Quick Sips - Apex #106

Three original stories bring a strange and decidedly dark flavor to March’s Apex Magazine. And front and center in many of the stories this month is the idea of observation. Of perspective. Of seeing and being seen. Of how large a role perception has in mapping reality, and how large a role it has in creating reality. The stories feature characters caught between larger forces. Trying to reach for a human connection while being pushed and pulled by very inhuman forces. It makes for a number of unsettling and grim moments, when humans fall victim to the machinations of others, where how people view the world doesn’t match how others want the world to be, and the results are violent and swift. And even when a person seems to hold out, there is an inevitability about the stories, that sometimes (perhaps often) humans just can’t stand up to the forces arrayed to steer the universe. To the reviews!

Art by Benedick Bana

Quick Sips - Shimmer #31 (May Stuff)

So May over at Shimmer Magazine apparently means a bit of a break from business as usual and the beginning of an issue that takes things in a science fictional direction. Not that Shimmer never does sci fi, but the entire issue is dedicated to it, and the first three stories of the issue show just what kind of stories to expect. Namely, sci fi stories about creation and growing up. About loyalty and abuse and manipulation and brainwashing and all things beautiful and ugly. The editorial eludes to an emphasis on voice, and the voices of the these stories are equal parts wounded and desperate and alone and yearning. So time to review!

Art by Sandro Castelli