“Tomorrow’s Beautiful Dream” by Ju Chu, translated from the Chinese by Carmen Yiling Yan (Clarkesworld, January 1)

“All My Birds“ by K.A. Teryna, translated from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman (Asimov’s, January/February)

Scorpions by Yumiko Kurahashi, translated from the Japanese by Michael Day (Wakefield Press, January 20)

Yumiko Kurahashi’s 1968 novella Scorpions takes the form of a transcript of a one-sided interview with L following the arrest and institutionalization of her twin brother K. The two have played a role in a series of horrifying deaths culminating in the murder of their mother. Through a first-person narrative that varies in tone from scientifically clinical to darkly humorous, mingling together references to the Bible and Greek mythology, odd bits of dialogue, and obtuse descriptions, we learn of K and L’s shocking crimes, the gruesome plight of their religion-obsessed mother, and the professional and personal entanglement of L and an older man they call the RED PIG, their mother’s former lover.