Ian McDonald’s The Date brings an annual dinner with the dead to Reactor

Reactor has published The Date, a new fantasy short story by Ian McDonald. The story appeared on October 21, with editing by Ellen Datlow and an illustration by Matthew Koo. The publisher lists it at 2,511 words and makes the complete text available on its website.

Reactor has published The Date, a new fantasy short story by Ian McDonald. The story appeared on October 21, with editing by Ellen Datlow and an illustration by Matthew Koo. The publisher lists it at 2,511 words and makes the complete text available on its website. Its premise follows a husband and wife who still meet

for dinner once a year after her death. Their meeting takes place in a restaurant where the living and dead can share a table, bringing an ordinary relationship ritual into a setting with unfamiliar rules. The opening turns small questions of hospitality and etiquette into signs of how the couple’s worlds have changed.

For readers looking for something shorter than a novel, the publication offers a complete piece in a single sitting rather than an excerpt from an upcoming book. The official page credits both McDonald’s text and Koo’s artwork to 2026. Readers can follow the publisher link to experience the story directly; this notice

leaves its later developments and ending unspoiled. Official source. Image credit: Matthew Koo / Reactor Magazine.

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