With Arnold as (shudder) my new governor, I find it more necessary than ever to lose myself in fiction. In case you feel similarly, here are a few suggestions:

Go read "The Cleansing Fire of God", the latest of Jay Lake's 700 million stories to appear in Strange Horizons (and it's as good as any of the others, a bizarre dystopian alternate-history).

Then read "Dogs in the Moonlight", another one by Jay Lake, this one at Fortean Bureau. Nice Texan supernatural dark fantasy, and the title story of his forthcoming collection from Prime Books.

Next, try Maureen McHugh's story "Ancestor Money" at Sci Fiction this week. This was the story Maureen brought to Rio Hondo this summer, and I'm glad it found such a good home. It was one of my favorite stories at the workshop. I adore all of Maureen's short fiction, actually. She's worth seeking out.

Jonathan Strahan, who's editing the Year's Best Science Fiction from ibooks this year, briefly thought he might be editing a Year's Best Fantasy antho. That editing gig didn't materialize, but he has posted a list of stories he was considering for inclusion, including a piece by moi. There's not a bad story on the list, and if you're wading through a sea of magazines and books, trying to decide what's worth your fantasy-reading time, he gives you a few good places to begin.

There's more, but I didn't make a note of the links, so this is all you get for now.