Speculative Fiction Feasts

Tuck your napkins in. This is going to be a long post.

Halfway Alive, Halfway Living

Author: Colton Kekoa Neves

Publication: Apex Magazine

Link: https://www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-magazine/post/halfway-alive-halfway-living

Impressions: This was one of my favorite reads in 2025. The top notes give bittersweet story about the cost of caregiving for both the caregiver and one receiving care. Additional flavors include dark humor and complex parent-child dynamics.

Food and Drink Pairing: Spam musubi and a Hawaiian Sun. Wouldn’t recommend cranberry sauce.

Coin Flip

Author: Aeryn Rudel

Publication: Flash Point Science Fiction

Link: https://flashpointsf.com/2025/11/14/coin-flip/

Impressions: Wicked clever with several Easter eggs (no pun intended).

Food and Drink Pairing: Bread and wine.

How Gods Feed

Author: Merc Fenn Wolfmoor

Publication: Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Link: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/how-gods-feed/

Impressions: Can someone please turn this into a movie or limited miniseries? I can’t get this story out of my head and I’m mad that I didn’t think to write it.

Food and Drink Pairing: Anything but venison.

The Piano Made of Fingers

Author: Abigail Koury

Publication: Flash Fiction Online

Link: https://flashfictiononline.com/issues/march-2026/#the-piano-made-of-fingers

Impressions: Delicious writing and so creepy. Also good for anyone caught in the gifted-kid-to-burned-out pipeline. (I wasn’t a gifted kid, so that’s not me.)

Food and Drink Pairing: Hors d’oeurves too on the nose?

Stitched to Skin like Family Is

Author: Nghi Vo

Publication: Uncanny Magazine

Link: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/stitched-to-skin-like-family-is/

Impressions: My favorite story from 2024. Is it cheating to include this on my list because it already won a Hugo Award? I don’t see many stories about Asian-Americans in this time period, so I felt especially seen.

Food and Drink Pairing: Any Mom-and-Pop restaurants near you.

Kintsugi

Author: Leo Otherland

Publication: Inflicted: Explorative Tales of What Breaks and Binds Us

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Inflicted-Explorative-Tales-Breaks-Binds/dp/1947012304

Impressions: This is the last story in a six-course meal that is riveting from beginning to end. Of the stories in this book, this was my favorite. Warning: It might make you cry.

Food and Drink Pairing: Omakase and a good bottle of sake.