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    Third Flatiron Best of 2017
    Third Flatiron Best of 2017
    Third Flatiron Best of 2017
    Ebook154 pages2 hours

    Third Flatiron Best of 2017

    By Third Flatiron Publishing

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    About this ebook

    Third Flatiron publishes quarterly themed speculative fiction anthologies. The "Third Flatiron Best of 2017" collection is a sampling of the best of the best short stories offered during 2017. Authors include John Sunseri, James Beamon, Rati Mehrotra, J. L. Forrest, Konstantine Paradias, Jean Graham, Jill Hand, Brian Trent, Ville Nummenpaa, Wulf Moon, Keyan Bowes, Vaughan Stanger, and Premee Mohamed.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThird Flatiron Publishing
    Release dateNov 17, 2020
    ISBN9780999070451
    Third Flatiron Best of 2017
    Author

    Third Flatiron Publishing

    Juli Rew is a former science writer/editor for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and is a software engineer by training. She is a believer in the scientific evidence for global warming. She also publishes fantasy and science fiction stories by other authors at Third Flatiron Publishing.

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      Book preview

      Third Flatiron Best of 2017 - Third Flatiron Publishing

      Third Flatiron Best of 2017

      Third Flatiron Anthologies

      Volume 6, Book 21, Winter 2017

      Published by Third Flatiron Publishing

      Edited by Juliana Rew

      Copyright 2017 Third Flatiron Publishing

      Boulder, Colorado

      ISBN# 978-0-9990704-5-1

      Discover other titles by Third Flatiron:

      (1) Over the Brink: Tales of Environmental Disaster

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/163855

      (2) A High Shrill Thump: War Stories

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/218304

      (3) Origins: Colliding Causalities

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/257367

      (4) Universe Horribilis

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/288540

      (5) Playing with Fire

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/321325

      (6) Lost Worlds, Retraced

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/351622

      (7) Redshifted: Martian Stories

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/381618

      (8) Astronomical Odds

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/417022

      (9) Master Minds

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/446292

      (10) Abbreviated Epics

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/478247

      (11) The Time It Happened

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/520739

      (12) Only Disconnect

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/544282

      (13) Ain't Superstitious

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/563653

      (14) It's Come to Our Attention

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/610308

      (15) Hyperpowers

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/630060

      (16) Keystone Chronicles

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/651198

      (17) Principia Ponderosa

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/700816

      Click here to receive announcements of our new releases!

      We always appreciate your reviews too.

      *****~~~~~*****

      Back to Contents

      License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

      *****~~~~~*****

      Contents

      Editor's Note by Juliana Rew

      Valediction by John Sunseri

      Command Decision by James Beamon

      The Jim-Aaargh School of Philosophy by Rati Mehrotra

      Lampblack and Dust by J. L. Forrest

      They Grow Up So Fast by Konstantine Paradias

      Glass by Jean Graham

      Talk to the Animals by Jill Hand

      The JPEG of Dorian Gray by Brian Trent

      Beyond the Borders of Boredom by Ville Nummenpää

      Beast of the Month by Wulf Moon

      Picnic, with Xels by Keyan Bowes

      One Is One by Vaughan Stanger

      Willing by Premee Mohamed

      Credits and Acknowledgments

      *****~~~~~*****

      Editor's Note

      by Juliana Rew

      The selection of a year's best is a subjective thing. Every story that appeared in a Third Flatiron anthology was a favorite of the editor and readers and contributed in a valuable way to the theme of the book.

      We feel the stories you'll see in Third Flatiron Best of 2017 stand out regardless of theme. Each has qualities that make it both universal and unique, a high bar to reach. All are what we would consider speculative fiction, and as we noted on our open calls, we favor stories that have an anthropological bent, meaning they emphasize three big questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Of course, a little humor never hurts.

      We open with John Sunseri's Runyon-esque tale, Valediction. An aging gambler awaits the closing of his beloved racetrack. He meets a little girl, asks where her parents are, and strikes up a friendship. The love they share for the beasts leads to a revolutionary act.

      Who are we? Shakespeare once noted, The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. But we cheer when the statute of limitations on murder never expires in Jean Graham's chilling Glass.

      Where did we come from? Wisdom and hope passed down through generations is also a motif in J. L. Forrest's retro-futuristic frontier tale, Lampblack and Dust. In stunning imagery, a witch invokes the ink on her body to release magical ravenlike creatures to save her niece from marauders.

      Where are we going? James Beamon's Command Decision brings us straight into the military mind. A colonel is called to clean up the situation when one of his soldiers blockades the local dry cleaners. Sometimes shortcuts just don't work out, as he discovers that the owners' billboard was used in the terrorist training videos. Irony can be a bitch.

      You get the picture.

      Konstantine Paradias weighs whether CRISPR technology is such a good idea, especially if it's used to design food. The chefs in They Grow Up So Fast are soon surpassed by their culinary creations.

      Do our pets really love us? Jill Hand's Talk to the Animals takes us to a town where the animals suddenly begin talking one day. All right, let's hear what they have to say, shall we?

      In the enormity of Time, we've all wondered what it would truly mean to be immortal. Brian Trent brings us a continuation of Oscar Wilde's brilliant original in The JPEG of Dorian Gray.

      It's all well and good to consider serious topics such as where are we going, but sometimes we just need to lighten up. As a warning, some of the stories here are not safe for work, because they are laugh-out-loud funny. In Ville Nummenpää's Beyond the Borders of Boredom, TV contestants vie for the title of world's most boring man. And if you've ever been a book-/wine-/record-of-the month club member, you can sympathize with the wizard who tries to return a delivery that he didn't order in Wulf Moon's Beast of the Month. In The Jim-Aaargh School of Philosophy, Rati Mehrotra imagines what the anteroom to the afterlife might be like. Maybe if we're lucky we'll be able to take control of our own reincarnation.

      Human nature can be fairly predictable. For example, most parents would like to get their kids into an exclusive school. But if the school is now recruiting alien kids, the parents in Keyan Bowes' Picnic With Xels might think they've gone too far with affirmative action.

      We're hearing more and more that social media may be causing as much social confusion as friendship. Vaughan Stanger's One Is One expands our feed to the Multiverse, and suddenly we've got our Twitter in a twist.

      We close with another beautiful generational tale. Premee Mohamed's farm family prepares to sacrifice their child to the elder gods that have taken over the world in Willing. To what lengths will they go for love?

      We hope you enjoy this sampling of Third Flatiron's best. It's been a privilege to showcase the work of these authors.

      ###

      Back to Contents

      *****~~~~~*****

      Valediction

      by John Sunseri

      They were shutting down the track. It was a long, slow, drawn-out death, but the track was going to die, and even though Ace didn't particularly want to watch something he loved sink into oblivion, he didn't see that he had much of a choice. He'd been there practically since the beginning. He'd be there for the end.

      He leaned on the railing in his usual spot, about a third of a circuit from the starting gates. Back in the sixties he'd had to get there early, long before the first post time, to get a perch on the fence. Now he had his pick of places. There was a desultory crowd milling around, but no one seemed to want to get up close and personal. A kid, that was it—a girl, maybe twelve years old, with a program sticking out of the pocket of her jacket as she did push-ups on the iron rail to bleed off some of her energy while waiting for the race to start. Around her blew the stub ends of losing tickets, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, swirling in eddies of autumn wind. Ace wondered where her parents were.

      Up in the skybox, probably, getting a drink, he thought. A seven-dollar beer for the gentleman, a glass of five-dollar plonk for the lady, and a few minutes up in the Premiere Lounge without the kid. Cheaper than a night at the movies, with the benefit of fresh air for the girl.

      Ace chewed on the butt-end of his unlit cigar. He didn't smoke anymore. He'd had a rough run-in with lung cancer about ten years back, and it had left him skeletal and worn-out and old and irradiated, but it hadn't left him dead. He still liked the taste of the Romeo y Julieta in his mouth, though, and the weight of it between his teeth. The fact that the cigar-chewing old coot on the racetrack rail was a stereotype bothered him not at all. He'd been a cigar-chewing YOUNG coot, back when, and he'd aged into the trope gradually and gracefully.

      He looked out over the track. The rich brown dark of the earth, the lush green of the grass in the middle of the oval, the sharp white pricks of the spotlights, and the lowering gray of the Portland skies painted another in a long line of hazy memories for him. He was getting to the point when he couldn't remember individual days with any detail, but his brain was stuffed with artistic composites. Tonight would be another added to the mosaic, another gloomy, windy, cool beautiful evening at the track, all whirling together in an old man's mind to make the one, perfect, Platonic night.

      What happens to the slugs when they can't race anymore? asked the little girl.

      Ace turned to look at her. Her face was serious.

      They send them to the salt mines, he said, gravely.

      They looked at each other for a few pregnant seconds, then he smiled. Just kidding, sweetheart.

      She didn't look convinced. Do they kill them?

      Art turned away, looked back at the track. They were bringing the slugs out for the first race, pulling on the harnesses, coaxing them with sugar and slaps, and he felt the familiar thrill that he always felt, watching the animals with their colors moving toward the starting line. The air was crisp, there was a smell of barbecue in the wind, and the track's speakers were playing the Colonel Bogey March as the racers slimed their way toward the track, wrangled by their handlers, colors bright under the lights.

      Not all of them, he said, finally. Some go to stud.

      The little girl nodded, as though she'd expected the answer. She turned back to the fence to watch the parade of animals go by. Ace suddenly wished he had a match. Back in the day he'd enjoyed puffing on his Cubans as the slugs got jostled into their stalls, and he felt a strong, sudden pang of desire to go back to those days. There would be couples pushed up against him, giggling and laughing, waving team colors. There would be the cynical hacks shuffling money in the pockets of their slacks and worriedly scanning the slugs for signs of injury or sloth. Vendors would be shoving their way through the crowds, pregnant with flats

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