Thoughtful sci-fi short story by Carrie Vaughn on chess and telepaths

I recommend giving Carrie Vaughn's "That Game We Played During the War".

It was a softly beautiful story. A thoughtful piece about playing chess with a telepath. The protagonist enters the land of her people's former enemies to go play chess with the captain she was once a prisoner of. The former enemies are telepathic, whereas she and her people are not. Makes for interesting interactions, which lead us through a gradual treatment of struggling to get over the darkness of war, and related elements connected to that. While the language in itself was not beautiful per se, the language was very clean and precise and helped the story itself, and the interactions between the characters, shine brilliantly.

Review of Machine by Jennifer Pelland

Here is my review as posted on Goodreads of Machine by Jennifer Pelland:

5/5 stars
bookshelves: sci-fi, relationships, robot-love, androids, psychological, favorites

Read from March 02 to 09, 2016

This is a highly recommended psychological ride with plenty of intelligent commentary on the world. It is an intense character study of a protagonist who must struggle through the raging political battleground of the body after choosing to put her mind inside an android body until a cure is found for her original body's rare disease, rather than waiting it out in stasis inside.

Specific Stories Being Put to the Test in March

I have been prodding and poking myself to focus on my short fiction for the past few months so as to get ready for March deadlines. Most mornings, I have gotten in 30-90 minutes of writing, so success! I've gotten in plenty at several other hours of the day, too (I swear, I'm becoming better and better at the art of sneaking in creative work that matters wherever and whenever - a must, even if a constant struggle - that's just how the game goes).

For submission this month, I have three stories finished but in need of a few more drafts before I'm satisfied. Also wanting a few additional readers who can provide diverse feedback (if anyone is interested, please let me know).