Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine January 2018

It’s a rather packed start to 2018 at Fireside Magazine, which sort of goes against its url a bit in dipping into some poetry this month. With five short stories, a poem, and the final chapter in the gripping and wrenching novelette that’s been playing out the last few months, there’s a lot to take in, and the works range from speculative takes on the future of genetic manipulation and identity to fantasy worlds ruled by cruel gods to a literary examination of immigration and vulnerability. Basically, the works cover a lot of ground, united by their sharp gaze and moving styles, not by their tone or subjects. Taken as a whole, it’s a group of works that find a nice balance, some fun and sweet, some pitch black and difficult. So yeah, let’s get to the reviews!

Art by Tesslyn B

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/30/2017

It’s a special Arab SFF issue of Strange Horizons, thanks to the successful stretch goal from the fundraiser earlier this year. Two stories and four poems anchor an issue that is loud in its quiet, that keeps the speculative elements subtle and wrenching, and that focuses on frustration, fear, and corruption. These are works that show characters trying to live their lives and finding that other forces and factors are making that difficult where it’s not impossible. The works look at immigration and distance, voice and home and faith, and they all do a great job of showing why international SFF is important to experience, to find the visions of the world that we might not otherwise be exposed to. So let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #8

As always, there’s a lot to see in the latest issue of Mithila Review, which seeks to look a bit at visual arts. For original fiction, there’s one flash, one short story, and one novelette, and there are nine different poems, not to mention a reprint and a load of nonfiction that I will leave you to discover on your own. What’s here, though, and what I’m looking at in my review, does an amazing job of showing people coming into contact with the unknown. Shows people who assume based on the narratives they have been told about the nature of the world. And who find that they can’t accept those narratives. That only by challenging the stories that other people tell about the world can its nature truly be revealed. The poems expand on this as well and everything works together wonderfully to create an issue that is cohesive and sharp. But I guess I should just get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 04/18/2016 & 04/25/2016

April is nearly over and before May rears it's head I wanted to look at the latest offerings from Strange Horizons, which includes a story, two poems, and a piece of nonfiction. As always, there's more to explore in terms of nonfiction that I recommend everyone check out, but time being what it is I'm just looking at the one piece this time. It's a nicely balanced bunch of content, a story that is equal parts funny and poignant, poems that complicate and hit and refuse to go down quietly, and a nonfiction work that does what I always appreciate--points me in the direction of some great books. So let's get to those reviews!

Quick Sips - Fantastic Stories of the Imagination #232

Kicking off the new year right, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination is back with two very short stories that still manage some weight, some punch, and so depth. The stories both fall into the fantasy side of thing, but more than that both feature characters dealing things things a bit out of the ordinary, magical events that, at first, they weren't really ready to deal with and now have become...well, not used to them, but they are now able to act. To face the strangeness and the powers that seem aligned against them and to take moral action. The stories pair well and I should just get to reviewing them.