"Warren's Tentacle" by Susan Palwick + "A Handbook To Spirit-hunting" by Modupeoluwa Shelle

Modupeoluwa Shelle's 'A Handbook to Spirit Hunting' is a narrated, in-universe manual that catalogues spirits—dark, nature, and transcendental—drawing on Yoruba mythological elements and inventive folklore. The handbook provides descriptions, warnings, and guidance for novice spirit hunters, blending worldbuilding with tonal shifts between practical instruction and cautionary tale. Through entries on beings like the Arbiku, Arbarko, and Heimere, the text explores themes of cultural memory, exploitation of the environment, and the ethical complexities of confronting the supernatural. The piece balances grim consequences and wry observations, using the handbook format to create immersive lore while hinting at larger histories and relationships between humans and spirits. It functions both as a guide within its fiction and as a vehicle for broader commentary on loss, stewardship, and the costs of hubris.

Susan Palwick's 'Warren's Tentacle' follows Warren as he awakens from reconstructive surgery performed by AI surgeons to find strange enhancements—extra fingers, a backwards foot, a third eye, and a tentacle—that force him to confront grief, prejudice, and who (or what) counts as a person. The story explores themes of mourning, the human relationship to caregiving technology, and the evolving legal and social status of AIs. Through Warren's resistance to and eventual acceptance of the tentacle, Palwick examines empathy, bodily otherness, and the ways communities—human and artificial—seek connection. The narrative culminates in a courtroom scene and a revelation that reframes the tentacle's purpose, inviting readers to question assumptions about 'real' parents and the meaning of comfort. Palwick uses intimate characterization and speculative detail to interrogate ethical questions about autonomy, enhancement, and recognition in a near-future world.