My two recommended stories this week are serious in tone, centering on a woman who has been subjugated by a system and the men who run it.
COTTONMOUTH by Joelle Wellington is one of those powerful stories that have you on the edge of your seat, waiting, waiting for what’s to come. It tells the tale of a young man named Grant who finds a chained-up young women in the attic of the house he shares with his grandfather. Truly though, this tale isn’t about Grant at all, but rather all the men throughout the years like him and his grandfather, who had kept Black women in their power. Published in Apex Magazine.
PROPHECY GIRLS by Sydney Paige Guerrero is a story about Sen, the twenty-third girl to be the Chosen One of her world. Only, this time around, unlike all the previous Chosen Ones, she does not die. And in not dying, she begins to discover the truth about the system in place that demands a Chosen One’s sacrifice. A wonderful tale about a woman who faces down the cyclical nature of her subjugation. Published in Translunar Travelers Lounge.
Marie Croke 