Quick Sips - Lightspeed #100 [part 2 - fantasy]

The anniversary fun continues with a look at the Lightspeed Magazine #100 fantasy fiction! By and large, the fantasy stories found in the issue range a bit shorter than the science fiction (with all five stories being short, and one of those crossing into flash fiction). They also deal a lot with ghosts, and loss, and longing. Indeed, a great deal of these stories focus on relationships and what happens when they end or are in danger of ending. They show people whose connections have been severed by death, by grief, by violence, and how those wounds can perhaps be healed by compassion and love. It’s a rather lovely if dark bunch of stories, heavy with sorrow but rising toward something lighter (though no less strong). And with all the fiction to look at, I should get right to the reviews!

Art by Galen Dara

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #133

The October issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is a wonderful examination of isolation and change. In each of the stories, characters find themselves in situations that they didn’t really expect. Situations that push them away from people, into their own heads, their own regrets, and their own desires. Whether the setting is a world where squids have taken the oceans, or where a group of young people find themselves trapped beneath a sea, or a religious man and his ship of Greeks are stranded on a nomad planet, or a world where nanobots build endless cities of no one to inhabit—these are places defined by boundaries and decline. And the stories focus how, even in these settings, people find ways to connect to one another. Not always in the healthiest of ways, but in order to make sense of their lives and to try and find a way forward. For some, that forward isn’t possible, or is lost, or was a lie all along. They are not overly happy stories, but they possess a power and a beauty and I should really just get to the reviews!

Art by Marianna Stelmach

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #121

For this special anniversary issue of Clarkesworld, it seems like there's a single question being asked. Namely, what can you trust? What can you know? It's a fundamental question that cuts to the nature of human experience and perception. Can we be sure of our surroundings? What happens when we know that something isn't real, despite not really being able to tell it with our senses? And what if we just think we know what is real, and the rabbit hole goes deeper still? It's a delightful way to frame a number of excellent speculative stories, mostly all science fiction but still good, still hitting, still interesting complications of what we take for granted and how we perceive and reach for some trace of the real in a sea of uncertainty. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Peter Mohrbacher

Quick Sips - Tor dot com April 2016 Part 2

Woo, my constant passive aggressiveness must finally be paying off as the final story of Tor dot com's April was not the month's longest (*does little dance*). And okay, friendly jibes aside, the stories of the second half of the month...well, they move. Through darkness and through death and through change. These are stories about transformations. Some good and necessary and some...well, there are layers of consent and institutions of misogyny or oppression or both. And there is an attempt to tear them down or circumvent them or resist them. These stories are not happy, really, but they are hopeful. Reaching. And very good. To the reviews!

Art by Ashley Mackenzie

THE SIPPY AWARDS - The "Time to Run Some Red Lights" Sippy for Excellent Action in Short SFF

Hello and welcome to everyone's favorite awards that no one asked for, the Sippys! So far I've managed to ship my favorite relationships, cower in fear at my favorite scares, and totally not cry over my favorite tragic and/or beautiful stories of 2015. And there's still two more categories of Sippys to go! This week is all about the stories that get the heart pumping, that made me lean forward in my seat and read a little faster. Because fourth up is--

The "Time to Run Some Red Lights" Sippy 

for Excellent Action! in Short SFF

There are those who complain that short SFF these days are, well, boring. Too luminous, too poetic, too metaphorical. There are those who pine for the days of the pulp science fictions that prioritized action and plot over subtlety or meaning. To those people I ask: what the fuck are you reading? I have seen zero indication that stories now are any less intense or visceral than those written at any point in the past (that these people who complain about the decline of compelling short SFF often identify as fans of Lovecraft...confuses me). And stories today use action in subtle and profound ways, to entertain of course but also to challenge and to goad, to complicate and to reveal some ugly truths. And today I'm focusing on stories that bring the action, the battles big and small, that manage to take a breakneck pace and a visual flare and craft something deeply personal. And the winners are...

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 12/21/2015

Oops. Turns out I had expected something to come out on the 28th and no such luck, but it's still a pretty full review for the latest from Strange Horizons. Perhaps because everything looks interesting, one story, one poem, and two pieces of nonfiction. Definitely enough to keep me busy for this review as the end of the year draws near. A very eclectic collection of things, but quite good and quite a lot to think on. So let's get to those reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/26/2015, 11/02/2015, 11/09/2015, and 11/16/2015

Well this was certainly another full few weeks of Strange Horizons, though I suppose that's more my fault for letting four weeks go by without checking in. In that time there have been three short stories, four poems, and three nonfiction pieces (at least, three nonfiction pieces I'm looking at). But Strange Horizons shows just how strong it can be with stories that show loss and hope and rebellion, poems that unsettle and shadow the dark corners of the world, and nonfiction dealing with everyone's favorite topic: sex. It's a full four weeks to get through, but very rewarding and enjoyable, even when it is uncomfortable and challenging. To the reviews!

Art by Stephen Hamilton

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #63

This month Lightspeed Magazine delivers an incredibly solid issue ripe with brilliance and emotion. Leaning a bit more toward the fantasy side of things, even the science fiction seems a bit touched by the fantastic, providing a stirring series of stories that move from nostalgic to biting. Two of the stories touch on the broken promises of the past, the broken ideals that people working hard are rewarded. Instead they look at how working hard is often exploited and even resented, and how to make a difference sometimes you have to break the agreements that have failed, have to forsake the bonds which time has rendered abusive. It's a strong issue, and I should just get to reviewing it.

Art by Reiko Murakami

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 06/15/2015 and 06/22/2015

And today I'm looking at two weeks of Strange Horizons. Just one short story, but two poems and two nonfiction pieces that I just had to dive into, making this one of the more varied reviews I've had for a while. The story is well done, a bit sad but lovely, the poems dealing with robotics and humanity and all points in between, the nonfiction covering space and also identity and the power of dressing up. There's just so much to enjoy, so much to think about. I guessing (hoping?) that this represents the last updates for June, but if not I'll just pick the rest up next month. In any event, to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 04/06/2015 and 04/13/2015

Well it's been a busy two weeks over at Strange Horizons, it would seem. Today I'm looking at two stories, two poems, and three pieces of nonfiction, which makes this a pretty meaty review. As is usual with the publication, the stories and poems aren't really linked thematically, so everything is interesting in its own way, more to be taken separately than together. Which is just fine by me when the quality of the work is so high. Few enough places put out such a great range of stories, poems, and nonfiction, which is probably why Strange Horizons nabbed a Hugo nomination this year. So to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons January 5

My second review is of the January 5th Strange Horizons. Once again I can't help but look at the non-fiction as well, because it's a great piece looking at masculinity through the lens of some recent movies and shows. And I will be trying to review whatever poetry I come across. I've always loved poetry, and while it might not be my area of expertise as much as stories, I think I can find something intelligible to say on the subject.

Story:

"Vacui Magia" by L. S. Johnson (3459 words)

About loss and guilt and magic, this story certainly has an edge to it. Told like a guidebook for creating and then destroying a golem-child, it's told in the second person, which is strange enough. But there is a raw hurt to the character that comes through, like the second person narrative is only a way the witch tries to distance herself from the pain of the experience. Because even while it's written as "you" it's really saying "I." It's an effective frame for the story, and an excellent way to get into the witch's head, into her regret and shame and guilt and grief that her mother is dying and that she has no child. I'm always a little wary of stories that focus so much on a woman desperately wanting a child. I can understand the drive, but it normally seems a want placed on her from the outside. Even here it's difficult to separate the witch's desire for a child and the witch's mother's desire that her daughter have a child. And wanting to appease a parent seems a terrible reason to have a child and the witch's motivations seem too muddied by her desire to not hurt her mother to be entirely voluntary. Still, the last line brings things back a bit, brings the witch to a place where she seems more at peace, more content with herself. A good story, overall, and a lot to think about.

Poetry:

"Sythia" by Marinelle G. Ringer

Evoking Greek myths, most strongly that of Theseus in the Labyrinth, this poem at first seemed to me a bit confusing. It's a mix of things that took me a while to piece together. The language is great, and the imagery is amazing. I absolutely love the image of the box bearing the word "love." Really the poem makes me think I'm misremembering all of my Greek mythology, but I kind of like that about it, how it evokes so much that captures the feel of those stories. It makes me want to go back and read them all. I'm sure I would "get" a bit more if I did. But for now I'm content to admire the language, to enjoy the way Theseus is stopped by that box, but how it doesn't stop him. An interesting poem.

Non-fiction:

"Intertitles: Oh, the Cleverness of Me!: Masculinity and the Horror Show" by Genevieve Valentine

One would think it hard for me to follow a piece that talks about a slew of shows and movies that I have never seen. But I know exactly what's' going on, because it's not just going on in the shows that are mentioned. But I love the commentary on the various texts, and the idea that there is a movement, even in movies (gasp!) to show masculinity as not some untarnished idol for everyone to bow down to. The cult of masculinity is something that is strong, that exists and perpetuates itself in so many various ways, that to see it be questioned is refreshing and horrifying, because with all things there is the backlash against it, those that double down, like the critics of the recent Pan. It would be very interesting to see how these masculine ideals are starting to be subverted in things aimed at younger audiences. I'm a huge Adventure Time fan, and see in shows like it (like Avatar as well) a definite challenge of the traditional masculine model. I also read a lot of YA for Teenreads and see how things are dealt with there. In some there is still the "spirit of masculinity" and in others (the ones I like more) that model is not just let stand. As a non-standard man, it's very interesting to see. I can only hope that the subversion continues and gains in strength and that the backlash is not too dangerous.