Recommended by Alexander Perez

Smith pairs venomous rhetoric with resigned resolve as the characters' streams of consciousness intersect to find one party baring the weight of the waking world while the other calcifies pain with hatred.

Ignorance is bliss, but only from the inside.

A versatile piece that leaves context to the mercy of the creative team without sacrificing narrative or specificity. What these characters need from one another is painfully tangible though their circumstances remain abstract. Plumridge masterfully employs the might of implication to keep the undercurrent of unease consistent until sweet relief brings us back again.

A madcap nightcap that savors each building moment as our single-minded Ian does his best to maneuver his date's increasingly charming idiosyncrasies as she whisks him away on a caffeinated course to romance.

A gripping cosmic nightmare in the tropics that sees evil incarnate disguise itself as opportunity with a friendly face. There are monstrosities and hellish visions aplenty, but the true terror comes from recognizing ourselves underneath the grotesque manifestations of man's ugliest desires. The gift offered in exchange for the horror, is hope; whatever that may be worth.

A swift, sweet, and grounded short that gives ample space for it's characters to work through their respective resentments and regrets without sacrificing forward momentum. Happy endings are wonderful but they take more effort and humility than many are capable of.

A cheeky comedy that revels in playing rough. A friendly but forceful punch on the arm that seeks to remind us not only to take our loved ones' words of affirmation at face value but cautions against well-meaning love that enables self-destruction with a super-size order of shame. None of that means anything however unless we see and accept the truth for ourselves.

A stroke of wholesome genius! With its irresistibly charming characters, cleverly crafted dialogue, and a heart of pure gold, McLachlan's beefy short plunders the depths of manhood and presents us with the nougaty center that lies at its core.

This was a surprisingly tender piece that defied the expectations of it's deceptively simple premise. It's hard to solve a problem when even those on the same side of the issue are afraid of what may come of candid conversation.

Macy eschews common tropes of treading this topic by way of subverting our expectations of those in positions of authority and uses that to beautifully convey the inherit distrust in workspaces, especially between employees and their superiors, even if they're both members of the same oppressed demographic.

This was such a heartwarming piece. I must have smiled the whole way through!

Bierman's yarn is not only a nimble, clever, and charming piece, it's also a master class in explaining the sudden absence of goodies in the fridge to the youngsters.

A sterling stand out in a sea of Trump plays that dares to portray the now defunct buffoon-in-chief not as the caricature we've collective created but rather as what he truly is; a terrified old man whose once certain future now hangs by a thread.

There is humor, yes, but there is humanity. Not the kind that forgives but rather the sort which miraculously managed to squeeze a drop of empathy from the stone that is my heart for the irredeemable fool.

King in title alone, he's just as unsure of what's to come as the rest of us.