I had a great time running a workshop on experimental stories at Cymera Festival a couple of weeks ago – there were far too many great stories I read in preparation, and I wasn’t able to touch on all of them in the workshop. So, I thought I’d share my reading list – brilliant stories that use interesting structures, styles, or formats, or otherwise break traditional storytelling rules!
I’ll try to keep adding to this list if I come across new reads, so please feel free to recommend ones to me!
Available Online:
- Stet by Sarah Gailey – Fireside
- Airable Consumption by Z. K. Abraham – hexliterary
- Evelina, my Tentacles! By Nelly Geraldine Gracia-Rosas
- Thirteen of the Secrets in my Purse by Rachel Swirsky
- 10 Steps to a Whole New You by Tonya Liburd, PSYCHOPOMP
- This is Your Village by Charlie Kieft in Flash Fiction Online
- Mantis Wives by Kij Johnson in Clarkesworld
- The Writing Process of a Fantasy Bard by Eoin Dooley in Orion’s Belt
- Companion Wanted by Hannah Goss | Fractured Lit
- Five Films Reviewed by Dr. Frankenstein’s Creature by Evan J. Peterson, PseudoPod
- The Things You Bought for the Robot by Stefan Alcalá Slater, Flash Fiction Online
- Cake By the Ocean by Lindz Mcleod
- The Office Siren by Katharine Tyndall
- Dissent: A Five-Course Meal (With Suggested Pairings) by Aimee Ogden, Lightspeed
- Plastic-eating fungus caused doomsday [2] [3] by Emma Burnett in Nature:Futures and manywor(l)ds
- A Tasting Menu of Autobiographical Botanicals by Chase Anderson
- After the Tone by G.T.Korbin
- “The History of Coming Out To Your Parents Any% Speedrunning” by Jubilee Finnegan
- Ten Rules to Survive as a Pirate by Chey Rivera in Elegant Lit 35
In Print:
- “How to Host a Haunted House Murder Mystery Party” by AC Wise in Ghost Sequences
- “Last Gasp” by Stark Holborn in Best of British Science Fiction 2025 and Shadows, Stars & Sabers
- “Inventory” and “Especially Heinous” by Carmen Maria Machado in Her Body & Other Parties
A couple of my own!
- Instruction Manual in Trembling with Fear
- Rent-A-Baby: Content without the Commitment in Thank You For Joining the Algorithm and Limelight and Other Stories
- Please Select Your Issue in Strange Machines: An Anthology of Dark User Manuals: Apex Magazine and Limelight and Other Stories
Some good magazines to find experimental work:
- Hex Literary
- Fractured Lit
- Flash Fiction Online
- Apex Magazine and Apex Books – Including their anthologies like Strange Machines and Strange Locations
- Diabolical Plots
- Orion’s Belt Magazine
- The Razor Mag
- Have Has Had
- Uncanny Magazine
- Cursed Morsels Zine series
LYNDSEY CROAL 