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Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition
The 2024 edition of Some of the Best From Reactor is out today! This bundle features just some of our favorites from the thirty-five original stories published on Reactor in the past year.
552 pages, ebook
First published December 18, 2024
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Kemi Ashing-Giwa
21 books256 followersKemi Ashing-Giwa is an author and scientist-in-training based in Palo Alto. Her work includes the USA Today bestselling, Compton Crook Award-winning novel The Splinter in the Sky, the novella This World Is Not Yours, and the forthcoming novel The King Must Die. Her short fiction, which has been nominated for an Ignyte Award and featured on the Locus Recommended Reading List, has been reprinted in collections including Some of the Best from Tor.com: 15th Anniversary Edition and The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time. She is now pursuing a PhD in the Earth & Planetary Sciences department at Stanford.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Currently reading
December 15, 2025You Don’t Belong Where You Don’t Belong - by Kemi Ashing-Giwa - 2.5+/5★
4★ for the idea, 2.5★ for the ambiguity of the execution.
It seems to me that the author prioritized mood and concept (the favorweb and tradethreads; colonial tension; resistance & reclaiming identity; the idea of the telepathic birds - I'm not sure what's with them, if they're symbiotic or parasitic) over development of the world and plot and characters. The story has so much potential, but it's underdeveloped, probably because of its short format.
L.E./P.S. who is this Ko that appears twice in the story but not even AI knows who she/he/they/them/it is, and why put it in the story at all if you're not going to explain anything, and, most importantly, why put it in the story if it's not relevant AT ALL for the plot?! it annoyed me no end..
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
The Plasticity of Being by Renan Bernardo - 3.5/5★
Very interesting take about a genetic modification that allows people to eat (and get all the essential nutrients from) plastic. Not sure if dystopic is the right tag to put on it, seeing that it's not event impossible to happen at some point.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
Ace Up Her Sleeve by Genoveva Dimova - 2.5/5★
Apparently, this is a companion story in The Witch's Compendium of Monsters series - didn’t know this before reading it. Apart from the open ending (which maybe isn’t so open in the context of the series?), it can be read by itself, even if it doesn’t offer much background.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
Have You Eaten? by Sarah Gailey - 3.5+/5★
This was quite interesting, with more substance to it that some others in this collection, maybe also because it's much longer (it's actually four stories into one, 4 parts to be more exact to the naming in the book, some 100+ pages vs 20-30 pages for the other stories in general). I enjoyed reading it, I found the characters interesting, but the ending was too open for my taste (what happened to Daneka, where was she, how did the palmsets work, etc). Also, I would have liked to see more of the life in Rosemary Patch.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
Everybody Is in the Place by Emma J. Gibbon - 2/5★
Don't know what it was supposed to be about, but for me it was just a story about tripping.
There are some hints at horror and magic, but they were just that, hints.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
I’m Not Disappointed Just Mad AKA The Heaviest Couch in the Known Universe by Daryl Gregory- 4/5★
A Iain Banks tribute, very nice story with aliens and robots and space and some action. I've read a single short story of his before, Even the Crumbs Were Delicious, and I liked that also, but this was definitely much better.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
...to be continued as I read more
4★ for the idea, 2.5★ for the ambiguity of the execution.
It seems to me that the author prioritized mood and concept (the favorweb and tradethreads; colonial tension; resistance & reclaiming identity; the idea of the telepathic birds - I'm not sure what's with them, if they're symbiotic or parasitic) over development of the world and plot and characters. The story has so much potential, but it's underdeveloped, probably because of its short format.
L.E./P.S. who is this Ko that appears twice in the story but not even AI knows who she/he/they/them/it is, and why put it in the story at all if you're not going to explain anything, and, most importantly, why put it in the story if it's not relevant AT ALL for the plot?! it annoyed me no end..
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
The Plasticity of Being by Renan Bernardo - 3.5/5★
Very interesting take about a genetic modification that allows people to eat (and get all the essential nutrients from) plastic. Not sure if dystopic is the right tag to put on it, seeing that it's not event impossible to happen at some point.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
Ace Up Her Sleeve by Genoveva Dimova - 2.5/5★
Apparently, this is a companion story in The Witch's Compendium of Monsters series - didn’t know this before reading it. Apart from the open ending (which maybe isn’t so open in the context of the series?), it can be read by itself, even if it doesn’t offer much background.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
Have You Eaten? by Sarah Gailey - 3.5+/5★
This was quite interesting, with more substance to it that some others in this collection, maybe also because it's much longer (it's actually four stories into one, 4 parts to be more exact to the naming in the book, some 100+ pages vs 20-30 pages for the other stories in general). I enjoyed reading it, I found the characters interesting, but the ending was too open for my taste (what happened to Daneka, where was she, how did the palmsets work, etc). Also, I would have liked to see more of the life in Rosemary Patch.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
Everybody Is in the Place by Emma J. Gibbon - 2/5★
Don't know what it was supposed to be about, but for me it was just a story about tripping.
There are some hints at horror and magic, but they were just that, hints.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
I’m Not Disappointed Just Mad AKA The Heaviest Couch in the Known Universe by Daryl Gregory- 4/5★
A Iain Banks tribute, very nice story with aliens and robots and space and some action. I've read a single short story of his before, Even the Crumbs Were Delicious, and I liked that also, but this was definitely much better.
The short story is found in Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024 Edition and can also be read on REACTOR
________________
...to be continued as I read more
February 4, 2025
My favourite thing, short stories.
Of course as always some were good, some not so good.
“You Don’t Belong Where You Don’t Belong” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
“The Plasticity of Being” by Renan Bernardo
“Ace Up Her Sleeve” by Genoveva Dimova
“Have You Eaten?” by Sarah Gailey
“Everybody Is in the Place” by Emma J. Gibbon
“I’m Not Disappointed Just Mad AKA The Heaviest Couch in the Known Universe” by Daryl Gregory
“A Well-Fed Companion” by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu
“The River Judge” by S.L. Huang
“Parthenogenesis” by Stephen Graham Jones
“In the Moon’s House” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“Evan: A Remainder” by Jordan Kurella
“The V*mpire” by P H Lee
“Median” by Kelly Robson
“The Gulmohar of Mehranpur” by Amal Singh
“Also, the Cat” by Rachel Swirsky
“Songs of the Snow Whale” by K.A. Teryna
“Other Kelly” by Genevieve Valentine
“I’ll Miss Myself” by John Wiswell
“Before the Forest” by Kell Woods
Of course as always some were good, some not so good.
“You Don’t Belong Where You Don’t Belong” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
“The Plasticity of Being” by Renan Bernardo
“Ace Up Her Sleeve” by Genoveva Dimova
“Have You Eaten?” by Sarah Gailey
“Everybody Is in the Place” by Emma J. Gibbon
“I’m Not Disappointed Just Mad AKA The Heaviest Couch in the Known Universe” by Daryl Gregory
“A Well-Fed Companion” by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu
“The River Judge” by S.L. Huang
“Parthenogenesis” by Stephen Graham Jones
“In the Moon’s House” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“Evan: A Remainder” by Jordan Kurella
“The V*mpire” by P H Lee
“Median” by Kelly Robson
“The Gulmohar of Mehranpur” by Amal Singh
“Also, the Cat” by Rachel Swirsky
“Songs of the Snow Whale” by K.A. Teryna
“Other Kelly” by Genevieve Valentine
“I’ll Miss Myself” by John Wiswell
“Before the Forest” by Kell Woods
Read
January 29, 2025No new favourite but some good stories.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews