Quick Sips - Augur #3.2 [part 2]

Art by Lorna Antoniazzi

Okay, so the latest issue of Augur is...big! Having just covered the first half of it, I would probably have waited to tackle the second half until next month. But as this is my last month doing these kinds of reviews, I’m going for it. Three short stories, four poems, and a graphic story all round out the issue, and it continues to be a complex and at times fairly grim collection. Like the first half, there are themes of loss and cultural destruction, the pressures of capitalism and colonialism. But there’s still some hope, and even a bit of fun, and I appreciate the varied ways the issue treats trauma and the decision to make change, to act in the face of corruption. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Terraform April 2018

It's a full April for Motherboard's Terraform line, with five stories (and none of them flash). And what strikes me the most about the stories this round are the ways that they play with expectation and form. For many of the pieces, there is a very conscious engagement with form and with what those forms traditionally mean. From nonfiction articles to academic papers to social media posts and beyond, the stories feature people working through future worlds where things are on the verge of disaster. Where extinction might be only a step away. Where the slide into dystopia seems well on its way. Except that for some there's also this hope that not every slide is into death and chaos. That sometimes a leap forward comes right at the moment when everything seems to be going wrong. So let's get to the reviews!