Sweetbaby
Novelette 9,680 words Recommended by 4 award/anthology sources
"You don’t look Sweetbaby in the eye when he pushes out from under the tree throw. We know that now. Instead, the ears, or what’s left of them, are a better place to settle your gaze. They’re close enough to the face that you can tell which way he’s looking and whether or not he’s smiling at you..."
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.