Maria's Reading: My 2023 Recommended Reading List

I read a lot of stories every year but no matter how much I read, I always feel like I've missed out on a wealth of amazing fiction, and of course I have. Every single year, there are many many many amazing stories I didn't read.

That said, here are some of my favourites out of all the stories I read in 2023. For a full list of the stories I read and loved this year, check out my short fiction roundups.

Novellas

OKPsyche by Anya Johanna DeNiro (Small Beer Press)

On the English Approach to the Study of History by E. Saxey in GigaNotoSaurus

The Book of Gems, by Fran Wilde (TOR)

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indrapramit Das (Subterranean Press)

Novelettes

Added January 11, 2024:

Old Seeds by Owen Leddy in GigaNotoSaurus

What the Mountain Takes, What the Journey Offers by Jae Steinbacher in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Bruised-Eye Dusk by Jonathan Louis Duckworth in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

How to Travel Safely In Faerieland by Vanessa Fogg, Fusion Fragment #15

No Spoilers by Ben Murphy in Many Worlds

Your Great Mother Across the Salt Sea by Kelsey Hutton in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Short stories

Added January 11, 2024:

Bride of the Gulf by Danai Christopoulou in khōréō

Chainsaw: As Is by Gillian King-Cargile (narrated by Melissa Hofelich) in PseudoPod

La Puerta by Ren Braueri at Cast of Wonders (narrated by J. M. Bueno)

Memoria by Steve Rasnic Tem in The Deadlands

Mother’s Teeth by E. L. Chen in The Dark

Sharp Undoing by Natasha King in Clarkesworld

The Bleak Communion of Abandoned Things by Ariel Marken Jack (narrated by Kitty Sarkozy) at PseudoPod

The God of the Overpass by Orrin Grey in The Dark

The House of Linear Change by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe in Lightspeed.

The Inside is Always Entrails by Fernanda Castro (translated by H. Pueyo) in The Dark

The Monster Fucker Club by A.V. Greene in Apex

The Number of Ghosts by M. Bennardo in Kaleidotrope

The Sweet in the Empty by Tade Thompson in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

The Thousand Tongues of Sara by Jonathan Olfert in The Future Fire

, Bird by Uyen Dang in Necessary Fiction

All the Things I Know About Ghosts, By Ofelia, Age 10, by Isabel Cañas in The Deadlands

Always Be Returning by Eugenia Triantafyllou in Sunday Morning Transport

AnyPercent by Andrew Dana Hudson in GigaNotoSaurus

Between Truth and Death on the Murmansk—Saint Petersburg Line by Zohar Jacobs in The Sunday Morning Transport

Blue by Margaret Jordan in Fantasy Magazine

Bozpo Witch-Bane by Simo Srinivas in Fantasy Magazine

Building by Marlee Jane Ward in IZ Digital

City Grown From Seed by Diana Dima in Strange Horizons

Constellation Burn by Josh Rountree in Bourbon Penn

Construction Sacrifice by Bogi Takács in Lightspeed

Dave the Terrible by Brent Baldwin in Flash Fiction Online

Don’t Look Down by Jennifer Lee Rossman in Kaleidotrope

Five Books from the Alnif Crater Traveling Library by Stewart C Baker in Flash Fiction Online

Homewrecker by E. Catherine Tobler in Apex Magazine

How to Stay Married to Baba Yaga by S.M. Hallow in Baffling Magazine

In the Forest of Talking Animals, by Makena Onjerika in The Deadlands

Interstate Mohinis by M.L. Krishnan in Diabolical Plots

Joy by Dale Smith in IZ Digital

Kudzu Boy Dreaming by SJ Powell in Fiyah #26

Like Ladybugs, Bright Spots In Your Mailbox by Marie Croke in Diabolical Plots

Locavore by Kim Harbridge in Strange Horizons

Moonlight and Needle Teeth by K.S. Walker in Fiyah #28

Morag's Boy, by Fiona Moore in Clarkesworld

Mother’s Teeth by E. L. Chen in The Dark

Muna in Barish by Isha Karki in Lightspeed

”Narratology” by Peter Young, written by Cadwell Turnbull at Many Worlds

Nextype by Sam Kyung Yoo in Strange Horizons

No One Ever Finds Her by Matthew Keeley in Coffin Bell

Notes From a Pyre, by Amal Singh in The Deadlands

Nubbins by Seán Padraic Birnie in IZ Digital

One Eye Opened in That Other Place by Christi Nogle in Three-Lobed Burning Eye

Our Grandmother's Words by M.H. Ayinde in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Patsy Cline Sings Sweet Dreams to the Universe by Beston Barnett in Strange Horizons

Petunia by Lerato Mahlangu in Fiyah

Place of Four Winds, by Gabriel Mara in The Deadlands

Quantum Love by Sylvia Heike in Flash Fiction Online

Resistant by Koji A. Dae in Clarkesworld

Root Canticle by Natasha King in Nightmare

Something That Has Never Touched the Ground by Marilyn Hope in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Somewhere, It's About To Be Spring, by Samantha Murray in Clarkesworld

Spinning Shadow by Margaret Ronald in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Stitch by Kathleen Schaefer in Podcastle (narrated by Ant Bacon)

The Air Will Catch Us by Rajiv Moté in Reckoning

The Building across the Street, by R.T. Ester in Interzone

The Cello in the Cell by David Janisch in Nightmare

The Dark House by A.C. Wise in TOR.com

The Demon Lord of Broken Concrete by Alex Irvine in Bourbon Penn

The Dying Lover of Nogorod by R.K. Duncan in Beneath Ceaseless Skies

The Field Guide for Next Time by Rae Mariz in khōréō

The Massage Lady at Munjeon Road Bathhouse by Isabel J. Kim in Clarkesworld

The Mercer Seat by Vajra Chandrasekera in Future Science Fiction Digest

The Miraculous Account Of Khaja Bairaq, Pennant-Saint Of Zabel by Tanvir Ahmed in Strange Horizons

The Pigeon-Keepers Daughter by Su-Yee Lin in Strange Horizons

The Rain Remembers What the Sky Forgets by Fran Wilde in Uncanny Magazine

The Sky, Imperceptibly Darker by Michael Kellichner in Kaleidotrope

The Sound of Children Screaming by Rachael K. Jones in Nightmare

The State Street Robot Factory by Claire Humphrey in Apex Magazine

The Time Traveler’s Cookbook by Angela Liu in Cast of Wonders (narrated by May Chong)

The Uncool Hunters by Andrew Dana Hudson in Escape Pod (narrated by Valerie Valdes)

There Are Only Two Chairs, and the Skin Is Draped Over the Other by by Alexia Antoniou in Bourbon Penn

Thirteen Ways of Not Looking at a Blackbird by Gordon B. White in PseudoPod (narrated by Elie Hirschman, first published in the 2023 anthology No Trouble at All)

This Is What You Came For by Phong Quan in khōréō

Timekeeper's Symphony by Ken Liu in Clarkesworld

Tuesday, June 13, at the South Valley Time Loop Support Group by Heather Kamins at Escape Pod (narrated by Heather Thomas)

Umeboshi by Rebecca Nakaba in khōréō

Undog by Eugenia Triantafyllou in Strange Horizons

Useful and Beautiful Things by E. Saxey in Metaphorosis

Want Itself Is a Treasure in Heaven by Theodora Ward in Uncanny Magazine

We, the Ones Who Raised Sam Gowers from the Dead by Cynthia Zhang in PseudoPod (narrated by Serah Eley)

What It Means to Be a Car by James Patrick Kelly at TOR.com

What Remains, the Echoes of a Flute Song by Alexandra Seidel in Clarkesworld

When the Forest Comes to You by E. M. Linden in Flash Fiction Online

Who the Final Girl Becomes by Dominique Dickey in Nightmare