A young man loses his leg in a car accident, and is pressed into a campaign to encourage “regenerative surgery” for an increasingly elderly population despite his misgivings. This has some interesting…
Category: Story a Day 2022
“The Dummy” by Benjamin Percy
The only girl – who doesn’t feel much like a girl to herself – on a high school wrestling team gets some unexpected help against her bully. This is another disturbing little…
“Dial Tone” by Benjamin Percy
A call center, a cell tower, a brutal murder, and birds falling from the sky coalesce in this unnerving little story. This one has some disturbing and haunting images, and a strange…
“Nondisclosure Agreement” by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
A young man with literary aspirations goes to work for a mail order catalog company who’s owner has publishing aspirations; it isn’t good for anyone. A better “New Yorker” story than many…
“Suicide Woods” by Benjamin Percy
A new member unsettles and disrupts the normal flow for a group of survivors of suicide attempts, with disastrous consequences. The story is told from a collective point of view, the group…
“The Mud Man” by Benjamin Percy
A mud man grows in the garden where an accountant’s discarded fingernail falls, and slowly comes to replace the original with its efficiency and kindness. This story would pair well with Robert…
“The Cold Boy” by Benjamin Percy
A boy falls through the ice and returns strangely transformed. This is a laconic tale with a definite Minnesota feel to it – understated and matter-of-fact in its presentation of disturbing weirdness,…
“Deepster Punks” by Maria Haskins
Two workers on a deep sea mining rig face themselves and something that has followed them from another world. This story has a good balance of brooding dread and high adventure, and…
“Our Fallen Sons” by Robert Shearman
A stonemason carves the names of a town’s sons – both real and imagined – lost to war. This has the feel of a fable or fairy tale, and also a bit…
“Your Long, Loving Arms” by Robert Shearman
An out-of-work man takes a job as a tree and finds that it suits him. I like how this story leans into its weirdness and lets a coherent world form around it…