Speculative Short Fiction Deserves Love discussion

As mentioned yesterday in this thread I'd like your help to start some story discussions.

1. Pick a story, preferably one available online or a classic that is fairly ubiquitous in print.
2. Pick a week that nobody has taken.
3. Come up with a question or two to get things started.

We'll go with a calendar week.

I'll post the schedule here as people call dibs.

March 8-14 Ginny & The Ouroboros by Stephanie Lorée (Urban Fantasy Magazine) -led by Terry Cox

March 15-21 Love is the Plan The Plan is Death by James Tiptree Jr. (The Alien Condition, 1973, reprinted in Lightspeed Women Destroy Science Fiction issue) led by Misha

March 22-28 The Weight of a Blessing by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld) http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debod... - led by Outis

March 29-April 4 "Meet the President" by Zadie Smith (The New Yorker) - led by Francesca

April 5th-11th
The Horrid Glory of Its Wings by Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com) led by Geektastic.

April 12th-18th
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson. Led by Bunny.

April 19th - 25th
I Can See Right Through You by Kelly Link. Led by AC Wise.

May 3rd-10th
Compare and contrast! "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury and The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista by JG Ballard. Led by Misha.

July 19-26
"Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon. Led by Misha.

Sept. 20 -- "City of Ash" Paulo Bacigalupi
https://medium.com/matter/city-of-ash...

Sept. 27 -- "The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn" Usman Malik
http://www.tor.com/2015/04/22/the-pau...

First up!
March 8-14 Ginny & The Ouroboros by Stephanie Lorée (Urban Fantasy Magazine)

Will there be a thread for each story, or do we discuss them in this one?

S. wrote: "Will there be a thread for each story, or do we discuss them in this one?"

There will be a thread for each story, in the "individual stories" section just below thing one. Here's the ongoing discussion about Ginny & the Ouroboros, which ends tomorrow: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I should add that while I said "ends tomorrow" I won't stop anyone from continuing any story's conversation. Just that it's the end of Terry's shift in leading the discussion.

Could use some new story leader volunteers for mid-April! Pick a story!

I've got some catching up to do. It's been a tad busy for me lately, but I need to make time. Because I enjoy this group. :)

I'd be interested in leading a discussion of Kelly Link's I Can See Right Through You (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/pages/i-can...). Would the week of April 19-25 work? At some point, I'd also love to do Nino Cipri's The Shape of My Name (http://www.tor.com/stories/2015/03/th...).

April 19th-25th is open for the Kelly Link. And you can do the Nino CIpri a little farther down the road. Excellent. Thanks!

Excellent! Feel free to slot the Cipri story in wherever you have a gap that needs filling.

I'm trying to space discussion leaders out so nobody has to go back to back. I'll slot it in for May or June.

I'd like to suggest Louis McMaster Bujold's "The Mountains of Mourning", which can be found at http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/B...

I'm open to any slot you like.

Terry wrote: "I'd like to suggest Louis McMaster Bujold's "The Mountains of Mourning", which can be found at http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/B...

I'm open to any slot you like."

Mountains of Mourning is probably my favorite thing Lois McMaster Bujold has written! I would say either start this Sunday or next Sunday, whichever you prefer. My apologies for letting the ball drop.

A.C. wrote: "Excellent! Feel free to slot the Cipri story in wherever you have a gap that needs filling."

If you'd like to do the Cipri story in the week following Terry's "The Mountains of Mourning," I'd be up for it.

PSA: There's one week - the 13th-20th - I won't be here at all.

So that would be starting The Shape of My Name on June 10th? That works for me!

'If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly...' I'll start tomorrow.

Terry wrote: "'If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly...' I'll start tomorrow."

Awesome; I've never read anything by Lois McMaster Bujold, and everyone talks about her all the time--this will be a good first taste.

Misha wrote: "It seems like we've dropped off on the weekly story discussions. I'm going to lead a discussion of Ursula Vernon's "Jackalope Wives" starting this Sunday, July 19.

Link to the story: http://www.ap..."

Awesome! Loved that story.

Cool--I'll bookmark it and try to read it before Sunday.

I'm about halfway through. I'm liking what I'm reading.

Thank you so much for recommending this-- I loved it, and I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else thought.

Just finished it--loved it! Looking forward to the discussion.

Excellent story, with a great character in Grandma Harken. Reminded me a bit of Gaiman's "American Gods", but the story stands very well as its own creation. The climax both surprised me and gave me an "I should've seen that coming" reaction.

I am going to look for more from Ursula Vernon!

Me too! Where is the discussion happening? I'm inept with navigating the folders and couldn't locate it....

Misha wrote: "That's my bad. I got sidetracked over the weekend and didn't open the discussion thread on Sunday when I was supposed to. It's live now at this link:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...-..."

Thanks Misha!

Thanks for keeping this feature going at present Misha! I would love to read and discuss What's Expected of Us, I usually really like Ted Chiang. I will endeavor to also propose a story myself sooner rather than later. ;-)

I love that Nature publishes SF; I'm excited to read this.

Misha wrote: "This was over a decade ago. Do they still publish fiction? "

I don't know if they still do! Good question. I was just assuming because of this story--hadn't realized it was older.

They do! They have a feature called Nature Futures - I think the stories have to be 850-950 words.

After The Defenders week, I'd like to offer to lead a discussion of one that made me laugh a bit, "To Whatever" by Shaenon Garritty.

http://www.drabblecast.org/2014/08/17...

Something is living in Ethan's walls and stealing his half and half. It gets weirder from there.

If I'm calculating correctly that would be for the week beginning Sunday August 16?

No I just got my dates wrong. Two weeks away, so Defenders on the 16th and To Whatever on the 23rd sounds ideal to me. I'm a little swamped at present, as evidenced by the fact that I've lost track and don't even know what week it is!! Ha!

For a future week, I'd like to suggest Tom Crosshill's The Magician and Laplace's Demon from Clarkesworld Issue 99, Dec 2014. It's been nominated for at least 2 awards that I've seen, and I thought it a great story.

Liz wrote: "For a future week, I'd like to suggest Tom Crosshill's The Magician and Laplace's Demon from Clarkesworld Issue 99, Dec 2014. It's been nominated for at least 2 awards that I've seen, and I thought..."

Hi Liz! i think that would be a fun story to discuss. It sounds like the week of August 30th is the next one free?
Thanks for suggesting it. Are you up for leading the conversation?

I don't think I'll be out of town that week that I can see, so I could lead if you like (at least, I think I could. I haven't even figured out how to quote in these forums!) or I'd be happy to hand it over to someone more forum savvy.

Sounds good!

I just read The Pauper Prince and the Eucalypus Jinn and would be very interested in a discussion.

I loved The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn! I look forward to discussing it!

Putting City of Ash on my reading list too.

Great picks, Misha.

I'm sailing into over-committed territory, but I think Eugene Fischer's novella "The New Mother" from Asimov's would be interesting discussion fodder. There's a free version online now. https://medium.com/@glorioushubris/th...

I'd be willing to lead a discussion of it if you are over committed.

Bunny wrote: "I'd be willing to lead a discussion of it if you are over committed."

I promise I would participate!

Looks like October 4 is the next open Sunday how about I start the discussion then?

Bunny wrote: "Looks like October 4 is the next open Sunday how about I start the discussion then?"

Okay! And that's actually a great week, because my family doesn't arrive until the 10th.

Perfect. I'm in.

Yay!

Im in!

great idea

I'm guessing things got busy at your end Misha and you didn't get a chance to get a thread up for the discussion of Tower of the Rosewater Goblet? If it did go up can someone direct me to it because I'm not seeing it. If it didn't how about we push the discussion a week and start this coming Sunday, the 17th, instead? I'd be happy to put up the thread if you are still too busy Misha?

Great! I will check back on Sunday.