Ask the Fireflies
Novelette 8,880 words Recommended by 3 award/anthology sources
"They say the universe was created when a Giant lit a matchstick. That her great sigh fanned the flames that danced and wept into stars and constellations. They say some seas are blue and Slugs are naturally submissive. They also say that I cannot exist. But what do they know? These are truths or untruths contorted through generations, whispers leaping from ear to ear, unrecognizable from their original form. They are irrelevant to me."
Content warnings 1
child-death
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.