Quick Sips 11/19/2021

So it’s another busy week of reviews, if not quite so full as the week before. But I’m done with October for the most part so it’s all November issues I’m looking at today. I start with Lightspeed and things get grim as I look at Nightmare, The Dark, and Apex one after the other. Things get a little brighter (though there’s perhaps a death theme moving through the field this month) with Uncanny and Fireside Magazine. There are all issues that send my review copies, which I super appreciate, and which means I can get to them a little earlier. Next week I’ll try to hit the latest Clarkesworld as well as catch up on Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, the Escape Artists, and more. Stay tuned!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - 10/22/2021

So when you all read this, I’ll technically be on vacation. Technically, because let’s face it, I suck at taking vacations, so you’re still reading this. But that aside, I’ve been very much pushing myself to get “ahead” far enough in my reading to take a week off from most reviewing activities. Most, because again, I suck. But I do plan on relaxing, spending time with my husband, and trying to maybe have fun. We’ll see how it goes, seeing as how covid hasn’t really…stopped. But I’ve packed in another full week of reviews. Perhaps not so many as last week, but I’m still covering the monthly Clarkesworld, Fireside, GigaNotoSaurus, and The Dark content, as well as quarterly Baffling, irregular Constelación, biweekly Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and two weeks of Strange Horizons. Be impressed! It’s a lot to get to, so buckle up for some serious short SFF coverage!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 09/24/2021

I think I can I think I can I…hmm, have I done that gimmick before? If so, apologies. I’m still at it though, toiling away in the old reviewing mines. I’m a bit above average with number of reviews this week, and cover a fair amount of full issues. There’s the weekly Strange Horizons and biweekly Beneath Ceaseless Skies, then there’s Hexagon, Future Science Fiction Digest, Apex, Shoreline of Infinity, and Fireside Magazine. So…a lot. It does mean that I’m doing all right getting through September, but just don’t think about September kinda sorta being over before my next review post goes public. Eep!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 08/27/2021

So I am still playing catchup by and large, but I think that I’ll be in a bit better shape after this week than after last week, so progress! The big release that I’m looking at today is the new Translunar Travelers Lounge, which dropped its second issue of the year. It’s packed and it’s amazing! Aside from that, I’m looking at regular releases from Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Deadlands, Strange Horizons, Diabolical Plots, and Fireside Magazine. It means there hopefully won’t be too much to clean up next week to get through the August releases, but we’ll see. I’m hoping to get to new Fusion Fragment, Mermaids Monthly, Tor dot com, Strange Horizons, and more. Maybe I’ll even get into September stuff already! We’ll see. First, though, more August reviews.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 07/30/2021

Well I knew that this was going to be a bit of a smaller week for reviews compared to last week, though that doesn’t mean much given last week. I think I did end up slightly under average, but I did still get to quite a bit, rounding up a lot of the month’s releases. Luckily for my schedule, it seems like the Escape Artists aren’t doing many originals lately at PodCastle or Escape Pod, so that helped me catch up on Cast of Wonders and Pseudopod, as well as making sure I got to this month’s GigaNotoSaurus, which I would normally have read sooner. I also got to check out the new Diabolical Plots, The Deadlands, Fireside Magazine, and Omenana, as well at the latest week’s Strange Horizons, so a lot of ground I covered, all told, even if the total number of pieces covered isn’t huge. It leaves only a few things (I hope) to catch up on for next week (namely Mermaids Monthly, Tor, and another issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies). I am sort of catching up on reading, but also not. So it goes.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 06/25/2021

So this is technically my last review post for this year’s June, and so I’m about halfway through the year. As such, please, if you haven’t already taken this survey about Quick Sip Reviews, please do. It would help me out immeasurably. Otherwise, I’m catching up a bit on Beneath Ceaseless Skies after kinda missing an issue, and moving through the big issue of Shoreline of Infinity, the quarterly Future Science Fiction Digest, the June Fireside Magazine, and some weekly content from Strange Horizons and the Escape Artists. Pretty standard as weeks go.

But now that I’m halfway through 2021 (kinda sorta) I can look at my number a bit closer. Right now I’m sitting at 581 short stories, 51 novelettes, 8 novellas, and 181 poems I’ve covered (minus a few whose reviews I didn’t publish because I didn’t want to). That makes 821 on the year so far, which means if I maintain this pace I’ll hit…over 1600?! Shit. Well, I mean, I know I’m reading more. Still, that’s a lot. Over the life of QSR that means I’ve covered 5005 stories, 1061 poems, and 126 nonfiction works, for a total of 6192. Another big number. Never let anyone say it can’t be done, thoughtfully and relentlessly, for years. Not that it’s easy, but I’m okay with being walking, talking proof that it’s not impossible. Let that be only more clear the longer I do this.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 05/21/2021

Welcome to my continued May coverage! This week I sweep up the last of my advance copies and move into some new territory (again). The new publication is Shoreline of Infinity, who reached out to offer a review copy. I don’t even want to know how many publications that means I’m actually covering at this point. A lot. Which, I mean, is the goal, is the point. And so far I’m doing my best to stay on top of it all. Hopefully that lasts. There’s also the new Uncanny (a reminder that I review the whole issue now rather than breaking it up into what’s out for free each month), Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (a somewhat slim issue for them), Fireside Magazine (guest edited by Danny Lore), and Strange Horizons. So while it’s not the busiest week of reviews ever, it’s no slouch, either.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 04/16/2021

Well I’m now into entirely April publications, and looking a lot of interesting works this week. I think I can start to pin down some trends, though, for the year. And I mean keep in mind that I’m not reading everything, that I’m not seeing all works being put out, but I have been noticing a big return of stories focused on the act of survival and the different ways that people can resist, and the ways that can be effective, and the ways that sometimes there’s no win, no real way to fight back except in personal, often self-destructive acts. And I feel that it’s probably reflecting a lot but especially the pandemic and the lingering effects that authoritarian movements have made a bad situation so much worse globally, where almost every authoritarian/conservative government has fucked up their response and let their people die. And just…the weight of that. Mixed in to how some governments are going further right, using this as a chance to consolidate power, to the further detriment of their people. Though through a speculative lens, I am noticing that there are a lot of really heavy stories dealing with corrupt regimes, the desire to push back, and the enormous toll that takes on a person.

But anyway, that’s just one thing. I’m sure I’ll notice other things as the year moves on even more. For now, I’ll just keep my eyes open.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 04/02/2021

So April is here and I forewent doing any sort of April Fool’s Day “pranks” this year. Instead, I’m back with a lot of reviews. Surprise! This week I don’t think I’m covering anything brand new to me, though Mithila Review has been absent for the better part of a year and has returned with a big new issue. I only dip my toe into April reviews with a look at the new Fantasy Magazine, mostly because the end of March has been busy. Otherwise things are going nicely. I feel like 2021 is still taking shape in terms of what themes are widely on display. It’s still a rather grim year across the board, or at least so it seems to me. But there are some lighter spots that hopefully will strengthen as the year goes on. Whatever the case there, it’s a wonderful year for stories, and I’m loving the chance to read so many great ones!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 03/12/2021

Well the year isn’t really slowing down. Eff. But that’s mostly okay! I’m staying busy, at least. This week I’m moving through a bunch of publications, catching up on some that I’ve not exactly missed but needed to get yet from February. As a peek into my process, most of these are from places where I receive review copies, which helps me get to them promptly (F&SF and Apex, which I covered last week, are also in that boat). The rest are irregular/weekly releases that I try not to fall too far behind on. I try. Again, eff. I still have one or two review copies to get to, afterwards I’ll move to regular releases like Clarkesworld that are out in their entirety for free early in the month. Irregulars and issues that release a little at a time by necessity get moved back further in the month. So yeah!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 02/05/2021

The year just keeps right on rolling! Up today is a told at eight different publications. Some are very short (just one poem in the latest Strange Horizons and just one story that I review from the latest Fireside Magazine) and some are a bit longer. Some are from January, some are from February, and the anthology is actually from last year (but ICYMI it’s very very good!). In general, I can say that I’m reading a lot more this year, and that the “a lot more” is coming generally in the form of short stories rather than novelettes and novellas. I’m going to have to figure out ways to try and mitigate that, but it’s an issue in that there are just way more short stories put out in a year than otherwise. Still, I’m really liking that I’m able to get to more things.

As a scheduling note, and along the note from above, these posts will cover recent stuff, but not always from the month noted in the title of the posts. Just because there’s a mix of stuff and I get some things early and some I have to wait for like the last day of the month to cover, so apologies if this is all something of a mess. But I’m trying! Anyway, to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #86/Fireside Quarterly Autumn 2020

Art by Don Rimx

So this review, my last in this format, also has the honor of being something of a complete mess. Because, well, Fireside Magazine has had something of a bumpy road recently, and it’s thrown off the publication schedule. What’s more, because the print Fireside Quarterly has been running ahead of the magazine, there are still a number of stories that are 2020 releases that haven’t made their way online yet. So…I decided to just settle up. So here are both the stories from the most recent issue of Fireside Magazine, and all the original stories in the latest Quarterly as well. In total, it’s nine new works, and it makes for a wonderful assortment of SFF visions and voices. And it might be messy, but for maybe the last time, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #85

The November issue of Fireside Magazine is out and…well, contains three short stories and two essays, plus now a number of apologies and announcements coming on the heels of the decision of the publication to have a white man record the audio for the entire issue which included, among others, the personal essay of a Black woman that was in part about her specific lens as a Black woman, and which…was not handled well. And this has opened up a larger conversation about audio recordings, racism, and editorial responsibility which has resulted, among other things, in the stepping down of the editor-in-chief at Fireside. All that said, and not to diminish the harm done, the fiction in this issue is amazing, and I’ll get right to my reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #84

Art by Anna Dittmann

October brings four short stories to Fireside Magazine, and the works deal a lot with bodies, with control, with violation. As such, there are some rather important content warnings to heed, but also a very driving sense of exploration of what it means to be embodied, to have skin, to be perceived. Characters struggle with and against the cultural forces that keep them at odds with the meat they carry themselves in, or the code, or both. Sometimes able to pull free, sometimes not. But always still left with the concept of self as observed versus self-observing. Always still left in this messy space of trauma, desire, and anxiety. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #83

Art by Melody Newcomb

The latest Fireside Magazine comes with five new short stories, making it large for the publications (but that’s kinda what happens on months with five Tuesdays). More, it tours SFF, moving from future superheroes to past uploaded consciousnesses. From sentient 3D printers to sentient ritual blades. From daring dos in space to a much more terrestrial look at homes and monsters. The works are at turns entertaining and touching, fun and challenging, chilling and inspiring. They cover a lot of thematic ground and make for some great reading, so I’ll get right to my reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #82

Art by Pao-ju Lin

The August issue of Fireside Magazine contains four short stories and a bunch of nonfiction (which I won’t be covering but do recommend you check out). The stories are all…far from easy things. There is a sense of confinement that runs through the issue, a sense of decline and suffocation. There are people literally imprisoned, either by a corrupt government in the past or a possibly dystopic government in the future. There are people finding their lives sinking, unable to pull back from their descent. There is loss. There is the prospect of more loss to come. The stories are, again, not easy, but they’re also rewarding and quite good, and I’ll get right to my reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #81

Fireside Magazine closes out July with four new stories that deal with family and with bargains. Often with bargains that don’t exactly go as planned. A faerie queer who kidnaps a child only to find herself getting involved in the life of the mother. Spice traders opening up a new market in the shadow of colonialism. Workers trapped in a place where they are always outsiders, exploited, making connections no one expects. A magical being of water making a bargain much deeper than the words used to contain it. The works look at how bargains are often made with one side trying to cheat the other, and how that can be avoided, and how sometimes it can’t be. It's a lovely bunch of stories, and I’ll get right to my reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #80

Art by Shaina Lu

The latest issue of Fireside Magazine is all out now, featuring five new short stories and once again harmonizing the ebook releases of the issues with the content put out for free on the website (yay!). The works range in genre, but are linked by a kind of mood that marries some more whimsical or perceived innocent things, and complicating them and giving them an added weight. The love for a pet, a family business through the eyes of a child, a date to a new restaurant, a virtual environment with a mind of its own, and even instructions for building a fantasy creature—on their surface, the stories seem to promise a lot of fun. And it’s not that they aren’t fun, but these aren’t exactly beach reads, taking those premises and crafting some wrenching and challenging experiences that interrogate safety, magic, and family. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #79

Art by David Plunkert

So first thing first, these reviews are no longer neatly meeting up with the issues as listed on the Fireside Magazine site. I first noticed that last month, where there were more stories in the issue than were released on the website. The spill-over from last issue appears in this issue, and so I'm assuming that the spill-over this issue will appear next issue, and on until it's all caught up. Just an FYI, but I go off the online releases typically when reviewing Fireside so that I can get approximate word counts. So. The good news is that the fiction is still sharp and punchy, the stories short enough to be very quick reads but still hitting above their weight. There are some fun pieces and some harrowing ones, and all in all it's another wonderful month from the publication. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #78

Art by Erik Ly

It's always a joy when I can say that I'm not looking at a complete issue because I must recuse myself from my own work. On top of the three short stories that I am looking at from this month's Fireside Magazine, my own very short piece, "Foie Gras," is available to read as well. It features a holographic Napoleon and an...interesting way of thwarting his evil ambitions. The rest of the issue also brings a mix of fun and thoughtful SFF, making for a quick and fascinating collection of fiction, all under 1500 words. So yeah, to the reviews!