Quick Sips - Nightmare #86

Art by Mikesilent / Adobe Stock Images

November’s Nightmare Magazine brings two stories that deal with violence, with torture, and in some ways with roles and expectations. Where the first focuses more on the horror of when a girl breaks from the sugar and spice and everything nice expected of her, though, the second piece is all about the horror of when women go along with those expectations. It truly is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation, and it might just take a voice reimagined from one of the most foundational texts in SFF horror to give a map of a way forward for people that rejects the abuses of convention and fights for a new way of thinking and being. To the reviews!

Regular Sip - Pretty Marys All in a Row by Gwendolyn Kiste (Broken Eye Books)

I’m looking at a novella today from Broken Eye Books. It’s I think my first introduction to the press, but based on the piece I definitely hope it's not my last. Fitting strongly into speculative horror, the story features ghosts and roads, love and yearning and loss. The piece is dark and dense at times, a shadow moving across the night, hunting for a receptive mind. At times like this I feel it’s time to turn out the lights and open the door and invite the darkness in, to let it take you where it wants to go, to reveal what it wants to show. It’s not the easiest of reads, featuring grief and loss and a driving hunger, but I think it’s well worth spending some time with, an imaginative and breathtaking story of ghosts, Marys, and fear. So without further delay, let’s get to the review!

Cover Art by gawki, Design by Jeremy Zerfoss

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #7

After a bit of a break, Mithila Review is back! There's four short stories, one very long novelette, and a novel excerpt as far as fiction goes, and because of time constraints I'm only going to be looking at the short stories. There's five pieces of poetry that I'm checking out, too, and there's a literal ton of nonfiction to enjoy, but I'll leave you to browse that on your own. Needless to say the issue is packed with amazing works. The fiction takes things from magic schools to deserts in Arizona and Mars. There's action aplenty with Luchador battles and desperate violence. There's also a nice amount of humor, with biting satire and laugh-out-loud characters. There's also heart, and family, and a rich tapestry of emotions. The poetry weaves together nicely, looking at nature and stories and hope, and the entire issue is another strong example of why you should be reading Mithila Review. Review time! 

Art by Archan Nair

Quick Sips - Shimmer #30 (April Stuff)

It's stories like those that appear in this issue of Shimmer Magazine that remind me why I love the publication. There's such a depth and a darkness, a weight to these tales, that make them linger like bruises. They impact. From the science fictional vision of the first story to the fairy tale stylings of the second, these stories are linked by an atmosphere of oppression and magic, exhaustion and hope. The characters are dealing with situations beyond their control, really, bound by circumstance, and yet both refuse to give up, to give in. Both find ways of fighting on and, in some ways, fighting back. Finding hope and pulling it screaming with them through the world. The stories are haunting and powerful and I should just get to those reviews. 

Art by Sandro Castelli

THE SIPPY AWARDS - The "Where We're Going We Won't Need Categories" Sippy for Excellent I'm Not Sure What in Short SFF

This is it, my friends. You've stood by as I've shipped my favorite relationships. And while I've shivered under the covers waiting desperate for dawn thanks to my favorite horror. And while I've wept enough rivers of tears to sail an armada on because of my favorite emotional stories. And even while I've revved my engine and worn my sunglasses at night in honor of my favorite ACTION! of 2015. But now we come to the final Sippy category, a category so mysterious that it defies the very nature of definitions...I think... Because the final Sippy category is--

The "Where We're Going We Won't Need Categories" Sippy

for Excellent I'm Not Sure What in Short SFF

Sometimes there are stories that just refuse to be placed into a specific box. Stories that, when looking back on them, I can't quite pick out one element that made them memorable. Not that the stories from previous categories were at all simple, but these ones feature cakes made from dead people and were-helecopters and fox spirits and just so many things that made me want to honor them for being...well, strange. And amazing. So instead of thinking of myself as lazy, I will try to think of this category as the wide net to make sure I don't let any really weird tales slip away. And the winners are...

Quick Sips - Nightmare #36

Two stories from Nightmare Magazine this month and both are powerful, dealing with life and death and the power of going on. The stories are about breaking cycles and about how societies can trap people in a bad way, how society can build walls and avenues to isolate people. The stories build very different settings, and yet both are recognizable, both are indictments of things that are very much at work now, stigmas and prejudices. They compliment each other quite well, and I'm just going to get to reviewing them, 'kay?

Art by Lauren K. Cannon

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online September 2015

September is officially here (yes I know it started yesterday but here on Quick Sip Reviews the month doesn't start until I'm through the previous month's fiction). And, as usual, Flash Fiction Online provides my first stop, with three pieces of fiction. I should also say that there is a very interesting piece of nonfiction there as well on writing advice and writing in general that is very much worth a read but, because of time restraints, I am not looking at today. Sorry! What I am looking at are three stories that all provide fine looks into characters ready to move on. The editorial this month really captures that idea, and these three stories do great jobs of showing the strength required to do something new, to try something different, even if it doesn't always work out as great as it could. It's a nice theme to focus on as the year wears on, and matches quite well with the nonfiction as well (which, again, you should read), so I'm just going to get to reviewing things!

Art by Dario Bijelac