What do you think?
Rate this book
Tor.com Short Fiction Sept/Oct 2023
For our September/October 2023 bundle, we’ve got stories about a struggling artist, a post-apocalyptic archivist, an office worker at an unusual government agency, a dark entity with a long memory, a recovery mission with a romantic twist, and the latest Judge Dee mystery!
Our Sept/Oct 2023 Short Fiction bundle includes:
“The Passing of the Dragon” by Ken Liu
“The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener” by Ramsey Shehadeh
“FORM 8774-D” by Alex Irvine
“Jack O’Dander” by Priya Sharma
“Not the Most Romantic Thing” by Carrie Vaughn
“The Locked Coffin: A Judge Dee Mystery” by Lavie Tidhar
Our Sept/Oct 2023 Short Fiction bundle includes:
“The Passing of the Dragon” by Ken Liu
“The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener” by Ramsey Shehadeh
“FORM 8774-D” by Alex Irvine
“Jack O’Dander” by Priya Sharma
“Not the Most Romantic Thing” by Carrie Vaughn
“The Locked Coffin: A Judge Dee Mystery” by Lavie Tidhar
174 pages, ebook
Published November 17, 2023
8 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 18, 2024
Download this from the website aspirationally, and finally finished it. Honestly not quite worth the effort - as seen below, I only really liked one and a half of these six short stories. Enh!
“The Passing of the Dragon” by Ken Liu - wasn’t getting into it so quickly skipped to the next one.
“The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener” by Ramsey Shehadeh - stopped reading when I got to “a serious mien that belied her years,” which I just hated to read. Mien and belie should never be that close together, and should probably never be used separately either. Also the title seems like an allusion to Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville but either (1) this author missed the point of that story entirely, because this one really doesn’t have a sense of humor at all, or (2) the reference is unintentional, in which case someone really should have told them!
“Form 8774-D” by Alex Irvine - objectively fine, not my thing at all so just skipped to the next one.
“Jack O’Dander” by Priya Sharma - horrifying. In other words, great!
“Not the Most Romantic Thing” by Carrie Vaughn - cute, not revolutionary.
“The Locked Coffin: A Judge Dee Mystery” by Lavie Tidhar - not quite anything enough. Got bored and stopped reading.
“The Passing of the Dragon” by Ken Liu - wasn’t getting into it so quickly skipped to the next one.
“The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener” by Ramsey Shehadeh - stopped reading when I got to “a serious mien that belied her years,” which I just hated to read. Mien and belie should never be that close together, and should probably never be used separately either. Also the title seems like an allusion to Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville but either (1) this author missed the point of that story entirely, because this one really doesn’t have a sense of humor at all, or (2) the reference is unintentional, in which case someone really should have told them!
“Form 8774-D” by Alex Irvine - objectively fine, not my thing at all so just skipped to the next one.
“Jack O’Dander” by Priya Sharma - horrifying. In other words, great!
“Not the Most Romantic Thing” by Carrie Vaughn - cute, not revolutionary.
“The Locked Coffin: A Judge Dee Mystery” by Lavie Tidhar - not quite anything enough. Got bored and stopped reading.
January 12, 2024
"The Passing of the Dragon" – 5/5
I will always read anything by Ken Liu. This is exquisite. Part butterfly effect, part critique of the current state of the internet/social media, part finding healing after depression. Loved it.
https://www.tor.com/2023/09/13/the-pa...
"The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener" – 3/5
The writing is good, but I spent a good chunk of this story not entirely sure of what was going on. Like those memories he had at the beginning at work felt like they could have been empathetic visions had had by touching the old pages of the magazine. (Pretty sure they were his actual memories though.)
"Form 8774-D" – 5/5
I went into this not being very excited; I don't generally care for superhero stories or urban fantasy. But this was great!
"Jack O'Dander" – 4/5
Very creepy, like "The Ring". 😟
"Not the Most Romantic Thing" – 4/5
This story was sweet.
"The Locked Coffin" – 4/5
Short with a touch of whimsy.
I will always read anything by Ken Liu. This is exquisite. Part butterfly effect, part critique of the current state of the internet/social media, part finding healing after depression. Loved it.
https://www.tor.com/2023/09/13/the-pa...
"The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener" – 3/5
The writing is good, but I spent a good chunk of this story not entirely sure of what was going on. Like those memories he had at the beginning at work felt like they could have been empathetic visions had had by touching the old pages of the magazine. (Pretty sure they were his actual memories though.)
"Form 8774-D" – 5/5
I went into this not being very excited; I don't generally care for superhero stories or urban fantasy. But this was great!
"Jack O'Dander" – 4/5
Very creepy, like "The Ring". 😟
"Not the Most Romantic Thing" – 4/5
This story was sweet.
"The Locked Coffin" – 4/5
Short with a touch of whimsy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews