Short Stories Archives

Ghost Camera

“That’s what we always fear the most: the things we can’t see, and the things we don’t yet understand.” Author: Darcy Coates I’m a novel girly, so usually I don’t find myself attracted to short story collections, even those by a favorite author. I came to Ghost Camera more through false advertising than anything else. It’s not clear that Ghost Camera is a novella followed by seven other short stories and one other novella. Normally, I’d be mad, but I actually loved this collection and all of the stories. The signature tale from which the collection derives its name concerns two [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-24T19:05:07-07:00November 24th, 2025|Tags: book review, Darcy Coates, ghosts, horror, read, reading, Short Stories|

Bliss Montage

“Another self was needed to move into the future.” Author: Ling Ma Running the gambit from abusive relationships to surreal pregnancies, from secret worlds hidden in professor’s closets to intimate relationships with yetis, Ling Ma’s Bliss Montage is a psychedelic dream of melancholy and trauma, wrapped in a dispassionate voice that has seen it all before, and expects no better. While there isn’t a theme, per say, one might argue that a line of longing punctures each story: a longing to understand, a longing to be understood, a longing for justice, a longing for belonging, a longing for escape, a longing [...]

Frances Carden2025-10-24T14:24:38-07:00October 24th, 2025|Tags: book review, Ling Ma, read, reading, Short Stories, short story, surreal|

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat

“Cats are more effective than any other medicine out there.” Author: Syou Ishida In five interconnected narratives five down-and-out people, each suffering from acute mental distress, find themselves in the magical Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul, consulting the disconcertingly laid-back Dr. Nikké and his irritable nurse, Chitose. You only find this clinic from rumor – the recommendation of a friend’s brother’s babysitter’s aunt, for example. It’s down a difficult to navigate alley, it appears like magic, and no matter what you are suffering, they will cure you. The cure, however, is just as unexpected as it is delightful and adorable. [...]

Frances Carden2025-06-08T11:43:27-07:00June 8th, 2025|Tags: book review, cat, cats, cozy, Japanese, magical realism, read, reading, Short Stories, short story, Syou Ishida, We'll Prescribe You a Cat|