Brimstone and Marmalade by Aaron Corwin

Brimstone and Marmalade is a short story by Aaron Corwin, published on the Tor website. It's a delightful, surprisingly sweet, little gem of a tale about a little girl who desperately wants a pony for her birthday. Instead, she gets a demon. This is presented as a perfectly normal and reasonable activity -- pet demons can be cool (unless you want a pony), but aren't unusual by any means. And, as Mathilde's Nana points out, they can be great for convincing parents that a little girl is responsible enough to care for a pony.

It takes Mathilde a while to warm up to Ix'thor, but warm up to him she does. And Ix'thor seems to like her. When she asks him his name, he tells her at once. When mean Billy throws her collage in the mud, Ix'thor suggests she "destroy the interloper." Or at least feed him to the ravenous tongue-beasts of Garakh'nurr. (Mathilde doesn't know where that is.) She gets lots of candy when she takes Ix'thor along for Trick-or-Treating. ("Ix'thor says fear keeps the peasants in line.") And when tragedy, in the form of the horrible Becky, strikes, it isn't a pony that Mathilde wants. It's Ix'thor. She can't have him, though. Even miniature Dark Lords are weakened by sunlight, and after Ix'thor's darkened ball breaks, there's nothing the man from the demon shop can do. Perhaps a pony with glowing red eyes, then. One that will allow Mathilde to crush her enemies' skulls beneath its flaming hooves.

This story captures the feelings of not getting what you want, and then coming to like what you didn't want; of the loss of a beloved pet; of the trials that come with the Billys and Beckys of the world. 

Recommended for people who like a bit of humor with their horror.

Squidges: Ix'thor is a demon, even if he does come across as more grandiose than evil. (He eats prepackaged grub souls, which are souls nonetheless. He suggests that Mathilde give him her soul in exchange for limitless power. (She turns him down.) It is implied that he either threatens people into giving Mathilde more candy on Hallowe'en or encourages her to threaten them. He and Mathilde may or may not have a greater plan for world domination.)

Check out Tor's website for more speculative fiction short stories.

A Good and Happy Child : A Novel by Justin Evans

George Davies can't bring himself to touch his baby boy. After months of excuses, his wife tells him to get help or get out. Desperate to be a good father and to save his marriage, George agrees. He tells his therapist that this is not his first time seeing a psychiatrist. He saw one as a child. The therapist asks him to make journals of that time in his life, and George does so. As he writes of his childhood -- a recently deceased father, a magical Friend, an attempted murder, a strange death -- he wonders: did the therapy help, or the exorcism? Was his Friend the same entity that his father encountered in Guatemala? Is it threatening George's own son? And if it is coming for a third generation of Davies, how can George protect his son?
Told both as entries in George's journals and addresses to his therapist, referred to as "you", the story is easy to follow and engrossing. As a veteran of many a horror book, I was pleasantly surprised by the twist ending.