Quick Sips - Terraform February 2017

It's something of a short month from Motherboard's Terraform, though there's still quite a bit to see and experience. It's no surprise that with things the way they are that the first story is about immigration and acceptability and beauty. About how we value people and how we exploit people. About how the world as we're organizing it blames victims and glories tyrants. A bit more of a surprise is the story on the (possible) apocalyptic future of porn. Which...well, Terraform has always had something of an eye on the future of sex, and why should the future of self-sex be excluded? And then a new chapter in the Highwayman series rounds things out. All in all, it's a month of very different pieces unified by a common disillusioned gaze at the future. So yeah, to the 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 02/20/2017 & 02/27/2017

The end of February brought a rather light release of content from Strange Horizons, with one story and two poems that I’ll be looking at today. There’s a selection of nonfiction as well, but I felt I lacked some requisite knowledge/experience to really get into those pieces, though I definitely recommend people check them out. There’s actually a very interesting discussion in the essay on Moore’s novel about writing and reviewing but I’m not sure I have my thoughts together enough to address that, so instead I will focus on the fiction and poetry, which focus on bodies and on trauma and damage. That look at the ways that people seek to escape the confines of their situations, of their cages, of the judgments that people place on them and their forms. These are pieces that carry with them a definite darkness and do a great job of complicating gaze and intent. And before I ramble on too much I should just get to the reviews!

Art by Kathleen Jennings

Quick Sips - Tor dot com February 2017

February is often a month devoted to love but Tor dot com has chosen instead to focus on duty and organizations and the role of a single operative in a larger mechanism. These stories cross genres, from high fantasy to space opera to near future science fiction. And yet they all involve people who are dedicated to a cause, who are part of a larger group. Whether attached to a government ministry, a military, a clandestine organization, or a religious empire, these characters are all parts of something larger than themselves. And many of the stories explore that size difference, showing how important, or unimportant, or importantly unimportant, some people can be. The stories are mostly thrilling, too, about assassinations and attempted coups and spies and in that they have a pace and a momentum to them that is captivating. They are not always the easiest of reads but many of them are quite fun, and all of them are quite interesting, and I should just stop yammering on and get to the reviews! 

Art by Micah Epstein

Quick Sips - Mothership Zeta #6

Well I guess I got a little confused because I thought Mothership Zeta already was on hiatus. The good news is that I was wrong and here's a whole new issue packed with stories to read. The bad news is that I was only off by an issue and this _does_ represent the last from the publication for a while, though I hope not forever. It's a wonderful mix of stories, though, that explore the idea of fun in SFF as well as look at hope and possibility. Many of the stories here are about opportunity, after all, and about life. About those moments when the world seems to open up, with all the fear and all the hesitation that goes along with it. But that shows, in those moments, the hope for humanity, that people are willing to work for a better future. For a better world. That people, even when perhaps they shouldn't, will reach out with compassion. Will keep reaching out. And the stories all look at how we as humans reach out in hope and fear, and how we try to find meaning in a world that is often harsh, and often dangerous. Time to review!

Art by Elizabeth Leggett

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #219

Beneath Ceaseless Skies specializes in second world fantasy as well as some historical fantasy, so it's no great surprise to find that the two stories in this issue build up some incredibly original and visually stunning settings that twist expectations and conventions. From a world that is an enormous cliff to an ocean plain where aquatic-dinosaur riders roam and cause trouble, readers are treated to journeys through strange and at-times unsettling places where violence lurks in every shadow. These pieces feature characters hoping to return home and unable to do so, balancing their weariness at the constant travel and struggle with their resolve to keep going, to keep pushing forward. These are some great stories that mix moments of action with quieter moments of contemplation and grief. So let's get to the reviews!

Art by Florent Llamas

Quick Sips - The Sockdolager #8 Women of War

February has decided that it's going to be very full of fiction, and contributing to that is a special Women of War issue of The Sockdolager. Now, the issue actually contains eight stories, but three of them are reprints and because of time I'm not going to review those, though I do very much recommend people check them out. As it is, there are five stories seeing their first publishing and they definitely capture the theme well. Women are front and center here in all aspects of war—as soldiers definitely and as revolutionary, as monsters and nurses and victims and mothers. These stories focus on family and love and conflict and blood, and they are at times difficult to read because of the unflinching look they take at war. At what it means to go to war, especially for women. It's a wonderful collection of stories, and I'm going to charge right into my reviews! 

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #31

With the giant novella-length epic poem done with, this latest issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly brings things back to basics with four original stories and two poems (of much more modest length). The stories build up worlds filled with magic and darkness, where there are things lurking at the periphery, at the edges of the world, in the blank space of maps. The stories look at characters who are seeking something. Themselves or a much-deserved rest or gold or even escape from certain death. And none of the characters find the situation easy. The stories embrace their magic and their mayhem as the character work against the monsters and circumstances arrayed against them and attempt to wrestle some sort of victory from the jaws of defeat. These are fun, sometimes thrilling pieces that build very different world, especially once the poetry gets added in, but it's also a strong issue that does a lot right. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Jereme Peabody

Quick Sips - Apex #93

Love is in the air for Apex Magazine's February issue. Er, well…maybe not exactly love. What's sort of like love but awful, horrifying, and uncomfortable? Well, the issue is probably first and foremost concerned with the loss of agency. With the way that (mostly women but also other) people can be stripped of their autonomy. Their will. Their bodies. Their souls. The way that they can be made into dolls and puppets and controlled. So okay, maybe the story's not about love so much as about people and things that mistake abuse for love. Who think that love means cutting away what makes a person human. It's a difficult issue with a wide range of stories, some hopeful and some…decidedly not. But that's the nature of dark SFF, so let's just get to the reviews! 

Art by Adrian Borda

Quick Sips - Lackington's #12 (Animals)

The latest issue of Lackington's has a theme of Animals to it. And while it does feature a number of precocious and mischievous characters, this isn't exactly an issue I'd recommend giving to a young child as a diversion on a rainy day. Unless you want some very interesting conversations (and maybe therapy) later. The issue is full of stories that twist the unexpected, that show that just because there are talking animals in a piece doesn't mean they're all going to be sweet. Many of these are dark. And violent. And beautiful. The prose flows in good Lackington's style and the themes approach justice and human (and animal) nature, as well as loss, and dissolution, and expectations, and roles, and…well, you get the idea. It's a big issue full of characters and beasts great and small. And it's time for me to get to my reviews! 

Art by Pear Nuallak

Quick Sips - Shimmer #35 (February Stuff)

The stories in this month's Shimmer Magazine look at very different sides of love. In the first, love is something dangerous and alive, tarnished by pain and loss and hate. And in the second it is a kind of magic that transforms the random daily acts of parenting into larger-than-life confrontations and accomplishments. These are stories that don't precisely flow thematically, but after the first the second is a welcome respite from the pain and damage that life can bring, that broken systems encourage. These are stories, though, that both flow and weave language into beautifully poetic form. These are certainly stories that shimmer, though in very different ways. To the reviews! 

Art by Sandro Castelli

Quick Sips - Uncanny #14 (February Stuff)

The pieces in the February content from Uncanny do a great job of giving a wide ranging view of what makes up short SFF. From stories about love and immigration and Poe to a poem about being hot for Mars to nonfiction that educates and challenges, the issue provides a stunning arrangement of SFF that pushes the boundaries on narrative form and style. Plus there's a story just in time for a certain romantic holiday that is incredibly appropriate and rather fun. The story brings the laughter and the tears and the raw silences and does it in a way that is inspiring and imaginative. So yeah, let's get to the reviews! 

Art by John Picacio

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 02/06/2017 & 02/13/2017

Two weeks have passed and Strange Horizons has put out both a pair of stories and pair of poems that continue their focus on global and domestic justice. These are stories and poems that look at the harsh realities of injustice. At the way that hatred and misunderstanding and frustration can fuel people to commit horrendous acts against one another. The way that the danger of those acts can push people to hide themselves, to quiet themselves, to censor themselves. These are pieces that remove the censor, that explore what stories are told not to heal wounds but to make them just bearable enough that people won't try to stop those responsible for causing them. It's a rather difficult collection of speculative work, but also moving, beautiful, and important. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #218

The first issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies' February offerings serves up two pieces about women in difficult situations. Women of magic and of power who have been tasked with using their abilities to fight against the weight of oppression. To fight against a cruel king. To fight against a cruel cost. Both women find themselves at a moment when victory seems distant, when the eye of justice seems to have gone blind. And both women have to find their own ways to move past their grief and their loss and use their magic to pave a way forward. To keep fighting. These are moving stories of resistance and struggle, and I'm going to jump right into my reviews! 

Art by Florent Llamas

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #125

February is a short month and for Clarkesworld that means this issue has slightly less than I'm used to seeing, but still provides four original stories, including a translated novelette. All four stories are science fictional, one of them near-ish future Earth sci fi but the rest either off world or so otherwisely alien that it might as well be. These are sweeping visions of the galaxy and universe that imagine humanity in a much different place than now. As still learning from past mistakes but no less in love with the feeling of discovery. With pushing the boundaries of what is known and what is possible. The stories all look at the damage that can cause, but also at the progress that can be made. In how it seems to take us farther and farther away from our roots but actually returns us closer to them. It's a nice collection of stories that lean toward action and keep things going at a fast pace. So let's get to the reviews! 

Art by Benedick T. Bana

Quick Sips - Glittership February 2017

It's my second month of reviewing Glittership and February brings a pair of original stories that mix caution with wild abandon, curiosity with extinctions. The tones of the stories are quite different, the first piece fun and free and the second more tinged with grief and a suffocating anticipation. And where the first story looks a future where people bound forward with a rush of enthusiasm, the second story holds back, the whole world wincing as people wait for the next shoe to drop. Both stories, though, capture a bit of what makes humanity interesting. Our resolve in the face of adversity, yes, but also our creativity, our curiosity, and our passion. And both stories show that the human spirit resists cages, and yearns to find people to connect to, new adventures to experience. So let's get to the reviews! 

Quick Sips - GigaNotoSaurus February 2017

The story in February's GigaNotoSaurus is definitely romantic enough to feel appropriate for the month many associate with love. And okay, yes, it has lesbians in space. But more than that, this is a story that looks at love in the face of destruction, hope in the face of despair. The story is one that takes on some of the flaws in humanity, some of the tendencies that seem to lean toward exploitation and extinction, and finds a way forward, through those obstacles. The story doesn't center humanity's heart in fear and hate, but in empathy and effort. The story is difficult at times because it does deal with some heavy themes, but through it all there is also a lightness, a rising warmth that does make it romantic, that does make it affirming and inspiring. That it can contain all the harm that humanity is capable of but still not implode. It's an impressive feat and I'm going to get right to my review! 

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online February 2017

February can be a month of love and Flash Fiction Online has certainly taken that broad idea and twisted it mercilessly, presenting three stories that each challenge the clean and saccharine nature of love that is often peddled this time of year like a box of unwanted cordials. The stories move from the doomed love of sentient appliances to how love marks us to how…well, just gonna skip that last one. These are stories which offer a lot of very different takes on love. Some of them touching, some of them humorous, and some of them something else entirely. So yeah, "love" is in the air and I'm ready to get to these reviews! 

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Sips - Nightmare #53

The stories in this February issue of Nightmare Magazine look at the worth of a life. In both pieces, the main characters are asked what their lives are worth, and this central question drives most of the tragedy and horror in the stories. Which only makes sense. The question of what makes life worth living, and conversely what makes sacrificing a life a decent bargain, is not an easy one. And the stories here reveal how difficult it can be to justify life and death, action and inaction. The stories look at characters who end up defining a lot of their worth in someone else. In those that they love. And these are two rather difficult but rather rewarding stories that look at magic and death and the vastness of choice in rather interesting ways. To the reviews! 

Art by grandfailure / Adobe Stock

Quick Sips - The Dark #21

Both original stories in the February issue of The Dark Magazine deal in some way with loss and with the generational passing of knowledge and potential. Both stories look at losses that are transformative, but experienced from opposite positions. In the first story, the main character is a governess, a care-giver to a group of girls. In the second piece, the main character is a bit younger, and learning from her elders about some of the dangers of the world. The stories are worlds apart in terms of tone but both circle around how people react to loss and, more telling, how unprepared some people can be to experience it. To find themselves in a situation that has gone beyond their control. These are interesting stories and contrast nicely while both looking at the supernatural and the ways that the older generations care for the younger ones. Time to review! 

Art by captblack76