December’s short stories brought their fair share of the spooky and surreal, some with a festive twist. Here’s a selection of some of my favourites from the month, with a particular shout out to Aethra by Michalis Manolios and its Blade Runner-esque vibes.

Share your short story and flash finds in the comments below—all links are welcome, feel free to shout about your own publications too 😊

Fairy Tale by Adam-Troy Castro at Lightspeed Magazine – pure dialogue sets you in a very human post-apocalyptic world

The North Pole Workshops by Mari Ness at Uncanny Magazine – festive frolics on a phone line

Entanglement, or How I Failed to Knit a Sweater for My Boyfriend by Carrie Vaughn at Lightspeed Magazine – I always knew there was something about knitting…

Orla, Always by Thomas Ha at Metaphorosis Magazine – a dark, folkish tale, could almost see it as the start of a Netflix series

Coiffeur Seven by Kiran Kaur Saini at Strange Horizons – I’ve never liked a visit to the hairdressers but this is something entirely different

Dangling by Maura Yzmore at The Molotov Cocktail – beautifully, strangely surreal

Granny’s Spider by Wen Wen Yang at The Arcanist – not gonna lie, where she keeps her spiders still gives me shudders

Samsāra in a Teacup by Lavanya Lakshminarayan at Apex Magazine – brilliantly amusing, interesting vision of a future

The Grande Calamity Diamond Descends Into The Maleström by Dolan Morgan at X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine – a strange, odd tale about a holiday cruise with a difference

Aethra by Michalis Manolios at Apex Magazine – one of my favourite stories of the month, shades of Blade Runner, and the ethical dilemmas of clones