“Scraps” by Michael Haynes:
A poignant story about the power of memories, both good and bad.
“Burning Love” by Jeff James:
Quirky, humorous story about a sentient toaster. Fun read.
“Robot” by Helena Bell:
I’m usually not a fan of stories told in second person, but in this case it works. Powerful language. Moving story.
“Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson:
Another awesome, unusual story from Kij. Makes me happy I’m not married to a mantis.
“You Bet” by Alex Shvartsman:
Fun story about tropes playing Texas Hold’em. Nice payoff at the end.
James Aquilone is a writer and editor, mostly of the speculative ilk. His fiction is forthcoming or has appeared in the anthology At Year’s End: SFF Holiday Stories, Weird Tales Magazine, Bards & Sages Quarterly, and One Forty Fiction, His non-fiction has appeared in SF Signal, Den of Geek, Weird Tales, and BuzzFeed. He is working on his first novel and hopes to finish it before the world ends. He is currently taking bets on which will occur first. (3-to-1 on Armageddon; 10-to-1 on novel.) James is also a member of the Codex Writers' Group (though he is leery of groups that would have him as a member).
