Hello and welcome to the 2020 Quick Sip Reviews Recommended Reading List. List every year, I read A Lot of fiction this year, and this list represents what are my favorites from what I've reviewed on the blog. Meaning, for this at least, no works are considered that I didn't read and review. Lists like this are always limited. There's no way for one person to read all that comes out. I do what I can, though, and I find a lot of stories that I want to celebrate. Hence, the list!
As of now, there are 104 stories from 98 authors and spread over 34 different publications/publishers. 4 authors (C.L. Clark, Anya Johanna DeNiro, R.B. Lemberg, and Gabriela Santiago) appear twice on the list, and one (John Wiswell) appears thrice. The publications with the most placements are Strange Horizons and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, each with 8. There are far and away more short stories on the list than anything else (with 83), but there's also 7 novellas and 14 novelettes. And, completely messing with my wanting things to be neat and orderly, there were no authors represented on the list with last names beginning with Q, U, X, Y, or Z this year. Alas.
For ease of use I've sorted the list by author's last name to the best of my abilities, and added little breaks for each used letter. I've included the publication but not the specific dates and I'm hoping the links are all more or less accurate. Not all stories are available for free online, but the links should take you to where you can purchase a copy or similar for those that aren't. I've also tried to put award distinction for length after each, but those should always be confirmed with the publication or author's official statement. I welcome corrections, and you can reach out via twitter, in the comments, or with an email to quicksipreviews@gmail.com.
If you want more information on these stories, or want to see my reviews (I have reviewed or will review all of these on QSR), just copy the title and author and past into the search bar of the blog and it should come up. There was simply too much to get to to make comments for every story on the list.
2020 has been rough. But the fiction has been amazing, and has been a lot of how I've coped with...everything. So it is my supreme joy to present this list and honor the stories that have helped get me through these difficult times. A list of this nature can never be fully complete, though, and I do want to thank everyone out there writing and helping to put stories out in the world, from authors to first readers to editors to proofreaders and beyond. Thank you. And cheers!
THE LIST
A
“If You Take My Meaning” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor) Novelette
“Assailing the Garden of Pleasure” by Daniel Ausema (Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) Short Story
“Assailing the Garden of Pleasure” by Daniel Ausema (Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) Short Story
B
“Glass Bottle Dancer” by Celeste Rita Baker (Lightspeed) Short Story
“One Last Stand for the Cold Blooded Chaos Society” by Megan Lee Beals (Translunar Travelers Lounge) Short Story
“Sela, Thief” by Zabe Bent (Breathe Fiyah) Short Story
“The Bend of Water” by Tiah Marie Beautement (Omenana) Short Story
“The Bend of Water” by Tiah Marie Beautement (Omenana) Short Story
“Hustle” by Derrick Boden (Escape Pod) Short Story
“The Legacy of Alexandria” by Maurice Broaddus (Apex) Novelette
“Tiger’s Feast” by KT Bryski (Nightmare) Short Story
“Even the Clearest Water” by Andi C. Buchanan (Fireside) Short Story
C
“An Incomplete Account of the Case of the Bird-Talker of Yaros” by Eleanna Castroianni (Fireside Magazine) Short Story
“Weaving in the Bamboo” by Eliza Chan (Translunar Travelers Lounge) Short Story
“Weaving in the Bamboo” by Eliza Chan (Translunar Travelers Lounge) Short Story
“The Translator, at Low Tide” by Vajra Chandrasekera (Clarkesworld) Short Story
“Velvet” by Nino Cipri (Baffling Magazine) Short Story
“Forgive Me, My Love, for the Ice and the Sea” by C.L. Clark (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Short Story
“You Perfect, Broken Thing” by C.L. Clark (Uncanny) Short Story
“Nine Words for Loneliness in the Language of the Uma’u” by M. L. Clark (Clarkesworld) Novella
“Nine Words for Loneliness in the Language of the Uma’u” by M. L. Clark (Clarkesworld) Novella
“Call Them Children” by Wenmimareba Klobah Collins (The Dark) Short Story
“Emergent” by Rob Costello (The Dark) Short Story
D
“Dégustation” by Ashley Deng (Nightmare) Short Story
“A Voyage to Queensthroat” by Anya Johanna DeNiro (Strange Horizons) Short Story
“A Voyage to Queensthroat” by Anya Johanna DeNiro (Strange Horizons) Short Story
City of a Thousand Feelings by Anya Johanna DeNiro (Aqueduct Press) Novella
“Red_Bati” by Dilman Dila (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora (Volume One)) Short Story
Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar (Neon Hemlock) Novella
“Clever Jack, Heavy with Stories” by R.K. Duncan (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Short Story
E
“Familiar Face” by Meg Elison (Nightmare) Short Story
“Miss Bulletproof Comes Out of Retirement” by Louis Evans (GigaNotoSaurus) Short Story
F
“The Breaking” by Vanessa Fogg (Mithila Review) Short Story
G
“The Transition of Osoosi” by Ozzie M. Gartrell (Fiyah Literary Magazine) Novelette
“The Book of Drowned Sisters” by Caspian Gray (Nightmare) Short Story“How Did it Feel to be Eaten?” by Amit Gupta (Escape Pod) Short Story
H
Queens of Noise by Leigh Harlen (Neon Hemlock) Novella
“Finding the Center” by Andrew K Hoe (Diabolical Plots) Short Story
“Finding the Center” by Andrew K Hoe (Diabolical Plots) Short Story
“Across the Ice” by Ada Hoffmann (Strange Horizons) Short Story
“Those Wo Remembered” by Lush Horizon (Speculative City) Short Story
“The Cat Lady and the Petitioner” by Jennifer Hudak (Translunar Travelers Lounge) Short Story
“The Cat Lady and the Petitioner” by Jennifer Hudak (Translunar Travelers Lounge) Short Story
“Words We Say Instead” by Brit E. B. Hvide (Uncanny) Short Story
I
“Where You Go” by Somto O. Ihezue (Omenana) Short Story“Rat and Finch are Friends” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo (Strange Horizons) Short Story
“Salt and Iron” by Gem Isherwood (PodCastle) Short Story
“Forwarded as Received” by Osahon Ize-Iyamu (The Dark) Short Story
J
“The Future in Saltwater” by Tamara Jerée (Anathema) Short Story
“Do Not Fear, For The Work Will Be Pure” by Michael Johnstone (Heroic Fantasy Quarterly) Short Story
K
“Everquest” by Naomi Kanakia (Lightspeed) Short Story
“Mariska and Major” by Damini Kane (PodCastle) Short Story
“Mariska and Major” by Damini Kane (PodCastle) Short Story
“What Lies Within” by Isha Karki (Augur) Short Story
“All the Daughters of My Father’s House” by Gwen C Katz (Glittership) Short Story
“Small Magics” by Juliet Kemp (Flash Fiction Online) Short Story
“One Hand in the Coffin” by Justin C. Key (Strange Horizons) Novelette
“Your Rover Is Here” by LP Kindred (Fiyah) Short Story
“The Ashes of Vivian Firestrike” by Kristen Koopman (Glittership) Short Story
L
“How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar” by Rich Larson (Tor) Novelette
“The Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Short Story
The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publications) Novella
“To Balance the Weight of Khalem” by R.B. Lemberg (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Novelette
“The Currant Dumas” by L.D. Lewis (Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World that Wouldn't Die) Short Story
M
“Mother Love” by Clara Madrigano (The Dark) Short Story
“Twinning” by Geoff Manaugh (Terraform) Novelette
“Of Roses and Kings” by Melissa Marr (Tor) Novelette
“Ghost Collecting” by Sheila Massie (Flash Fiction Online) Short Story
“Secret Keepers” by Dafydd McKimm (Flash Fiction Online) Short Story
“Magnificent Maurice, or the Flowers of Immortality” by Rati Mehrotra (Lightspeed) Short Story
“Kiki Hernández Beats the Devil” by Samantha Mills (Translunar Travelers Lounge) Short Story
“20th Century Hotel” by Tomihiko Morimi, translated by Emily Balistrieri (Samovar) Short Story
“The Old Ones, Great and Small” by Rajiv Moté (Diabolical Plots) Short Story
N
“Great Gerta and the Mermaid” by Mari Ness (Lightspeed) Short Story
“Keeping Time with the Joneses” by Wendy Nikel (Flash Fiction Online) Short Story
O
“The Many Lives of an Abiku” by Tobi Ogundiran (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Short Story
“A Love Song for Herkinal as composed by Ashkernas amid the ruins of New Haven” by Chinelo Onwualu (Uncanny) Short Story
“Breath Of The Sahara” by Inegbenoise O. Osagie (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Short Story
P
“Stretch” by Shari Paul (The Dark) Short Story
“These Wondrous Sweets” by Tony Pi (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Novelette
“Two Truths and a Lie” by Sarah Pinsker (Tor) Novelette
“What the Marsh Remembers” by B. Pladek (Lackington's) Short Story
R
“This Soil Still Gives” by Natasha Ramoutar (Augur) Short Story“A Complete Transcript of [REDACTED]’s Video Channel, In Order of Upload” by Rhiannon Rasmussen (Diabolical Plots) Short Story
“Thin Red Jellies” by Lina Rather (GigaNotoSaurus) Short Story
“Body, Remember” by Nicasio Andres Reed (Fireside) Short Story
“Bromelia” by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez (Strange Horizons) Short Story
S
“Le Gardin Animé (1893)” by Victoria Sandbrook (GigaNotoSaurus) Novella
“Escaping Dr. Markoff” by Gabriela Santiago (The Dark) Short Story
“Martian Cinema” by Gabriela Santiago (Strange Horizons) Short Story
“A Galactic History of the Asmodean Fire Hoof” by Alexandra Seidel (Lackington's) Short Story
“Love Laws and a Locked Heart” by Tamoha Sengupta (Fantasy) Short Story
“Heard, Half-Heard, in the Stillness” by Iona Datt Sharma (Anathema) Short Story
“Heard, Half-Heard, in the Stillness” by Iona Datt Sharma (Anathema) Short Story
“Only the Messenger” by Emily C. Skaftun (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) Novelette
“Last Wishes” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires (Clarkesworld) Novelette
“The Oldest Solution” by Priya Sridhar (Strange Horizons) Short Story
“Monsters Never Leave You” by Carlie St. George (Strange Horizons) Short Story
“Where You Linger” by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny) Novelette
T
“Tea with the Earl of Twilight” by Sonya Taaffe (Nightmare) Short Story
“Power to Yield” by Bogi Takács (Clarkesworld) Novella
“Auntie Cheeks” by Renée Jessica Tan (Flash Fiction Online) Short Story
“Caring For Dragons and Growing a Flower” by Allison Thai (PodCastle) Short Story
“Your Name is Oblivia” by Vincent Tirado (Fiyah) Short Story
“Your Name is Oblivia” by Vincent Tirado (Fiyah) Short Story
“The River of Night” by Tlotlo Tsamaase (The Dark) Short Story
V
“Single Malt Spacecraft” by Marie Vibbert (Lightspeed) Short Story
W
“Please Don’t Let Go” by Jo Lindsay Walton (Fireside) Short Story
“To Sail the Black” by A.C. Wise (Clarkesworld) Novelette
“8-Bit Free Will” by John Wiswell (PodCastle) Short Story
“Gender and Other Faulty Software” by John Wiswell (Fireside Magazine) Short Story
“Gender and Other Faulty Software” by John Wiswell (Fireside Magazine) Short Story
“Open House on Haunted Hill” by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots) Short Story
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Thank you sincerely for including my story in your list – and for all that you do and have done reviewing SFF short fiction!
ReplyDelete— Michael Johnstone