/lit/ - Literature

>>20959095
Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology - James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel, editors (2006)

Slipstream, the Genre That Isn’t - James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel
The editors discuss the history of Slipstream and what they believe it to be. In each anthology I've read that's tried to define a style I've appreciated the historical context provided by these introductions.

Al - Carol Emshwiller (1972)
A strangely written story about a woman providing observations and judgments on the events and people in her life that she finds interesting. Its style was intriguing, but I didn't enjoy it.
Meh

The Little Magic Shop - Bruce Sterling (1987)
A young man goes into a little magic shop and buys the water of youth because he'd like to live a good, happy, life without any consequences for as long as possible.
Enjoyable

The Healer - Aimee Bender (1998)
One girl has a hand of flame and the other a hand of ice. The former harms and the latter heals. A self-important third girl with a penchant for watching and inducing self-harm becomes involved.
Meh

I Want My 20th-Century Schizoid Art - various writers (2005)
Excerpts from David Moles's blog with writers discussing what Slipstream is and isn't, and whether it's meaningful in any way, seventeen years after Sterling coined the term.

The Specialist’s Hat - Kelly Link (1998)
Claire and Samantha are ten year old twin sisters. They enjoy life. They are curious and like to explore the world. Their house may be haunted. Their babysitter used to live there. Their favorite game is Dead, which they don't play when grownups are around. These are their strange days.
Meh

Light and the Sufferer - Jonathan Lethem (1995)
A bored man goes with his younger brother to rob some drug dealers because his brother likes using drugs and money. An alien starts following them around because this is a normal thing that happens. They find this annoying, but there's nothing that can be done about it.
Enjoyable

Sea Oak - George Saunders (1998)
Sea Oak is an great story that's equally utterly hilarious and tragic. It's a satire of American life and a pop culture parody. I'm amazed by everything it does. Idiocracy has nothing on this. It's so moving, so empathetic, and so darkly humorous.
Highly Enjoyable

Exhibit H: Torn Pages Discovered in the Vest Pocket of an Unidentified Tourist - Jeff VanderMeer (1998)
A guidebook for tourists for the city of Ambergris. This short story is an except from a guidebook to a fictional Weird city, which was a nice conceit.
Enjoyable