The Monthly Round is Up!!!

The Monthly Round, my favorite stories for August with reviews and drink pairings, is up right now at Nerds of a Feather. Check it out!


Tasting Flight - August 2016

"The Gentleman of Chaos" by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Apex #87)

"Superior" by Jessica Lack (The Book Smugglers)\

"What Pada-Sara Means to the Elephant" by Jeremy Sim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #206)

"Fragile Insides" by Jason Kimble (Orthogonal: Code)

"An Ocean the Color of Bruises" by Isabel Yap (Uncanny #11)

"Rooting" by Isha Karki (Mithila Review #5&6)

Shots

"Creation" by Sara Norja (Flash Fiction Online)

"The Company" by Sanya Noel (Omenana #7)

"The Singing Soldier" by Natalia Theodoridou (Shimmer #32)

Cheers!

Quick Sips - Tor dot com August 2016

I want to concentrate on the ways that I like the stories from this month's Tor dot com offerings. There's a lot here, especially for fans of a certain kind of epic fantasy. For my money, though, the stories that shine are the ones that step back and witness the meetings between worlds. The ties that bind people together across species and across space. Stories that imagine humans seeing something completely different from themselves and not recoiling in terror. Or at least not entirely. This is something of a mixed month for me, personally, but I'm sure that there will be lots of people who find something valuable in each of the stories. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Jaime Jones

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 08/15/2016, 08/22/2016, & 08/29/2016

August concludes with three weeks of content from Strange Horizons, including a pair of linked reprints that I apparently had time for and was very curious about. And they are worth it! It helps that the original fiction is also incredible and the poetry is wrenching and the nonfiction tackles some of the recent reports coming out of SFF. It's a nicely balanced few weeks and a great way to close out the summer and get things ready for the real beginning of autumn. To the reviews!
 

Quick Sips - Terraform August 2016

Among other things, this month's offerings from Terraform show the beginning of a project devoted to augmentation. To augmented reality and augmented humanity. To stories that explore, to mixed results, the blurry lines between humanity and machine, the virtual and the "real." That on top of a pair of stories that take a look at settings that delve into the bleak future of climate change and, in some ways, post-climate change, to what the planet might look like if we continue on the trajectory we're on now. All the stories follow through on Terraform's promise of showing startling visions of the future, though perhaps some I fine more compelling than others. In any case, to the reviews! 

Quick Sips - The Book Smugglers August 2016

The Year of the Superhero keeps on soaring at The Book Smugglers with two new stories, one set in a novel universe and one all new and all adorable. These are stories that mix hope and fear, buried pain and the hope of healing. These look at powers but also powerlessness, about clawing to try and get what power you can and maybe finding that it's not enough, or it's not what you really wanted after all. These are stories with a nice depth and an uplifting stubbornness, and they are definitely worth some time and attention. That said, to the reviews! 

Art by Sparrows

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #206

The two stories in this issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies look at politics and conflict and the ethics of action and inaction. Both stories look at complex situation, either global wars or mass uprisings, and how a single person has decisions to make in the face of such violence and uncertainty. And where the first story looks at the power one person can wield to shape events, the second story shows how sometimes the right thing to do is to walk away. These are stories that build vivid settings and populate them with complex characters and situations that live and breathe fantasy. So to the reviews! 

Art by Marek Hlavaty

Quick Sips - Nightmare #47

The two stories in this month's Nightmare Magazine offer up glimpses into what might have been. In the first, a woman is haunted by her past, by a loss she suffered and can't seem to get over. The same is true in the second story, as well, where the main character is prompted to action following the murder of his mother. In both instances the characters seek to deal with the nature of their losses. They both avoid and confront the specters of their lost loved ones and strive to do something about it. For the second story, that means trying to avenge a death. In the first story, that means trying to undo the death. It's a nicely paired selection of dark tales with a strong look backward into the past. To the reviews! 

Art by Jana Heidersdorf

Quick Sips - Apex #87

August has arrive and with it the approach of autumn, which means at Apex Magazine it's a month for stories about death, beauty, and the vastness of space. There's three fiction pieces and four poems in this issue and a solid theme of complicity, murder, freedom, and dissolution. These are stories that examine the morality of killing and the morality of letting others kill. The burden of living chained and the desire for freedom. The small ways that beauty grows and flourishes even in the darkness. It's an issue full of blood and hope, and I'm just going to get to those reviews! 

Art by Marcela Bolivar

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #29

The latest issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is out and represents the first full issue I'm reviewing of the publication. There's certainly a nice mix of prose and poetry, with almost more poetry words than fiction ones thanks to an epic poem that's at least novelette-length (though only the first part is available this issue). The poetry examines classics in fantasy, from knights to death to barmaids. And the fiction…well, the fiction is certainly an interesting collection of elements that twist expectations. Shadows and swords, ships and subterfuge, and…shit balance out the short stories and make for a memorable experience. So let's get to the reviews! 

Art by Vuk Kostic

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #5&6

The wait is over and Mithila Review is back with a double issue of content! Which, yeah, there's A LOT to read through. Just…just look at all the interviews. And fiction and poetry and nonfiction and… O.O Which is why this time I'm going to be sticking to my regular policy and reviewing just the original pieces. Which still leaves four short stories and six poems and is, well, still a lot. And is still amazing. There are a number of threads that weave the stories together, but I think the strongest is the ideas of loss and yearning. These are pieces that know what it is to hope but also know that hope alone is not enough. They are at turns brutal and tender, far reaching and intimate. And before I gush too much, I should get to the reviews! 

Art by Likhain

Quick Sips - Omenana #7

After a bit of a break Omenana is back with a full issue of fiction and nonfiction and art (my glob the cover is gorgeous!). The stories this issue seem to take a look at institutions. Not necessarily physical ones, but rather ideological institutions. Religion. Law. Parenthood. Masculinity. Employment. The stories examine the way these forces and concepts shape how people move through the world. How they interact and relate to each other. How they foster guilt and shame and violence and death. It's a rich issue that covers fantasy and science fiction, hope and loss and despair. And I should just get to those reviews! 

Art by Sunny Efemena

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #205

The stories of this issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies look at violations. Abuses. The ways in which consent can be perverted, that relationships can become harmful. The stories look at how situations can become tainted, can become toxic. How, in the end, sometimes the best option is to escape. Sometimes the only hope is in escape. And perhaps to some extent in taking steps to remove the abusers from power. These are complex stories with that examine power and abuse and hope. Time to review! 

Art by Marek Hlavaty

Quick Sips - Orthogonal SF: Code

The second issue of Orthogonal SF is out and this time it's focusing on the theme of codes. Not necessarily in the traditional sense of puzzles and ciphers, though. Instead, these stories seem to rely more on language as code. As sensation as code. About interpreting what is foreign, what is alien, and trying to make sense of it while realizing that our lives are codes, are narratives, and how we shape those narratives shapes just not our perception of the universe but the actual shape of the universe as well. These stories are at times opaque and quite stylistic but pointedly so and movingly so and so, without further delay, I will get to reviewing them! 

Quick Sips - Shimmer #32 (August Stuff)

The two stories that make up Shimmer's August offerings are…well, in some ways they are incredibly different. One's a contemporary story light on speculative elements and heavy on fun and the other is a solidly fantasy piece steeped in death and violence and tragedy. And yet, for all their differences, the two stories are also about being swept away by desires. By illusions. About having to make the decision to take something or keep yourself. And in both cases, when the people lose themselves it's not a good thing. It's an end to the adventure. An end to the fun. It's a tragedy, a death, a lament. What also links these stories is that they're incredibly good, and close out another excellent issue of the publication. So to the reviews! 

Art by Sandro Castelli

Quick Sips - Uncanny #11 (August Stuff)

The August content of Uncanny Magazine certainly doesn't pull its punches, with two stories, two poems, and two pieces of nonfiction that all hit with a power that leaves a lasting impact. Oh, and if you didn't realize, they're funding Year Three RIGHT NOW! IT IS THE LAST DAY GO!!! Ahem, but anyway...the fiction and poetry especially seem to come from places of hurt and hope. From a world that has failed in a rather fundamental way, that has let people down. That only works for some and for others not at all. Where people struggle to find some plan, some frame that makes it make sense only to have the rug pulled out from under them. These are uncomfortable pieces, mainly, but ones that don't allow the reader to look away, that confront them with the knowledge and the feeling of those hurt. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Javier Caparo

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 - Clarkesworld #119

It's a month of surprises at Clarkesworld this August, as there is an extra original story plus a story in translation from German instead of the usual Chinese translation. So there's definitely a lot to see with four short stories and two longer novelettes. The good news is that it's all weird. Seriously, these are stories that push at the boundaries of the imagination. That conjure up strange worlds and uncertain realities and the vastness and power of both space and violence. Stories that set aliens next to 50's greasers and mix time travel, tragedy, and immigration. And through it all there's a sense of yearning that pervades. For a brighter future, a peaceful cooperation, and the comfort of another presence. To the reviews! 

Art by Jaroslaw Marcinek

Quick Sips - GigaNotoSaurus August 2016

This month's offering from GigaNotoSaurus is probably the least speculative story I've read from the publication so far, but is still solidly a historical fantasy that blends adventure, intrigue, and just a hint of magic. In many ways it reminds me more of early weird fiction, set in a past where things seem historical but with just a bit of a twist. Some dark corner of the world that you can almost believe exists, though this story foregoes trying to frame itself as a found text. What it does, though, is fun and well paced, a mystery in a musty manor complete with hungry hours, suspicious servants, and creepy crawlers (some of whom walk about on two legs and are complete assholes). So yeah, to the review!

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online August 2016

This month's stories at Flash Fiction Online do a nice job of capturing in bite-sized servings the charm and potential of SFF. Both in how they handle classic tropes like time travel and the Fae and how they innovate through novel uses of narrative, plot structure, and voice. The stories manage to do a lot in the short confines of their flash lengths, and they provide compelling tastes of these various settings, these various genres. What results are three stories that are at turns tragic and touching, hellish and hopeful. So yeah, let's get to the reviews! 

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #75

Following a very tightly knit July issue, I hesitate to say that Lightspeed's August stories lack such a driving theme. There is the sense that many of the stories deal with reconciliation and reconnecting. But the thematic connections are a bit fainter than last month. The worlds revealed are no less fantastic, though. From an Earth on the verge of alien contact to a fantasy world nearly ripped apart by war, the stories take stock of setting and mix in some rather large philosophical ideas. And at the core of each is the beating heart of humanity. Afraid, yearning, hurt, healing…these are stories that reveal something deep about how people interact and how they dream. And they're lots of fun. So to the reviews! 

Art by Elizabeth Leggett