Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 06/27/2016, 07/04/2016, & 07/11/2016

It's probably no real surprise that in the pieces for the first half of Strange Horizon's Our Queer Planet there is a sense of longing. A hunger. To see and be seen, to comfort and be comforted. To reach out and act on desires that are dangerous, to fly in the face of convention and doubt. These stories and poems and works of nonfiction are affirming and powerful. Beautiful and refined and raw and bleeding and staunched and just so good. These are stories that I as a reader am hungry for, poems that I want to see more of, nonfiction that helps me both think about my reading and writing and also about my queerness. There's so much good here and I'm going to get to those reviews! 

Art by Alex Araiza

The Monthly Round is up!!!

Here we go! My monthly recommendations (and drink pairings) for June 2016 are up over at Nerds of a Feather

The tl;dr results are:


Tasting Flight:
"Life in Stone, Glass, and Plastic" by José Pablo Iriarte (Strange Horizons)
"Omoshango" by Dayo Ntwari (Lightspeed)
"Kid Dark Against the Machine" by Tansy Rayner Roberts (The Book Smugglers)
"Nothing But the Sky" by Gwendolyn Clare (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
"Things with Beards" by Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld)
"The Drowning Line" by Haralambi Markov (Uncanny)

Shots:
"u wont remember dying" by Russell Nichols (Terraform)
"Morning Cravings" by Nin Harris (Lightspeed)
"Choose Your Killer" by Abhishek Bhatt (Mithila Review)

Cheers!

Quick Sips - Unlikely Story 12.5 - The Journal of Unlikely Observances

The latest offering from Unlikely Story is out, and this time it's The Journal of Unlikely Observances. The call for this issue included a list of elements, a certain number of which had to be in each story. Water fights. Resurrections. Celebrations. What comes out of those guidelines is a very fn and mostly joyous issue. Now, full disclosure, I have a story in this issue as well, and as my custom I will not be looking at it here. But that still leaves a bunch of stories to see and experience and love. Stories that touch on what it means to live and be free and imagine a different world. Stories that touch on death and rebirth and cycles and history. Stories that I should really just start reviewing! 

Art by Linda Saboe

Quick Sips - Fantasy Scroll #13

As if deeply understanding the shit that has been world news of late, the most recent Fantasy Scroll arrives to lighten the mood. Mostly. There is a definite sense of fun to a lot of the stories in the issue, and as always with the graphic series Shamrock. But more than that there's also a great momentum to the issue, moving from light and funny to more serious themes. Even at its darkest and more bleak, though, the issue's stories know how to hold onto the light, onto hope, and in the midst of some truly frightening events happening around the world, the issue is a pleasant distraction and a nice mix of genres. So time to review!

Art by Todor Hristov

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 - Tor dot com June 2016

It's another full month of fiction at Tor dot com with five original fiction that mostly stick to fantasy but with a few science fiction or at least science fictional elements going on as well. It's also something of a mixed bag for me personally, but I think overall the good outweighs the things I didn't quite care so much for. What's for sure is that there's a lot to think about in these stories, from what justice might look like in a post apocalypse to what it might be to have Sasquatch governors. It's what speculative fiction is all about, asking "What if?" and trying to provide a satisfying answer. Now to the reviews!

Art by Alyssa Winans

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #202

The stories in this issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies are, to me, about choice. In two very different settings, with two very different characters, choice is examined and pulled apart. It's not exactly the most optimistic of issues, as both stories focus in many ways on how sometimes, despite what you choose, there's no real escaping punishment. There's no real justice. It's a view that is shaped by their circumstances, by what they witness and experience. They are dark stories, haunting and beautiful, and I'm going to jump right into the reviews! 
 

Art by Martin Ende

Quick Sips - The Sockdolager #6 Summer 2016

This is my first issue reviewing The Sockdolager, and I'm definitely glad I've added it to my list. The goal of the publication is to provide stories that are fun to read. Not stories that are shallow, but stories that breathe life into the reader. That provoke a smile, or a grin, or a laugh. That are full of energy and style. And it delivers. The stories tend a bit more toward the fantasy (and especially contemporary fantasy), but there's some science fiction here as well, and some horror. There's enough variety that nothing gets old, that each story hits well, bows, and clears the stage for the next act. So let's get this show on the road, because it's review time! 
 

Art by Paul Starr and Alison Wilgus

Quick Sips - Apex #85

If ever you forget that Apex Magazine is a market for dark fiction and horror, just pick up this issue and be reminded. Because the stories and poetry this issue are pretty fucking intensely dark. The stories especially look at violence and fear and cycles of abuse and hate and...well, they aren't exactly happy strolls in the park. But they are compelling, gritty, and good. Though violent and at times bleak, they do reach for hope, and they end in ways that maybe...well, just read them to find out. The poetry adds a nice layer as well, from a creepy series of journal entries to a piece I want put to jazz to a slice of something serene...and inhuman. So without further ado, the reviews!
 

Art by Joe Badon

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 06/06/2016, 06/13/2016, & 06/20/2016

Today I'm looking at three weeks of content from Strange Horizons, and there is certainly a lot to see. Three original stories, three poems, and two nonfiction pieces anchor what has been a very strong, and very wide-ranging array of pieces. The fiction, though, is pretty heavily contemporary fantasy, stories that mix magic with very different life experiences. Characters of different classes, races, genders, and sexualities all confront magic in their own ways, from ghosts to art to traditions. The poems take readers to far off worlds and plunge into the heart of myths. And the nonfiction looks at history and awards and place. There's a lot to enjoy, so I'm just going to get to the reviews! 

Art by Sandro Castelli

Quick Sips - The Book Smugglers June 2016

The Year of the Superhero continues at The Book Smugglers with two stories that combine a nice sense of fun with more touching and serious messages about age, choice, trauma, and  hope. One of the stories acts a bit like a meta-narrative about how superheroes and origin stories and sidekicks don't quite translate out of comic books into the real world. How giving young people powers and telling them to fight crime isn't exactly the most responsible of things. And there's some saying about power and responsibility in comic books that…well, you get the idea. And the other bridges the gap between two novels with a heartwarming story about falling from the sky...and getting back up again. To the reviews! 

Art by Jade Liebes

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceasless Skies #201

Some issues of Beneath Ceaseless Skies are all about violence and darkness. And some, like this one, are a bit more about good old fashioned adventuring. Tracking down a run-away noble. Delving into a forgotten tomb. Finding riddles in stories. Talking (and fighting) out of impossible situations. The stories here have a bit more of a "classic" feel. They're also rather hopeful tales of looking forward, of meeting adventure with a ready wit and readier sword. Time to review! 

Art by Martin Ende

Quick Sips - Nightmare #45

The great thing about speculative horror that Nightmare Magazine always showcases is how wide a field it is. From contemporary fantasy to off-world science fiction to historical fantasy to basically any speculative genre, horror can be added. This month's issue sees a pair of stories that at first blush seem vaguely similar. But one is a military contemporary fantasy and the other a near-future science fiction and both are creepy in their own ways, filled with strange sights and a darkness lurking, ready to consume. These are stories about place, about darkness stepping out from where it had been confined and into a whole new world. So to the reviews! 

Art by Jeffrey Collingwood

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #73 - People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction - THE FICTION

Though it appeared first in the issue, I'm tackling the original fiction of Lightspeed's People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! after the flash because, well, I needed the extra time. There are ten stories here, and fully half the stories are novelettes, so there is a lot of stuff to get through. Which is good, amazing news. The stories here more than live up to the premise of the issue and the reputation of the publication. These are stories that hit and sink, that confront and confide and conflict. These stories work. They're at turns heartwarming and tragic, darkly humorous and beautifully poetic. These are stories to savo(u)r. To take your time with. So pour yourself something strong (you'll need it for some of these), and make yourself comfortable. To the reviews! 

[For those looking for my thoughts on the Flash Fiction from the issue, go here.]

Art by Christopher Park

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #4

The June Mithila Review is out and to me is all about time and weight. About cycles of harm and history and time and intent and the hope of breaking free. The hope of finding a way to something better, to something not tainted with the violence of harm and loss and grief. There's a reaching in these stories and poems, a looking at what works and what doesn't work. What falls apart under the gaze of context and what might have a chance of standing up. It's a great issue with a nice mix of poetry and fiction and it's time to review!

Art by Ashim Shakya

Quick Sips - Shimmer #31 (June Stuff)

The science fiction issue continues at Shimmer with two more stories this month that examine place and care and struggle. Both stories, as promised in the issue's editorial, make fine use of language to build their worlds, their voices. The stories blood onto the page with strangeness and with yearning and both make use of characters facing the end of something. The end of the world, the end of a single life. There are moments of profound change and resistance and I'm just going to get to those reviews! 

Art by Sandro Castelli

Quick Sips - Uncanny #10 (June Stuff)

Just when I think I have Uncanny Magazine figured out there comes something of a curve ball. Which, I suppose, is a sort of pattern in itself, but this month's fiction offerings are probably the darkest bunch the publication has put out. These are stories that leak inky waters and blood and darkness. So of course they're about family, and about curses, and about the momentum of violence and oppression. There isn't an awful lot of hope in these tales, but that's part of their beauty and a large part of their tragedy. It's a powerful issue, if not a happy one, that I'm going to review now!

Art by Galen Dara

Quick Sips - GigaNotoSaurus June 2016

June brings a rather heavy story to GigaNotoSaurus, one that builds a complex second world and fills it with war, intolerance, and hope. I'm fascinated by stories that tackle the very delicate ethics of medicine and trying to do good in the face of potentially losing patients. And the story does not look away from the blood, from the risk, from the layers of guilt and pain caused when medicine is something that is not valued or sanctified. It's a difficult story and not exactly a happy one, but it is good and I'm going to just review it already! 

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #117

Anchored by a novella in translation and populated by powerful stories, the June Clarkesworld takes a look at identity and self, harm and loss. The stories all crowd around moments of otherness and bridging otherness, of hurt and soothing hurt, of alien voices and learning to see the human in them. These stories are difficult and raw and imaginative and I almost can't believe that there's The Thing fanfiction but there is and I'm just going to jump into these reviews! 

Art by Vincent LAÏK

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #73 - People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction - THE FLASH

It's here! Lightspeed Magazine's People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction is here!!! And wow. The Destroy! issues have been great since the first go and this third round is no less deep or profound or hitting. Because of the enormous nature of the project, I'm breaking up the issue into its constituent parts and looking first at the flash fiction. I'll be back to look at the longer pieces as well, but that might take a bit longer... These stories, though. There's humor and hope and crushing despair and all the things in between. These pieces of flash know how to hit and hit hard and leave the reader gasping. They are going and there's a lot to get to so to the reviews!

Art by Christopher Park