Fractal Karma
Novella 25,050 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"She’s walking by the river on an overcast day, when sweat runs down her palms, goosebumps all over her neck. The breeze stills. The gray sky turns blood red. Instead of the Sun, through a clearing in the clouds, she finds the Eye. Veins branch across a white gelatinous sphere, iris shining around an abyss of pupil like solar corona behind an eclipse."
Content warnings 3
body-horrorsubstance-usewar
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.