I was going to post a far longer rec list tonight, but the day ran away with me. Now it’s midnight, I’m really hungry, and I have to wake up horribly early tomorrow to go to my first physiotherapist’s appointment. Hence, just two recs today: two stories from Strange Horizons!

I Have Placed My Sickness Upon You, by Karin Tidbeck. This story is delightful and sad and weird in a good way. Awesome first sentence, too: Then came that Thursday in February when I stepped into my psychiatrist’s office and was presented with a goat.

I need to check out more of Karin Tidbeck’s stuff. I’m rather inspired by her bilingualism-wise, because as can be discerned from her website, she writes in two languages: Swedish and English. I always like finding other bilingual writers, seeing how they deal with their languages when it comes to creative writing. Perhaps one day I can be as confident in my Finnish writing as Tidbeck is with her Swedish.

My second story rec for tonight is Town’s End, by Yukimi Ogawa. I haven’t read Japanese speculative fiction before (my experiences with Japanese fiction in general are pretty much confined to Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami), but now I want more! Love the atmosphere of Ogawa’s story. Japanese folklore meets the modern day in a wonderfully subtle way.

Finally: if all goes well, I’ll be posting about pleasing things in a day or two. 🙂