Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #163

Art by Beeple

Clarkesworld returns in April with a full load of stories and a return of translated fiction. The works are diverse (though almost entirely science fiction) and lean a bit toward the dark, the chilling, and the horrific. They show people dealing with distance, and with the desire to be with another person. A desire that can strengthen and embolden people to strive for good, or can twist people toward greed and possessiveness. A lot of the works deal with people dealing with their relationship ending, or in imminent threat of ending, and what they do to either save it, try to save it, or break it entirely. It’s a fairly cohesive and strong issue, and I’ll get to my reviews!

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #159

Art by Derek Stenning

The December Clarkesworld closes out the year with some rather long short SFF (the shortest piece being over 6500 words). And the stories are rather melancholy, are rather full of longing and loss. Not that there aren’t moments of joy, moments of victory over despair and oppression. But that the moods of the story are decidedly dense, thick, at times like walking through a fog of difficulty. It’s a fitting feel for where I live, where the month is already cold and snowy and heavy. And there’s a glimmer of something like hope to reach for, however dim it might seem. Some future where maybe things won’t be as harsh, even if it’s a future that requires a lot of work to get to. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #143

Three short stories (including one translation) and two novelettes round out Clarkesworld’s August, with a bit more fantasy that I was expecting. Or what would have been more fantasy than I was expecting, except that a number of the stories this month play with that in subtle ways, slowly revealing that what seems like magic is actually something different, something much more technological in nature. Not that the issue is completely sci fi, but I feel like the uniting thread is more that each story plays with expectations in interesting ways, and leading the reader through worlds where they must piece together the rules, only to occasionally find that the final piece of the puzzle is a leap of faith. It makes for an interesting bunch of stories, which I will review...now!

Art by Luis Carlos Barragán

Quick Sips - Fantasy Scroll #11

The February issue of Fantasy Scroll is out and it's a bit of a departure from what I'm used to from the publication. Not in a bad way, as this issue certainly brings the weird and revels in some strange visions of speculative fiction, from dragon bodies turned into houses to lost children living in a state of suspended bliss, the stories are often uncomfortable in a very effective way. The issue takes a lot of chances and, I think, they mostly pay off. There's a lot of stories full of the Valentine's spirit (and many more with a twist on the romantic impulse) as well as more than a few that feature some sort of revenge. All in all it's an eclectic issue that's unified by a feeling of unease and some fantastic stories. To the reviews!
 

Art by Jeremy Vickery