The week’s best online fiction, with recommendations from FictionDaily’s editors.
“Alpha Female Office Wolf” by Lindsay Louckes, WORK
Kurt Vonnegut, in Player Piano I think, likens the afterlife to a turkey farm. The image is classic: we hope and hope and hope for something better beyond the here and now and when we get there it’s boring–if not more boring–than the thing we wanted so badly to escape. “Alpha Female” is a perfect testament to this version of the grass-is-always-greener paradox, though the statement in here is stronger because it’s about retirement and not the afterlife. Here we get a character that hates her job and suffers the presence of an ex-coworker who “retired too early.” We know she can’t stand her job, but the poetry of this story is when she encounters the terrifying fact that after she leaves this job she’ll want to come back. Ominously, channeling Vonnegut, this ex-coworker’s mindless prattle is likened to a turkey’s gobble.–Reviewed by David Backer
“For The First Time, Again“ by Meghan Austin, Failbetter
I’ve been wondering lately if writers have an obligation to write political fiction. Given that the world is such a terribly unfair place do we, as artists, have an obligation to try and make it less unjust? If so, what would that mean? It would mean something like: every time we pen to paper (finger to keyboard) we keep justice in mind. Recently I realized: any artistic act is patently political. We sit down and write about what’s happening to us and–so long as we’re honest–we’re doing our best to make the world less unjust. This is a long way of saying that I find this story extremely political, though it’s just about a TA that gets frustrated. Perhaps the obligation is on readers not writers to make the world less unjust. But readers are writers too. I don’t know. In any case this is a neat little story that makes me think about making the world less unjust. The name of the magazine even speaks to it “Failbetter.” –Reviewed by David Backer
“Mary and Kenneth” by Jim Meirose, Otoliths
Mary and Kenneth love each other more than words can express, but they (and Mr. Meirose) are going to try anyway. The problem is all this academic white noise. No wonder the students are (considering?) jumping. But there is more going on, I suspect, behind what appears in bold relief. The fun is puzzling it out. Somewhat less fun (take it from me) is giving up and moving on with one’s responsibilities in what increasingly seems to be a marriage, content to have appropriated some general sense of the piece though its meaningfuller intricacies, like fine lace, were wholly wasted on you. B+.–Reviewed by Ryan Nelson
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