Recommended by Neil Radtke

Asher Wyndham’s Vulture Girl is funny, sweet, and full of kid energy. It perfectly shows what it’s like to want to be different instead of "pretty." The ending, when she laughs and flies away, feels wild and free.

A quiet, effective one-minute character study. In Resolved, Steven G. Martin captures a single moment of renewal with restraint and empathy.

Rendezvous begins as an uneasy hotel-room meeting and spirals into something raw and disturbing. Ken Love peels back layers of loneliness and control until the air practically vibrates with tension. A chilling reminder of how easily desperation turns dangerous.

Rose Scollard’s The Man Who Collected Women is eerie in all the right ways. It's a story about art, control, and the price of turning people into possessions. When Tony admits, “I just want to finish up on Moraghanna here before I collapse,” you realize the artist and his art have become the same thing. A quietly devastating horror piece that lingers long after, reminding us that beauty and power can’t be pinned down forever.

‘Have you ever felt stuck? Like you’re just doing the same thing day after day?’ That question perfectly captures the eerie, existential humor of Danny in I.T.. Mike Byham turns a trip to the help desk into a sharply written, darkly funny slice of surreal theatre.

The Exercise starts as a therapy game and quickly unravels into a raw, uncomfortable look at how people weaponize honesty. Daniel Waters captures the tension of two people saying everything they shouldn’t, while the therapist helplessly watches it all implode. It’s dark, sharp, and unsettling, like the world’s worst couples retreat, but far more honest.

Suz and Bee: a love story finds so much heart in such a small, messy space. Betsy Anne Huggins captures the kind of sisterly tension that’s equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, with dialogue that feels completely lived-in. By the end, you’re rooting for these two imperfect women to somehow make it work. Because against all odds, they just might.

Rich Helms delivers a tense, twisty thriller in Identical Twins, turning sibling rivalry into something truly chilling. The dialogue crackles with unease as secrets unravel and the balance of power shifts. The ending lands perfectly—dark, clever, and completely satisfying.

I read the synopsis for this and knew it would be an emotional roller coaster, but I wasn’t prepared for how quietly powerful it would be. Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn distills love, loss, and letting go into just a few pages, with every pause and word carrying deep emotional weight. The final moment is simple, beautiful, and devastating in the best way. A stunning reminder that “home” is not a place, it’s peace.

Prepper by Asher Wyndham is a wild, unnerving ride through a doomsday believer’s last morning in civilization. Wyndham’s writing pulses with energy and heartbreak, grounding the absurd in something heartbreakingly believable.