Gift Category: Read some short, deep stuff

My 3 Favorite pieces of short internet fiction

Okay, so it's two pieces of sort of...speculative fiction...using really creative delivery systems...and then one really important piece of dystopian fiction about fatness and healthcare and society and it's not "internet fiction" but I did read it on the internet, and you can too. I don't know! They're all short stories that I keep coming back to, keep thinking about. There are so many ways to tell a story well.

1. Unknown Number

by Azure

Read it archived here

A sci-fi story told through text messages about finding the version of you that "actually did it."

2. 17776 (What Football Will Look Like In The Future)

by John Bois

Read here

One of the most amazing pieces of fiction on the web. Unsummarizable. Painted in a medium that turns the internet inside out and takes you on an emotional journey you will never forget. A little more lengthy and involved, really settle in, pat attention to, and appreciate this one if you have the energy.

3. The Pill

by Meg Elsion

Read Part 1 & Part 2

(This is archived on a podcast site, but I recommend you just read the text of the piece!) This one is hard and heavy and if you haven't read it and you don't have the heart to read something that flips the visceral insides of the horrifying weight loss industry and culture onto the outside then, you know, skip it. But this is one of those stories that really feels so, so real. I reread it about once a year and have a little cry, because of all the truth in it. When I first read it 4 years ago, I wasn't sure about the ending. But on subsequent readings it made more and more sense as the only obvious conclusion of this reality. Nothing really ever changes.