The story's main character Stella returns to her home town for the funeral of a friend's brother. She offers to deep-clean his brother's home with him who was cumpulsive hoarder. While they are working they are reminscent of a TV show they suddenly remember being on. It's the first really strange moment of the story because Stella thought she just made up the show but suddenly it's proven real. In this TV show an Uncle Bob tells horrible stories while the kids sit around him playing. Stella investigates - talking to her parents and watching recordings of the show - all the while the Uncle Bob's stories get more disturbing. Reality and fiction are getting more and more difficult to differentiate, for Stella but more importantly for the reader too.
In my opinion, Two Truths and a Lie won the awards deservedly, this story is well-constructed, well-told and quite honestly scary. One of the best short stories I read in a while.
Sarah Pinsker, Two Truths and a Lie. Tor Books 2020.
You can read the story online!
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