This story was published in Lightspeed Magazine and included in the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025 anthology.

This story is a challenge to the reader — explicitly from the narrative voice as well as from the author: try to hold two things in your brain at the same time.

The story is told–mostly–in two columns. One of which is the same all the way through; the other tells more of the story of a species that is living fast and going extinct even as you read, and which is trying to get you to perceive life the way they do, and to remember them.

The Opening

Iteration

This is our story, simplified: Life. Loss. Transformation. Love. Death. Iteration.

This is the opening of the story and it’s as simple as it ever gets.

The next paragraph is in two columns, with each part of that story on a different line on the right:

The Plot Thickens

Throughout the story the ‘this is our story simplified section’ is repeated, unchanged, while the left column (and other aspects: grids, a single column of letters, a barcode) attempt to help us understand how this other species processes information, lives, and dies.

It’s hard to write about this story because it’s so unusual. I really think you have to read it for yourself.

For me, I had to simply relax into it and be OK with not knowing exactly what was going on, with knowing I was failing the task of the story–to understand two pieces of text at the same time–which the aliens are desperately exhorting me to do.

It was disorienting and suggested exactly how difficult it might be to understand a completely alien life form that is sentient and, well, alien.

it’s great example of form adding to the meaning of the story.

The Ending

The story ends in a different voice, but one that I feel has learned something over the course of the story. It feels like a triumphant ending.

Read the story in Lightspeed Magazine or the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025

Writer’s Notes

As a writer, I was in awe of the writer’s confidence in their ability to write something challenging, then trust that readers would come along for the ride (which I most assuredly did).

In the authors’ notes at the end of the book, Yoachim said, “I did a fair amount of research on optical illusions…These kinds of illusions…make use of how our brain processes visual information. For [this story] I tried to break down the cognitive processes involved in reading in a similar way, but focusing on words/linguistic processing instead of pictures/visual processing.”

This reminds me how much research can (should?) go into crafting a short piece.

I know that, as the StoryADay Lady, I’m always encouraging writers to write fast, and complete their stories quickly, BUT that doesn’t mean I think that short fiction is a throwaway form.

There are two things at work here: my desire to encourage people to outrun their inner demons, and my utter confidence that, when they do, they can come up with serious work like this.

Stories like this demand work from the writer and work from the reader. I’m so glad there are publications that respect that.

And I find myself wondering why I don’t see more challenging stories like this in the mainstream, ‘literary’ version of this series (The Best American Short Stories)….Hmmm…

Discussion

What do you think of experimental and challenging stories, like this? And when someone says “I like science fiction” is this the kind of thing you’d expect them to be reading? If you’re someone who says “I don’t normally read science fiction”, is it time for you to discover what sci-fi really has to offer?