So, I continue to have up days, where I have lots of energy, and down days, where I feel nauseous, have a headache and just generally have no desire to do anything. So things are a bit slow going. I am adjusting my usual routines, and hope to get everything done in December that I want to (including submitting to Q1 of Writers of the Future). For now, here’s what I managed to read.

“Dragon Smoked Barbeque” by M. K. Hutchins
a short story published by Strange Horizons

This was a cute sentimental story about competing in a cooking contest with technique versus passion.

(5 stars) “Words of Creation” by M. K. Hutchins
a short story published by Daily Science Fiction

This was a really sweet story about a mother, who inadvertently stumbles across the way to create a new universe. Very heartwarming.

“Hands of Burnished Bronze” by Rebecca Schwarz
a short story published by PodCastle

This dark story was a good examination of how a curse can backfire on the people who caused it. Good writing, but not what I really enjoy.

“The Star Tree” by John Lasser
a short story published in Writers of the Future volume 32

This was a story about loss, and involved a child’s game of trading dead planets. What bugged me the most about it was that it never said how or when the planet Jiri was destroyed, so I had a hard time understanding the characters’ frame of mind.