The week’s best online fiction, links with recommendations from FictionDaily.org’s editors. (Photo by David Backer)
“Mongolian Death Worm” by Matthew Rohrer
Published at MuuMuu House
I do enjoy the humor, obsessive self-awareness and subtle weirdness (weird but relatable?) that they serve up at MuuMuu House. This one has a little of everything.–Ryan Nelson
“Phantom Limbs” by D.J. Theilke
Published at New Delta Review
This is a story about a deformed boy and the girl that loves him and the roommate that hates them both. It’s about bodies and sex and emptiness. It held my attention all the way through, with small moments. The story is stark, whose tragic etymology tells you why you should read it: O.E. “stiff, strong” (related to starian “to stare”).. from PIE base *ster- “stiff, rigid” (see stare). Meaning “utter, sheer, complete” first recorded c.1400, perhaps from infl. of common phrase stark dead (late 14c.), with stark mistaken as an intensive adj. Sense of “bare, barren” is from 1833. Stark naked (1520s) is from M.E. start naked (early 13c.), from O.E. steort “tail, rump.”–David Backer
Batman’s Cabin by Sarah Elmendorf
Published at Slip Tongue
It’s rare that you find humor in erotica that’s not played for broad laughs. It’s even more rare that it’s brilliant. Sarah Elmendorf achieves both with Batman’s cabin, a story that has emotional tones as diverse and powerful as its diction. The story of Batman Rochester and his clan is by turns funny, eerie and salty. In all those things, it’s exciting. And with a rainbow vocabulary with as much colorful choice as a Crayola box, her work is a guilty delight on many levels. –Matt Funk
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