Welcome to Litsy!

"A car that in another life would have accelerated through the yellow stoplight and killed me did not accelerate and kill me."
-"How I Began to Bleed Again After Six Alarming Months Without"

"Usually it's a lovely thing to see blinking lights from afar, yet these lights I did not enjoy; they did not blink at a pleasant pace. They should have gone blink---blink---blink, but instead they went blinkblinkblink."
-"How I Began to Bleed Again After Six Alarming Months Without"

-"Children"

"The Joined" is painfully cishet, especially since it leaves out the queer part of the myth it riffs on; the hermaphrodites-being-split-by-Zeus myth is literally a just-so story to explain why CISHET people exist, because in ancient Greece you were considered weird if you weren't bi. But you wouldn't know it from this story with its stunted little universe.

"a bird-studded Friday morning"
-"The Knowers"

"It never ceases to amaze me that, even as our country forges into the future with ever more bedazzling devices and technologies, the archaic infrastructure rots away beneath our feet, the pavement and the rails, the schools and the DMV."
-"The Knowers"

I only enjoyed two stories in this book.

Isn't it macabre to know that we've lived the date of our death many times, passing by it each year as the calendar turns?

Bizarre, surreal, and at times experimental short stories that challenge everyday boundaries & perceptions. A new mother sees doppelgängers of herself all over town, a woman finds out her death date, a curious phenomenon causes a woman to see through people's skin into their organs. These stories feel futuristic and fantastic at times but still cling to some form of reality. A few misses here but mostly hits. For fans of Kelly Link, Karen Russell.

Loved the unique amazingThe Beautiful Bureaucrat. So excited to read her new book of short stories reviews have been raves of course.

I love Helen Phillips! Her writing is so weird, but so good! ❤❤❤ This collection has a nice mixture of shorter and longer stories. If you like George Saunders' short stories, definitely give Phillips a try. I also highly recommend her novel The Beautiful Bureaucrat. 📚😊

#morningread Only one story in, but gosh do I love Phillips' writing style. 😍

These stories are eerie so far, and I like it.

How do I describe this book of short stories? Weird? Yes. Well written? Incredibly! Hits vs misses? Way more hits than misses. Everything in this book is slightly off kilter. It seems a normal story and then something just slightly changes it all. It is creative and a great read. I tore through this one in an evening.

Lazy Sunday in bed with a matching book! The stories in Some Possible Solutions were eerie and good--twins and doppelgängers, questions about individuality and relationships, plus tsunamis and tornados and aliens!

This eccentric collection of dystopian speculative fiction stories encompasses the myriad anxieties that accompany modern womanhood—from having a baby to attending a dinner party to caring for a sick relative. The characters in Phillips' stories range from suburban moms to futuristic prostitutes, and the eerie, uncanny worlds that she creates are disquieting in their existential familiarity. Recommended for fans of Margaret Atwood + Black Mirror.

Decided to finally start this short story collection a little while ago while waiting on the postal service to deliver the novels I'm eagerly awaiting. Looks like this'll be a one-sitting read for me. I ❤️ Helen Phillips. These stories are pairing well with my recent watching of Black Mirror. Lots of surreal, uncanny stuff.

4🌟While these stories are fantastical and somewhat disturbing, they deal with the universal themes of parenting, siblings, & marriage. However, everything is strange: a city without wind, alien children, a town of identical people. The mixture of the known and unknown is ultimately what makes this book so fascinating. I'm glad I went outside my comfort zone for this one.

#shortstories #bookisholympics #book4 #goingforgold 🏅

I really appreciate all the support I've gotten here in regards to my dental problems. I went to the dentist Monday. My TMJ disc is back in place, but my masseter muscle is still pulled, and I've had severe nerve pain since the appointment. 😓 I'm just so sick of it! Thank you so much for reading. I just wish I had the solution. 😕

This book is so wild, it gave me crazy dreams last night! Such weird situations, but I'm loving it. Doppelgängers, alien hermaphrodites, and people frozen in time = really imaginative stories!

So the chickens have come home to roost! I requested a bunch of short story collections before I did two weeks of them on my blog. Now 3 collections have come into the library, and I only have room to check out 2 out! Which 2??? 🤔

Then I'm in trouble, regardless, but these stories are on. point. Literary math be like Vonnegut + Wilder + Bradbury + Orwell+ sugar and spice and everything bad ass that is Helen Phillips.

These stories are such awesome little weirdos, love it

Booooooookmaaaaaaail! ❤️

"We shouldn't keep drinking $3 gin & tonics, but it takes more imagination that we've got to stop doing so, plus the sunsetting light is the color of booze and outside in the yard behind the bar the wall of ivy quivers like something from a lovelier place."

(SPS) Strange & unsettling collection of short stories. Lots of "what ifs." "The Knowers" features a society where there is the option to find out the exact day of your death. This book's impact was not immediate for me; I liked it as I read it, but I really liked it after I reflected on it.

Some Possible Solutions takes on the theme of “what if?” and boy does she come up with some wild scenarios. While alot of these stories are very sureal they reflect our reality and make you think and that I think makes for a good short story.