Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online December 2016

It's the last 2016 issue of Flash Fiction Online and the publication is definitely sending the year off with an interesting mix of SFF short fiction. There's Robert Redford and physical grief and a generation ship with some seriously sketchy policies. These are tales that bring to mind endings and new beginnings. Whether the ending is a death or a destination, the stories all look to how people react to their world being changed in some important way, even if that only means being visited by the phantom of a celebrity. It's a bit of a strange issue, but 2016 was a strange year. So yeah, let's get to the reviews! 

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Sips - Uncanny #9 (April Stuff)

Spring might be in the air but Uncanny Magazine is keeping things in April rather fucking dark. In the best of ways. These are stories that hit and hit hard. Some of them very hard, with characters that shine but situations that are a bit outside their control. Where tragedy seems like that rolling boulder in Indiana Jones and the characters are quite fast enough to...well, the stories and the poetry mix tragedy and happiness, love with loss. It's a challenging issue but also a very good one, with exciting worlds to explore and emotions to feel. So time to review!

Art by Katy Shuttleworth

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 03/28/2016, 04/04/2016, & 04/11/2016

Today I'm catching up a bit with Strange Horizons, with three weeks of excellent fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. The fiction seems to be rather...familial in theme, exploring the relationships between mothers and children, especially, and challenging parental expectations and childhood autonomy. It's some complex reading, to be sure, paired with poetry that looks to the stars as well as inward, that speaks of creation and gives a few meta comments on poetry and art. Plus a piece of nonfiction that's very interesting, especially in light of the fiction that's featured here. But before I ruin everything, to the reviews!

Art by Galen Dara

Quick Sips - Fantastic Stories of the Imagination #233

Spring has officially sprung and at Fantastic Stories of the Imagination it means it's time for tales that bend reality a bit. New perspectives, from a woman brushing against a world dark and alluring to a man recoiling from an experience trading away his past. Plus there's an excellent, amazing crash course in SFF history that I'm super excited about diving into. The stories are interesting and complex, the nonfiction invigorating, and the issue has a feel of springtime to it. So let's get to those reviews!

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online January 2016

2016 is officially here, and my first review of an actual issue is, of course, Flash Fiction Online. Why? Well, firstly because the publication is always out on time, the first day of the month, and because it's just the right length for kicking off the new month and the new year. Three flash fiction stories, all razor-sharp and punchy and complex, the issue continues to provide high quality (very) short stories month after month. This issue is all about starting over, which is fitting for the new year. The stories all circle around the idea, either of going back to try life again or else leaving behind an old life to start a new one or else having to keep going after a loss. The stories show how people handle the idea of endings and beginnings, and there's a lot to like in them. So let's start the first reviews of 2016!

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online May 2015

Three new original stories this month at Flash Fiction Online, and they all fall on the speculative spectrum. For that, though, there is a nice variety, from a off-world science fiction to a contemporary science fiction to a nice, dark fantasy. As always, these are some short short stories worth checking out, short enough to be read all in one go without really losing much time for it. And at the beginning of the month, it's nice at times to not have to worry about a huge issue to get through. So yeah, let's get to it!

Art by Dario Bijelac