Quick Sips - Terraform January 2017

Terraform has entered 2017 and some of the nightmare that the publication predicted might happen, that the publication warned could happen, that the publication seemed to hope wasn't going to happen, has. It's a full month of releases, and surprisingly few deal with the recent election and new…person who got sworn in. Which is a call I can appreciate, because at the moment I have anxiety enough about it. Indeed, most of the stories steer clear of actually addressing the orange elephant in the room in favor of showing what it might mean for us that he's now where he is. These are stories that imagine the future of work. The future of science. These are stories that are about what happens after a shock, a loss, a grief. They're about the desire to forget and the desire to be free and the desire to imagine a brighter world. They are an interesting bunch of pieces that seem particularly interested in the question: what next? And they have very different answers, though all of they are worth checking out. So yeah, review time!

Quick Sips - Terraform June 2016

This month's Terraform shakes things up a bit with a return of graphic fiction as well as three stories that use form and voice to very good effect. These are stories about travel and about reaching. In each of the fiction stories there is a feel of people wanting an escape. From a place they can't relate to, from overcrowding and colonial guilt, and from the constant threat of violence and death. The stories confront the reader with how these various situations effect family, effect ambition, and effect life, prompting the reader to examine how the characters respond and how it's possible to respond. Is reconciliation possible, or escape, or even life? These are serious stories that still manage to hold onto moments of humor and comedy. And without talking them to death, I'm going to get to reviewing! 

Quick Sips - Terraform February 2016

Okay yes, wow, I will admit that the February Terraform stories are damn good. These are not always cheery views of the future, but they are complex ones and well constructed ones and, at times, freaky-as-fuck ones that are fascinating and rather startling and intensely satisfying. From stories about privacy to family to wasps out to transform humanity, there's a lot of different takes on what the future might look like. But whatever the vision, the stories are moving, funny at times and heartbreaking at others. So time for some reviews!