccato bursts before you can yank them back. “Stop that,” you snap, and then, remembering your client, soften the message with a “please.” Your right pinky twitches and you lasso it in, exerting your will over its movement. You splay your hands on your desk and watch them carefully, pay attention to your toes lest they start off on unwelcome dance routines, but in your head the dead man quiets, and you know he’s beginning to understand.</blockquote> ➤ sci-fi story about a woman with a port-drive into her brain that allowed her to be a great child actor when she was young, and gives her a career as an adult of plugging in the mental backup of a dead person to visit bereaved families who want their beloved dead back again ➤ about identity, embodiment, and not knowing how to want things ➤ also about body-sharing ➤ in second-person pov which works so well for the things this story is about and the things it's doing! the main character is someone who spends most of her time being someone else, after all ➤ it's so compellingly written! ➤ has the perfect ending, which can be so hard to pull off right ➤ 7k words in length ➤ this is the first published story by this author, and something this great is her first; I am excited to think of where she might go from here!

Summary: <blockquote>Nogorod is built of black rock and dull iron and pale ivory, a city of high towers rising like petrified trees beside the rough grey seas. The common folk are whale-fishers, hunting with harpoons from their ships, but the nobles are all wizards, and they hunt dragons from bone chariots drawn by captive winds, slaying them with darts of ensorcelled ivory and poison spells. How this tradition began is lost to dishonorable history, but now the nobles hunt out of self-preservation, for dragons are wise and the wind that is their mother and their substance whispers the names of those who would slay them, so that they come to Nogorod to hunt in their own turn.</blockquote> ➤ fantasy story about wizards and dragons and power, and being queer, and being horny for a dragon who is also your death ➤ deliberately written in a higher register, which can too easily feel stilted or cold, but here works to give the whole thing a sense of dignity and depth ➤ 5k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>“You really do a nice bird,” said Hua from her stepstool above Chimalus. He noticed a strand of black hair sticking to her cheek. She brushed it with the back of her hand which left a brown streak matching the branch she worked on. “It’s tough to get the tailfeathers right,” Chimalus said. “My name means Bluebird. Did you know that?” “How appropriate.” Hua leaned back and studied his work. “It’s American Indian, right? Do you know what tribe?” She braced her elbow against the unpainted wall below her tree then added a detail. The mural so far stretched along the hallway to their right until it curved up out of sight. To their left, unpainted metal, punctuated by doors and a corridor curved up too. Chimalus never shook the feeling he rested at a wheel’s bottom, like the bottom of a hamster wheel. A chatting couple strolled toward them, but neither glanced at the painting as they passed.</blockquote> ➤ about a stowaway on a generation ship ➤ also about art and being part of a community of amateur artists whose work is worthwhile ➤ I loved the details about the problems with microbial growth in a closed system full of humans who are constantly shedding skin particles, and that the main character sees it as an important job to be part of the clean-up ➤ the future is unknown but worth being a part of ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>I tell Mateo to meet me at a wine bar. It’s a quiet, low-key spot—ideal for first dates, because it’s easy to make a speedy exit in case the red flags start flying—or worse, if the men in blue come knocking. It’s been over an hour, and we’re on our second glass of wine when I realize there are no red flags. He’s not just monologuing, he’s asking me questions too. This is actually a good first date—and when was the last time that ever happened for me? But I can’t help but worry that the puddles from this afternoon’s shower may have dried up. Any time there’s a pause in the conversation, my head swivels to the exit to check for the men in blue.</blockquote> ➤ a beautiful story about fear and trauma and being an immigrant or from an immigrant family, and queer romance and the wisdom of the people who love you, and how something that can help save you and that can bring joy and fun in your life can also be an unhealthy coping mechanism if you take it too far. I loved reading about Javier and Mateo as they developed their relationship!

Summary: <blockquote>The tenth time Jakey broke the rules, he put a sandwich in the mailbox where the window boy could get it. Mom had taken her sleep-quick pills and gone to bed after dinner, on account of her headaches. And Dad was dozing in front of the TV, chin on his chest and a half-empty glass clutched in his hand. It got still enough that the only sounds were Dad’s shows and the hum of the house filters, so Jakey slipped into the kitchen and put together a ham and cheddar on a plate, then placed it in the parcel chamber near the front door. He sat by the parlor window for a good long while after, curled up at the bench cushions, and his eyelids drooped now and again until he began to see the shadows move.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>I’ve always loved birds. When I was five I asked my dad for a bird feeder so I could see birds out my window when I was sitting at my desk doing remote school, but he just handed me his phone and said, “you know how to look up videos.” I do know, but bird videos aren’t as cool as having my very own bird friends that came up to my window to say hello. And anyway, I already had a tablet when I was five because kindergarten went on remote school after the wildfire that burned down the school building and made us have to drive in the middle of the night to my uncle’s house and sleep on his floor for two whole weeks, so I just used my tablet.</blockquote>