Quick Sips - Crossed Genres # 36 - Pronouns

This is it, folks, the last issue of Crossed Genres. I will admit that I will miss this publication. The theme this issue is pronouns, and the stories do indeed challenge linguistic ideas of pronouns, showing how they are used and how they can be tools to prop up some antiquated (and shitty) systems and ideas. But also about how they can free. These stories are provocative and a fitting way to send Crossed Genres Magazine out in style. Review time!

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #35 - Anticipation

With this issue of Crossed Genres comes the very sad news that the magazine will be ending publication at the end of the year. Which is a shame, because it is a consistent source of quality short fiction that explicitly looks to promote new writers. Seriously, I don't think there is another SFWA-qualifying venue that guarantees a third of it's content is by a new writer. The only good news is that the publication is still here for a short while, and is still putting out good stories. The theme this month is anticipation, and the stories here take some interesting routes to explore the theme. To the reviews

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #34 - Sport

So the theme for this month is sport over at Crossed Genres, and wow do these stories take that in some interesting directions. From uplifting to shattering to funny as hell, there are some very different moods from story to story. But all of them work, and all of them are fun and show people at their best and worst, straining for greatness while plagued by the possibility of defeat. This month's issue is all about overcoming hardship, and I'm going to follow suit by overcoming the enormous pile of things I have to review this month. Onward!

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #33 (Year 2065)

The three stories for the Year 2065 theme of Crossed Genres do take very different approaches to the idea. They all are at least partly set in the year, but there are different visions. One vision shows what might be, how far humanity might progress in that time, both technologically and morally. It's followed in short order by a story that also shows how far humanity might move technologically and morally, but not in the same direction. And the last shows a glimpse into a possible future, a dream that seems as fragile as a life. Very good stuff, and some interesting ideas on what the world might be like in fifty years.

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #32 - Portals

The theme for this month's Crossed Genres is Portals. And the stories do a great job exploring that idea, that theme. For portals are openings, are possibilities. They lead somewhere, and not always to places that are expected or what they seem. In each of these stories there are portals, be they food or rifts in space or boxes that can shift reality. To step through that portal is to take a chance, to find something wholly new. These stories are strong and they are powerful. So I'm going to get to reviewing, okay?

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #31 Novelette

The theme for this month's Crossed Genres is Novelette. Which isn't really a theme as it is a style. A length. But hey, it's all good, as the stories still live up to the quality that people expect from the publication. All three are interest, two of them science fictional and one a contemporary fantasy/magic realism piece (gah, I dislike genre differentiating). All meet the word requirements for novelette, but all are also rather contemplative stories. Though there is a bit of death and dismemberment, there really isn't too much pressing violence. These stories use the higher word count to draw things out, to slowly build the tension. It's an interesting collection of stories (and three of them when I was only expecting two), so hurrah! To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #30 Success

The theme for this issue of Crossed Genres Magazine is Success. Which is an interesting and wide theme to play with, not really a content restriction so much as a way of ending. And the three stories tackle the theme in different ways, some of them having victory but at the cost of bodies on the ground, mass death and sickness and some having a bit more personal of success, a new way of seeing the world, a new way of doing a job. In all the characters overcome some aspect of the world that is oppressing them. Not always completely, but these are most definitely success stories. Onward with the reviews!

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #29 Failure

This month's Crossed Genres has the theme of Failure. It's an interesting theme to see played out because of how broad and vague it is, but here are three stories that capture different aspects of it. I like that two of them feature failed relationships, though. Because in those failures there is also something else. A failure to cave to the dominant narrative. A failure on the part of the women in the relationships to be defined by the men who acted on then. In the one, a woman whose husband ran off with another woman refuses to let her remaining life be defined by that failed marriage. In the other, a woman who was killed refuses to let the narrative of her death be hijacked and used by her boyfriend. And in all three stories, the failures that are experienced really only open the door for a greater sort of victory. So yeah, let's get to it!

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #28 - Silent Communication

I look at the latest issue of Crossed Genres today. As always, there is a theme to work with. In this case, it is Silent Communication. I must say the three stories take that in three very different directions, but all stick closely to that idea to make their point. In the first, a man is silent mostly because he has trouble speaking, but there is also silent communication all around him, trying to warn him of something coming. In the second story, the main character is physically mute, so the use of the theme is pretty concrete. In the last story, lack of a shared language divides two family members until a moment of crisis forces them to work together. All in all, some good stories. So let's get to it!

Stories:

"Loud as a Murder" by Sarah L. Johnson (4572 words)

In this lovely horror story, an autistic man named Henry finds that love is...a bit different than he thought it would be. Lonely in his home and in his work as a proofreader, Henry's one thing to look forward to each week is a visit from the UPS man, Dev. And Henry is in love with Dev, who seems so understanding and kind and patient. Only Henry starts to receive a package in the mail he thinks is for his work. And, thinking that, her ignored the warning that it is trying to give him. What he doesn't realize is that he's become entwined in something bigger than him. Much bigger. Something is hunting him, and the only thing trying to protect him is a bird, a crow, who puts a message in the manuscript he thinks he's supposed to proof. A message he misses because of how he works, because of how his mind operates. And so he opens himself to something that might have best been avoided. It's a chilling tale, an excellent portrayal of the way he operates, his infatuation and his frustration and his loneliness. He needs contact and yet can't handle much. Which makes the ending that much creepier, that confrontation with love that much more unsettling. A great story.

"Trollbooth" by Maureen Tanafon (1915 words)

This story mixes some classic fairy tale elements with a mute protagonist desperate to get back her two young relatives who wandered too far away from home. I like how the story builds up this strange and dark world where the humans live along the edge of a fairy wood and how the main character, though mute, is the only one who knows how to communicate with the fairies. Of course, that doesn't mean that everyone listens to her, as her uncle decides he knows how best to handle things, blaming the fairies for the disappearances and setting out to hunt them. The main character, meanwhile, learns that the children weren't taken by fairies, but by something more dangerous. A troll. The children walked over its bridge, which is to say its body, and so it took them. But the main character offers up a sacrifice to the troll, who amusedly accepts, thinking she means herself. She volunteers her uncle instead, though, and leaves the troll and her uncle to find out which is the bigger monster. And I like that ending, how she doesn't really commit any crime. She might offer up sacrifice, but in offering her uncle she isn't necessarily condemning him to death. He has weapons. It's just that she wouldn't be much upset whatever happens, as her uncle is himself something of a monster, with a taste for killing now that he's hunted the fairies. So I like that she gets away and leaves the payment to those bullies who are hottest to pay. A fun ride with a good payoff.

"A Language We Shared" by Megan Neumann (3025 words)

This story focuses on the relationship between a girl and her grandfather, divided by their cultures and their languages. The grandfather, Gong Gong, speaks only Cantonese, while the granddaughter, June Mei, speaks only English. It's something that keeps them distant, as neither has interest in reaching out to the other. And yet they are family, something that is brought home to them when they are involved in a car accident where they are both in a car that goes off a bridge and into water. Gong Gong is injured but conscious. June Mei's mother is knocked out completely, so it's up to June Mei to act. In that moment, though, she discovers that she can understand Gong Gong, and he can understand her. Working together, they get themselves and June Mei's mother to safety, and Gong Gong explains that this ability runs in the family. Only after they are healed it seems to disappear. But the prompt is there for June Mei to reach out, to try and learn Cantonese and speak with her grandfather. Unfortunately it's not quite to be, but the experience is a striking one for June Mei, and the story is a nice one, resonant with themes of family and communication and connecting across many divides. Things are left a bit open as to whether the telepathy really happened, but whatever the case it did bring June Mei and Gong Gong closer, which is a magic all its own.

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #27 Ensemble

This month the theme of Crossed Genres is Ensemble. And the stories do indeed do a pretty good job capturing that collaborative spirit. Three in number, as always, the stories range a nice bit, from historical fantasy to magic realism to science fiction. All of it grounded on Earth this issue, but there's nothing wrong with that. So here we go!

Stories:

"Stone Dove" by Elizabeth Beechwood (2198 words)

This story's on the shorter side of what I normally see at CG, but it's also quite interesting. I will admit to having no real clue of where this takes place, as I assumed that it's set on Earth somewhere because of the Christian elements. But it tells of a set of mountains who take in some people, refugees from war, and who send out something of themselves, a stone dove that transforms into a woman, to help them. Mostly the dove, María, helps with the birthing of children, but she is seen as a Satanic, as evil and outside normal humans. The story does a good job of showing how this would come about, how she reminds them of something they want to forget, how she is different and so feared and shunned. It's something of a fable, this story, explaining the name behind the village that the mountains watch over. And as such it works pretty well, is filled with the elements that make a good fable, the magic and the closed-minded villagers. I'm not sure all the elements worked for me, but it's a good story that seems to be examining how people can be blinded by their ignorance and fear and indoctrination to think people lesser even when those people are only doing their best to help.

"Quiet Hour" by Peni Griffin (4814 words)

I'm not always a fan of time travel stories, but this isn't really a time travel story. Instead, it's a story about a sort of gathering. Delia, a woman whose mother ran a boarding house, discovers that the kitchen of the house is something of an enigma. Inside, times intersect, and women from all different times can converse and meet. It's a fun concept, and not exactly taken in a direction that most people would expect. Instead, this is a story about loss and remembrance, about stewardship in many ways. each of these women tries to do the best they can for the house because of how much their meetings mean to each of them. That community unites them across time and across many different backgrounds. Delia is a bit bewildered by it, but the story works, lingering not on how it might be possible but on the legacy of it, how these meetings keep people connected and how the past can inform the future, how the future can inform the past. Good times.

"Any House in the Storm" by Tais Teng (3066 words)

A competition between two young builders evolves over many years in this story. The two, Nadia and Rachid, both have learned the hard way the horrors of ecological disaster and are determined to innovate architecture to lead to more efficient and green living. Of course, they have extremely different approaches. Nadia wants to do things with the latest technology, and Rachid with the smallest footprint, using only what's available on site. They both flourish, but when they are called on to compete for the same project they find that they can work together much better than they can against each other. The story is a great mix of building technology and the romantic spirit of science. The story is hopeful, uplifting. The characters are solid, rivals and perhaps something else as well, something that they don't want to admit at first. The story moves across time swiftly but lingers at key moments, capturing the important moments in the lives of the characters. It's definitely a story that brought a smile to my face, and made me want to live in the houses they were designing. Indeed!

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #26 - Betrayal

Today I'm looking at the latest from Crossed Genres. In their twenty-sixth issue they're featuring stories with a theme of "Betrayal." Three, as always, and at least one by a new author. It makes for some great, sometimes experimental, stories. So let's go!

Stories:

"These Eyes Are Not My Own" by Jennifer Nestojko (5038 words)

This story brings up a lot to do with love and ability and what it means to be disabled. A woman finds out that her partner has been creating copies of her, living copies that she hopes to basically kill in order to transfer the woman's consciousness into the new body, which is free from the genetic disorder that has left her wheelchair-bound. Obviously this doesn't sit well with the woman, Leah, because she's more or less comfortable with her condition. She's used to it and though she might not like her disorder, she doesn't see it as defining her. She sees herself as complete, but obviously her partner, Sarah, sees her as defective, as needing to be fixed. It seems a very common way of handling disorders, both mental ones and physical ones, and really is a shitty way of looking at a person you love. Or claim to love. Leah finds the duplicate, though, named Rachel, and learns that Rachel wants to live, doesn't want to give up her body so that Leah can walk. And Leah doesn't want that either, so she takes Rachel and escapes, leaves and asserts that she doesn't need fixing, that Sarah made a terrible mistake and will have to live with the consequences of that mistake. A good story.

"Universal Print" by Fonda Lee (3461 words)

About two friends, Cutter and Strung, who get stuck on a technology-averse world while on an illegal errand, this story is fun and funny and rather charming. It's a fairly standard setup, with Strung the more methodical, more uptight friend and Cutter the asshole, the one always thinking of crazy and illegal things to do. And Strung goes along with it because he craves a bit that thrill and that laziness. But he also is a fairly decent guy, and Cutter obviously isn't using the 3D printers that they are transporting to print out duplicate money so that he can live like a king in the small town they bring their ship to to get repaired. Only Strung has finally had enough, and decides to cut his losses, and leaves Cutter to deal with the fallout from his actions. It's a nice story, rather light and leaning heavily on the messed up friendship between Cutter and Strung. For that it's good, and does something a little different with the more classic dynamic. I was glad to see Strung finally cut out, as it were. Another pleasant read.

"And to the Republic" by Rachel Kolar (4594 words)

An alt-present story where the US has been mixed with the Roman Empire and citizens are required to worship the right "gods." These include men like the founding fathers and other important figures. At its core it seems to be about patriotism and how it can be forced onto people, how people without it are looked at like criminals and how everyone is sort of policed for their beliefs and not for their actions. The main character, Lavinia, tries to warn her sister, Antonia, that she's about to be audited, which means she has to show that she is faithful to the Republic. Like reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, this is something that is pretty much forced onto people. You have to play along. At the very least you have to fake it. But Antonia refuses, and in doing so puts her family at risk. It's an interesting story, and one that definitely has some relevance, especially if you've ever known people who refused to say the Pledge, or refused to fall in line like that. There is something to Antonia's refusal, even as it costs her so much, even as her sister thinks it childish. There's a lot to take in and unpack in the story, and it's a good read.

Quick Sips - Crossed Genres #25: Indoctrinate

This month's Crossed Genres #25 is centered around the theme "Indoctrinate." As far as themes go, it's not too bad. There's a lot that can be done with it, as shown by the three stories here. In any event, here we go!

Stories:

"Cabaret Obscuro" by Julian Mortimer Smith (4058 words)

 A neat piece that almost seemed noir to me, at least in that it evokes that time period where cabaret's and shows of that sort were more popular, and it revels in a sort of mirky feel that makes me imagine in sepia. There is also the feel that this is a dangerous time to be different, that for the people of the story, the immigrant performers, things are not very good and they're fighting for even the most basic of rights. The fact that these immigrants are from the stars and not from other continents is what gives the story its speculative wrinkle, and it's a good one. There is an exotic flair to the situation, one that comforts as well as bothers the main character, a musician and dancer. I'm guessing the indoctrinate part of the story was the racism that many of the people had in reacting to the cabaret, though I feel I didn't get to learn quite as much as I wanted to about the various cultures meeting. Still, it was good and thoughtful and complicated. So hurrah!

"Distant Gates of Eden Gleam" by Brian Trent (4992 words)

In this one an average sort of man gets brought into a secret organization that runs the world to be complicit in some pretty awful things. It's a story where he basically gets anything he wants, is giving everything that people would assume he wants, and yet still decides to do the right thing and outsmart the secret society and save the day. It's not a bad story, either, with some humor and some interesting ideas. I normally don't like these kinds of stories, though, that imply that there is this guy who seems average but is secretly incredible and does crazy things that benefit everyone. There's something...that just rubs me the wrong way about those kinds of stories. I would think that it's about how people who seem like they're not exceptional still have that potential, but...well, it seems more to be saying that just this one guy was good. Everyone else in the company was just complicit but stupidly so, which let him outsmart them all. Which is a bit of a stretch. And that he doesn't abolish the power structure bothered me a little. He just takes over. Which is...well, it brings its own set of problems that aren't addressed. But it still has some nice moments, and funny voice.

"The Lion God" by Benjamin Blattberg (3703 words)

A nice little story about a resistance fighter going up against a literal Lion God. It's an interesting idea, that a lion with miraculous powers shows up one day claiming to be God and because of those powers gains control of the world. Of course he implements some harsh rules that benefit him and play into a conservative agenda and so people start fighting back. Only the Lion God has a breath that can break wills. Luckily he's a bit too full of himself to just use it on the main character, because she is filled with poison and so as he tortures her on natural television to get a confession, he ends up kind of killing himself. And I do like that, that he had the power to save himself and didn't because he thought he was unassailable, and that this woman managed to hold out long enough to succeed. The ending was a little less clear, as people kind of go crazy but I never got that much an idea of what this place looks like. Still, it was a good story, and the main character manages to look at the face of death and not flinch.