About six years ago, the first review to appear on Quick Sip Reviews covered Clarkeworld #100. Now, I’m covering Clarkesworld #171. So…it’s something of a moment for me. The issue brings the normal focus on science fiction, but also manages to weave a theme of home throughout the seven original stories. Home is something that means very different things to different people, and the works explore those definitions, those ideas, those realities through the lens of fiction. It’s not the happiest of issues (which I note only to say that if the publication wanted more happy submissions I’d recommend first publishing happier works) but a rather hauntingly beautiful bunch of stories. To the reviews!
The latest issue of Clarkesworld is out and it’s a big one, with five short stories, a novelette, and a novella to enjoy. As always, the stories have a distinct science fiction bend to them, but with touches of fantasy and horror mixed into the sci-fi as well. More than that, many of the stories are about isolation and intense relationships, the people caught in ways, pulled toward loneliness and directionlessness, trying to find ways forward, trying to find where they belong and what their lives will look like. Not all of them find happy endings. Many of them find that their choices are extremely limited to factors in and outside of their control. Whatever their outcomes, though, the journeys are at turns beautiful and terrifying, and worth checking out. To the reviews!
Two short stories and two novelettes make for a fairly full month from Tor dot com. On top of yet another Mongolian Wizard story, there are works about inter-dimensional airships, torture in the name of psychological research, and a group of young women camping in the woods. The pieces lean on the dark side, highlighting drain and the stress of living in situations where exploitation is the law of the land. But some also find people trying to break free of the cycle, even as others show people being consumed by it. A nice range of stories, which I'll get right to reviewing!
Well what started as a large month at Tor.com sort of tapered off quickly, with only one short story and one novelette in May. Both works are linked by being part of larger series, though, the first one of the Mongolian Wizard cycle starring Ritter and Freki, the other one a new work in the Wild Cards universe. Both do interesting things with the settings and characters, featuring people on missions that…aren’t quite what they seem. If that means a journalist who ends up uncovering a story he wasn’t prepared for or a detective solving a crime that never happened, the pieces are all about the unexpected. My role in all of this isn’t, though, so as usual, let’s get to the reviews!
Well I was reassured by Tor.com that their fiction releases are just on a holiday schedule and not suddenly disappearing. The schedule suits me (as it gives plenty of room for the holidays), though it's a bit sad to have less to read, because the stories this month are fairly strong. We have a new installment of the Mongolian Wizard series, which I hope is on its way to really complicating itself, as well as a few rather short short stories taking on the roll of the Supreme Court and...goblins. All in all, a good month of fiction, and things will probably return more to normal (read: more releases) in the new years. So to the reviews!
Here is the second part of my review of this month's Tor stories. And yes, I am glad that I broke these up, because not only is there more fiction but another graphic story that I wanted to review, having just read the thing that it spins out of. All in all, it's another fine month from Tor, with a lot of fun and some darker and more poignant moments as well. Most of the stuff in this installment, though, is tie-in material, or at least stories that seem to fit within larger narratives. Interesting work, and for those looking for some new series, maybe the tastes will be tantalizing enough to seek further. Anyway, to the reviews!
Providing nothing comes out in the next few days, there are four stories this month from Tor. Things lean a bit more fantasy than science fiction this month, with an alt-historical fantasy leading things off and leading into two stories that blend genres quite well, part science fiction, part fantasy, and ending with a story of witches and magic and birthday parties. There are certainly some fine stories in the bunch, most of them about seeking for something without quite knowing what it is. Seeking a miracle, perhaps, or seeking the truth about one's heritage, or seeking to stop an injustice from being committed. What is found, though, is normally something more than expected, something that opens up for the characters whole new worlds of possibilities. A fine month of stories that I should just review already.
