Quick Sips - Nightmare #68

May brings a pair of original stories to Nightmare Magazine that look at families and different kinds of hauntings. That feature situations that might seem terrifying at first, but mostly only at the surface. That, once you really dig down into them, the horror and the violence seems to bleed away, and something like compassion, like joy, like love begins to shine through. These are stories that feature some definite abuses, that feature characters lashing out at times, but they also feature a reaching toward something better. A healing of wounds. A justice snatched from the hands of corruption. And though they are not exactly easy reads, they are definitely beautiful reads very much worth checking out. To the reviews!

Art by Grandfailure / Fotolia

Quick Sips - Uncanny #13 (December Stuff)

This issue of Uncanny Magazine features a lot of pieces that examine the idea of knights. Of men and their blades and their games. People who are sworn to serve and protect, even if they call themself a plumber instead of a knight errant. Even if they wear a cape. It's a full month, too, with three stories, a poem, and two pieces of nonfiction that I'm looking at. These are pieces that complicate what it means to be a knight, what it means to fight and what it means to have control of the story. And they also look at what happens when the knight might lose control of the story, and something unexpected might break the cycle of chivalry and misogyny that permeates many a knightly tale. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Julie Dillon

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 05/16/2016, 05/23/2016, & 05/30/2016

Okay, so closing up May is proving to take longer than anticipated, but the good news is there's tons of great stuff from this month to enjoy, including another three weeks of content from Strange Horizons. Three fiction pieces, three poems, and a pair of nonfiction makes this a rather weighty post, and it's definitely not any lighter when you look at the subject matter. Loss and growth and guilt dominate—characters stuck in cycles and wanting to know where to go, what to do, where their place is. And with all this great content, I should just get to the reviews!

Quick Links - 02/28/2016

Oh fuck. Welp, because of the Sippy Awards, my Sundays were full there for a while, and because I'm just sort of a lazy bastard I've been rather terrible about posting my review links. But here they are. There are a lot, but my #KTBookChallenge has begun. I think most of the books here from the end of 2015 count toward it, too, so hurrah! Anyway, there's a lot to get to, so here you go!

Blacksad: A Silent Hell by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - I rather love the artwork of this series a bit more than I like the plots, because while Blacksad has a nice noir feel to it and it does some interesting things, the art steals the show every time.

Brightness Falls From The Air by James Tiptree, Jr (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - This is the first I've read of James Tiptree, Jr.'s novel-length work, and it was weird and difficult and there was a lot going on and things went really, really strange there for a while. But vastly imaginative and sad and good.

Dare by Philip José Farmer (Goodreads, my score 1/5) - My only 1-star rating on Goodreads for 2015, and I'm not sure it completely deserves it more than some of my 2-star reviews, but this one is just...well, calling it dated I don't think really goes far enough. It's...I did not enjoy it at all.

The Apex Book of World SF Vol 4 edited by Mahvesh Murad (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - I like how this collection takes on the idea of World SF and complicates it. A very interesting and rather important idea, and one that the anthology handles very well.

The Apex Book of World SF Vol 4 edited by Mahvesh Murad (Nerds of a Feather, my score 8/10) - And the second review of it (or really the first, as I normally do all my NoaF reviews first and then Goodreads second for books that I review for both. Still a very good collection.

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads, my score 5/5) - This was one of my favorite books of 2015, with a great style and innovative structure. The whole thing is a mystery set in an alternative past that has space travel and is just rather charming all the way around!

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Nerds of a Feather, my score 9/10) - Another review of this book, which really I would just keep on reviewing. It's great, and there's so much to think about and read into and just all the yes!

Dowry Meat by Heather Knox (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - Speculative poetry from a local poet that I actually went to university with. I ran into her at the local grocery store and learned that this book exists and it is great!

Marginalia to Stone Bird by R.B. Lemberg (Goodreads, my score 5/5) - More speculative poetry and another great one, filled with poems that cross borders and boundaries. Many of these I had already loved from when they came out around the web in 2014/2015. Very, very good!

Marginalia to Stone Bird by R.B. Lemberg (Nerds of a Feather, my score 9/10) - And hey look, another book that I reviewed twice. It's always nice when I really like the books that I have to write this much about! :)

Half World by Hiromi Goto (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - This is the first I've read of  Hiromi Goto's novel-length work and it is delightful. Lots of really weird and unsettling places while maintaining a nice YA feel and setting. And now I want more.

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - This is the first I've read of Nalo Hopkinson's novel-length work, too, which I guess makes sense as it was her debut. A great and rather uncomfortable story of family and magic.

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (Nerds of a Feather, my score 9/10) - A book so good I've reviewed it three times now. Seriously, seriously good, and probably tied with The Summer Prince as my favorite YA I read in 2015.


**NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART** - my ongoing reviews of graphic erotic works, mostly manga and graphic novels

Love on the Job Vol 1 by Chihiro Harumi (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - This is a rather cute het romance/sex romp, just fun and ridiculous and lots of sex. Rather vanilla stuff, but still a fine read.

Club for Cross Dressers by Kuromame (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - Ah, cross dressing. I quite like most of the stories in this book, but...hmm, I'm just not sure on some things about it. As written/translated, these are non-explicit m/m romance stories.