THE SIPPY AWARDS - The "There's Something in My Eye" Sippy for Excellent Making Me Ugly-Cry in Short SFF

Obviously by now it should be clear that Sippys are going to replace all other awards as the premier short fiction award. Already I can imagine awards nights and packed convention centers with writers arriving in limos and--okay maybe I exaggerate. But hey, the award that no one wanted continues! Relationships have been shipped and the lights are all blazing lest the creatures of horror find me, so that means it's time for the next Sippy category. Third up is--

The "There's Something in My Eye" Sippy 

for Excellent Making Me Ugly-Cry in Short SFF

Maybe I cry a little too much when it comes to reading fiction. Perhaps. I know society at large is a bit focused on real men not crying or some bullshit, but good stories are good stories and there is just something about reading certain ones that just gets to me. That wrecks me. And I love that, in part because it's such a release of emotions, one part catharsis and one part just really fucking good prose. Of course, some of the stories featured elsewhere in the Sippys also made me cry, but the five below did it with the most gusto. The winners are...

Quick Sips - Unlikely Story #12 - The Journal of Unlikely Academia

Hot off becoming the latest SFWA-qualifying market, Unlikely Story is finally out with its new issue, the Journal of Unlikely Academia. And, well, it is not a small issue. Eight stories, with many over 6,000 words. The good news? They fucking rock. The issue shows why Unlikely Story deserves that SFWA seal of approval, with stories that run from bawlingly tragic to fist-pumpingly inspiring with many stops in between. The theme is about learning, about school, and these eight stories do a hell of a job exploring those ideas. So to the reviews!

Art by Patricio Beteo

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #61 QUEERS DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION (part 1: the Flash!)

So there is a slight conflict of interest with my review of the latest Lightspeed Magazine, which is the special Queers Destroy Science Fiction Issue. Namely, I'm in it. My story, "Rubbing is Racing," is one of the flash stories. Which I will (obviously) not be reviewing today. And there was a little voice in my head that said that maybe I shouldn't review the rest of the issue either (but probably because the issue is HUGE and will take a lot of time and not because it is anything other than awesome). But I think I will have satisfied objectivity simply by not reviewing my own story and leave it at that. As I said, this issue is HUGE. It's as big or bigger even than most anthologies. As such, there is no way that I could read it in the same space I normally read just four short stories. There are ten short stories and (including mine) twelve flash fiction stories to read. Which means, unfortunately, that I'm not going to be reviewing the nonfiction. You should really read it, though. Nonfiction is great, but I don't have the space this month. That said, and from the title of the post, you might have figured out that I am splitting my review of this issue into two parts. The first part is the flash fiction. The second part, to come later in the month, will be the full length fiction. So watch for that. Reviews this month for Lightspeed might also be a little shorter than my normal just because there are so many. I apologize for that. Hopefully they are still useful. So onto the reviews!

Art by Elizabeth Leggett