The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2022

A better than average issue with some interesting stories, and some chilling horror stories. I enjoyed those stories by Rudi Dornemann, Brian Trent, Charlie Hughes, Nick Wolven, Rajeev Prasad, Paul Tobin and Nick DiChario.

• "Starblind, Booklost, and Hearing the Songs of True Birds" by Rudi Dornemann: a tale of a man who is finally willing to do a task that would change the history of his city in order to save his brother.

• "The Song of Lost Voices" by Brian Trent: a tale of an archeological dig in Mongolia that turns suspicious when a military unit turns up nearby to start digging sand. We eventually learn why the sand is special, and is related to legends about the singing sands of Mongolia and the cryptid creatures that are claimed to haunt it.

• "Mycelium" by Beth Goder: a couple visit a small woodland Idol that gives gifts is mushrooms. It would take the girl's gift for finding lost things to eventually give the Idol what it is looking for in return for the mushrooms.

• "The Collection" by Charlie Hughes: what starts out as a story about visitors to a farm turns mysterious, dark and then horrifying as one boy begins playing and listening to insistent stories which are tied into the history of the farm wife mother who tried to save her from a prophecy.

• "The Garbage Girls" by Nick Wolven: a group of students follows a 'popular' girl into doing volunteer work at a refugee camp. While they are given manual tasks, they see an enhanced girl with an implant to suppress her emotions treating patients and grow envious of her. They come up with a plan to 'get back' at her by cutting off her implants, not knowing it would set in motion a desire in them to emulate her instead.

• "The Wild Son" by Rajeev Prasad: a village around a lake is 'blessed' by children born from their bodies. One son, born from the head of the father, proves to be a wild one, stealing and creating problems. The son yearns to be free of the job assigned to him by the village elders, and does so one day, becoming truly wild in the process.

• "The Dark at the Edge of the Stage" by James L. Sutter: a down-and-out musician enters a dead end guitar shop and ends up playing a guitar that would change his life.

• "The Monster I Found in Third Grade" by Paul Tobin: a kid at a school is strangely influential over his classmates and teacher. And while they are out and playing in the snow, he hears a voice from the ground, asking to be fed. What happens next is a chilling tale of listening to instructions and influencing your peers.

• "Ceremonials" by Robert Levy: a disturbing story about a group of girls at a summer camp who discover a strange tree in a wood. The girls are being harassed by boys. One night, the girls had enough and, with encouragement from the tree, take revenge on the boys violently.

• "We Are Flying" by Alexandra Munck: a way to access past lives is discovered. The discoverer finds herself constantly in interaction with one person throughout time and seeks him out in the present.

• "Trapping Fairies" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: a short short story about catching and tagging fey creatures during a migration. But one fey creature proves hard to tag and gives the tagger a magical punishment.

• "Ciccio and the Wood Sprite" by Nick DiChario: a boy frees a wood sprite from a net. In return, the wood sprite grants him a wish. Time passed unexpectedly for the boy and when he returns to his village, he encounters a disaster that only his wish, phrased in a certain way, can save the ones he loves.