Quick Sips - Serial Box: Alternis [ep01.09 & ep01.10]

We’ve reached the end of the season for Alternis, the serial project from Serial Box. It’s definitely been a bumpy ride for Tandy and the rest of Team USA, competing in a game structured as an MMORPG and populated by teams from all over the world, a “friendly” endeavor meant to peacefully allocate resources on a global stage. And while that mechanic of the story is still a little murky, the obvious truth is that the world is in a bad way, on the edge of all out war, and only the game seems to be keeping things from boiling over. So, you know, no pressure. Since the beginning, Tandy and company have been trying to put USA on the leader board, and finally they are poised to do just that. Can they seal the deal, though, or will their efforts crumble to dust. It’s a thrilling cap to what has been a very entertaining season. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Serial Box: Alternis [s01.01 & s01.02]

I’m starting my look at a new serial project from Serial Box, Alternis. It is available for preorder right now and will drop in just two days. Two days, people! For those not looking to be spoiled, keep it to the No Spoilers section (of ep01, as the ep02 recap has mild spoilers)! Like with the previous Serial Box works I’ve covered, this project is imagined as a show in text form, these two episodes representing something of the pilot and immediate follow up. And as an introduction to this new world they do a fine job of conveying both the terror living in the background, the threats of global war and catastrophe, and the weight of the foreground, the grind of trying to get by in a world where the safety nets have largely been cut away, leaving everyone one step away from the abyss. The main character here is our entry into all of this, a woman hustling to live and reach for something like security when that seems the more impossible of dreams. Only her portal into a better world ends up being a bit more literal than she thought, and through a strange confluence of events she’s thrown into a global competition that will decide the course of human events. It’s an ambitious opening, and one I’m very excited to see where it will go. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Fiction August 2017

Well September is a busy month at Fireside Fiction. With four flash fiction stories, one short story, and the first three installments of a serial novelette or novella, it manages to pack a lot in there. Given that, it's no surprise that the themes and feels of the stories range quite a bit, from happy in the face of oblivion to heartbroken at the end of a beautiful relationship. The stories look at gods and prophets, loves and robots. These are stories that all explore what it means to be human and what it is that humans create. All the bullshit and abuse but also the beauty and the compassion. It's a difficult batch of stories to fully fit under any thematic umbrella, but the quality is certainly high and the overall feeling rather triumphant. To the reviews!

Art by Daniel Stolle

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 03/06/2017 & 03/13/2017

It's another dense two weeks from Strange Horizons, with a novelette cut into two parts, two poems, and a nonfiction piece from the videogame-centric Metagames. Which means that there's a lot to see and experience. The publication doesn't often do multi-part stories, but I'm certainly glad it's made that decision here, presenting a tale that's wrenching and bleak but with a vein of hope and faith. The poetry is all about scope and perspective, about what is hidden, and how we can reveal it. And the nonfiction takes a look at the different reasons people have for playing video games. The different ways that people can engage with the idea of challenge and flow. It's a great pair of issues and I'm going to jump right into my reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Fiction February 2017

There's just one story from February's Fireside Fiction content, but what a story. There has been something of a surge in stories about...our current political situation in SFF since the last election. Small wonder, really, given that so much of our future now is colored by what's happening. For me, at least, it's a little hard to see past that, into the more distant science fictional realms. As some have said, we're living the dystopia. And yet. And yet here is a story that offers something a bit different than a story of corruption and greed and incompetence. Different than a story that has lost faith in the present and the future. It's a story of resistance and hope and, perhaps most importantly, people. And I should just get to reviewing it!

Art by Galen Dara

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 12/19/2016

Well, I really thought that there was going to be an issue of Strange Horizons this week, but it makes sense what with the holiday weekends to take the time off. It means, however, that I'm only looking at one story, one poem, and one nonfiction work to close out Strange Horizons' 2016 content. Luckily these are some very provocative and innovative pieces that speak to how stories are told, whether directly (in the case of the nonfiction), by showing the possibilities of storytelling (as the poem does), or by challenging conventional storytelling techniques (like the fiction). All told, these are SFF works that really push the boundaries of storytelling, crafting tales that shift as you move them in the light, each new angle a new layer to be explored, a new world to be discovered. Strange Horizons always does a great job of making me think, and these pieces certainly keep that tradition going strong. To the reviews! 

 

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/03/2016 & 10/10/2016

The Strange Horizons fund drive is nearly over, but that doesn't mean that the fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have slowed down. Indeed, I'm looking at two stories, four poems, and two nonfiction works today. The stories focus on change and history. On progress and what is lost and what is gained in the slow march of years and opinions. The poetry mixes resistance and loss, folktales and tenacity. And the nonfiction looks at gaming and communities. It's a very full two weeks of content and an amazing publication. If you haven't already, maybe considering contributing to the drive. And now, to the reviews! 

Strange Horizons 08/01/2016 & 08/08/2016

Well, I'll try not to be too sad that Our Queer Planet is done with and instead focus on the fact that Strange Horizons continues with two more weeks of SFF fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. There's a return of the multi-part story (and a nicely subverted fairy tale, at that) which clocks in just into novelette range (by my count), two poems that really don't pull their punches, and two nicely paired nonfiction pieces that examine popular art and what to do when certain aspects of a text don't seem to work quite as well as others. All in all it's a great two weeks of content and helps to relieve a bit of the sting left by Our Queer Planet only having lasted a month. To the reviews! 

Art by Melissa Pagluica

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 05/16/2016, 05/23/2016, & 05/30/2016

Okay, so closing up May is proving to take longer than anticipated, but the good news is there's tons of great stuff from this month to enjoy, including another three weeks of content from Strange Horizons. Three fiction pieces, three poems, and a pair of nonfiction makes this a rather weighty post, and it's definitely not any lighter when you look at the subject matter. Loss and growth and guilt dominate—characters stuck in cycles and wanting to know where to go, what to do, where their place is. And with all this great content, I should just get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 03/14/2016 & 03/21/2016

It's March and spring is upon us! At Strange Horizons that means stories of water melting and things awakening. Of fairy tales and danger and loneliness. Of the resolve to do something. From a far future where the world has been irrevocably changed to a time much closer to our own when the weight of living might open doors best left closed, the stories are dark and layered, about human interconnections and separation, responsibility and the will to life and death. The poetry takes on almost mythic overtones, setting a few creepy and unsettling scenes, and I apparently have a lot to say on the piece of nonfiction. So yeah, lots to review. Let's get to it!
 

Art by Luke Spooner