Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #315

Art by Vladimir Manyukhin

The latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies brings two novelettes about invasion, about resistance (or lack of). About two queer characters dealing with the prospect of their home being conquered. Of having to make hard decisions between what their heart wants and what’s expected of them. In both cases, what’s expected might win out, but the two stories have two very different takes on what that means. In one, that means a character submitting to the need to sacrifice for a cause, for justice, for the hope of a future. In the other, that means a character submitting to corruption, to lies, to a betrayal of what and who they are. It’s some emotionally powerful and devastating work, and I’ll get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #125

Art by Grandeduc / Adobe Stock Image

Three short stories and a novelette round out the original content in October’s Lightspeed Magazine. And it’s not exactly a spooky month of offerings, though there is a vampire for those interested. Rather, the stories deal a lot with stories. Stories people tell that help to define the world they move through. Of good and evil. Of hero and monsters. And the stories end up dealing with the ways those stories can be affirming and healing, and the ways those stories can be cages, devices of erasure, pain, and destruction. And the works cover a lot of ground, from post-disaster Chicago to a romance far far away, from a small village in Hungary to an online reality that can be more real than real. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #112

Art by Galen Dara

Two novelettes and two short stories means a fairly full issue of Lightspeed Magazine this September, with a focus on history, freedom, and struggle. Often in the stories, characters find themselves being controlled or manipulated, either by another being or by their own insecurities and fears. What results is an issue that looks at people struggling with the implications of their own drives, their desire for freedom over comfort, meaning over survival. There are stories of future incarceration, science gone wrong (or right?), struggles linked by music, and even a Weird Western where magic springs from decks of special playing cards. The worlds are vividly rendered and the characters often wrenchingly portrayed, but instead of just telling you about them here, let's get to the full reviews!