short, sweet

Landscape with invisible hand by M.T. Anderson.  I wasn't sure about this at first-- the style is rather experimental.  Readers who are prepared for or regularly read things not-quite-mainstream will find it worth the time.  This will probably be classified as sci-if, because the background has aliens and technology, but that's not the story.  This is less The long way to a small, angry planet and much more Yesterday's kin-- it's a story about people.

A taste of honey by Kai Ashanti Wilson.  I think the author was aiming for lyrical, but fell into indecipherable instead. "Alongside the boulevard, there was a whole length of hedge round some rich merchant's compound blooming.  Night-bees swarmed over the huge blowsy flowers, white phosphoresced in the moonlight.  As drafts cause candlewicks to brighten, so did the glimmering of the nights-bees flare while they drank the nectar, then dim at liftoff to the next blossom." (p.13). I want to expend my mental energy plumbing the characters, the plot, or the world details, not parsing sentences.