Quick Sips - Lackington's #20 [Birds part 2]

Art by Kat Weaver

And I'm back looking at the most recent and oversized Bird-themed Lackington's #20! Apparently I kinda went out of order when I read the first "half" so my apologies there. It actually rather worked out, thematically, though, as this "half" of the issue really holds together thematically, involving kinds of hauntings, kinds of festering historical wounds that need to be addressed and healed. Often those wounds are brought about by abuse, maintained through silence and contempt, and made worse by time and the constant pressure and pain those wounds cause. But in standard Lackington's fashion, these situations are rendered in lyrical, vivid prose and a sense of surreal beauty that make it all a joy to explore. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Escape Pod #708

Not all futures are so bright you gotta wear shades, and that's certainly the case in November's lone Escape Pod release, a story that explores how technology can make some wonderful things possible (printing life saving organ transplants and reviving extinct species), but in the grips of our capitalist system those wonders will always be tainted by corruption, inequality, and abuse. It's not perhaps the rosiest vision of the future, but it is a call to perhaps take the sunglasses off for to better see in all the shades and subtleties the road we as a people are speeding down, and how we might exit toward something better before it's too late. To the review!

Quick Sips - Terraform November 2019

I wasn't actually sure if there would be a release from Vice's Terraform this month, as their publishing schedule has gone rather erratic of late. But they did indeed drop a story toward the end of the month, and it's certainly on brand for near future science fiction that walks a rather dark edge. The piece looks at the future of medicine, not just in the ways that things like nanobots might be used to keep people healthy and prevent illness and damage, but also in the way that technology will effect legislation and the law. The piece is framed inside a courtroom, where the question put the court is where religious objections to medical technology meet criminal actions up to and including murder. To the review!

Quick Sips - Tor dot com November 2019

Art by Red Nose Studio

I was actually anticipating Tor to start to slow down, given their tendency to take most of the end of the year off of new releases, but November actually saw three original stories from the publication. The stories mix a sense of almost child-like wonder with some grim realities. In each the main character is sheltered in some key way, locked away, and is waiting for their moment to escape. Some of them don't know it yet, are convinced of the completeness of their isolation, their prison, but as time goes on they all find reason to see that their lives are only being partly lived, kept back from exploring the universe and all its secrets and magic. And what they do about that defines their arcs and their stories. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - PodCastle #600 & #602

November was a month to be thankful for at PodCastle, which saw the release of the 2019 Flash Fiction Contest winners. The four flashes put the total stories out from the venue at five, which makes it the most original releases of the year. And the stories do certainly show what can be done in a very short space, most of them walking the careful line between hope and despair, humor and hurt. The works do a wonderful job of boiling fantasy down into bite-sized pieces, so it's perhaps extra appropriate that they deal with food and magic, stories and fire. Before I spoil your appetite for the amazing fiction, though, let's get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lackington's #20 [Birds part 1]

Art by Kat Weaver

Lackington’s giant anniversary issue is, well, for the birds. Or perhaps of the birds would be more accurate. And it’s so big I’m breaking it up into two reviews. Today I’ll look at the first six stories of the issue, and then next month I’ll be back to review the remaining five. And it works out nicely, because the issue is structured so that the early stories carry a rather staggering emotional punch, and after a few of them the issue very kindly takes something of a break to dive into a more light-hearted and fun romp with two stories about birds overthrowing human civilization. Fun! Seriously, though, the issue flows wonderfully, capturing the trademark Lackington’s poetic feel and language mixed with resonating emotional beats and a charm that makes it a joy to read. There’s a lot to get to, too, and the theme provides ample jumping off points into some breathtaking worlds and wrenching situations. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #73

Art of Reiko Murakami

Well there's a lot to be thankful for in the November issue of Fireside Magazine, with four short stories and one poem rounding out a rather interesting mix of short SFF. From inner battles with doubt and fear and demons to an examination of superstition in times of trouble and scarcity to a heartbreaking look a prejudice and employment, the works here are meant to move and provoke. There are glimpses of futures that might be, and ruminations on realities that are, all tinged with hope, magic, and family. Before I give anything away, though, I'll get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 11/18/2019 & 11/25/2019

Art by Gary Frier

Strange Horizons closes out its November issues with a novelette and two poems, revealing settings rife with conflict and division. The pieces look at prejudice and pain, violence and intolerance. Characters are put in positions where they have been hated and hunted, where they have done their best to make lives free and fulfilling but other people keep seeking them out to take what they have. To punish them for flourishing. It’s a rather difficult pair of issues, but the works are careful and wonderful and I’ll get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #291

Art by Alexey Shugurov

The stories in the latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies revolve around friendship. In both, the characters (the main ones, at least) have been friends for a long time. And that shapes how these stories move, how they unfold. In one, the friendship is also the plot, with the characters having to deal with the ways they’ve changed since their intensely close days as young people. In the other, the friendship helps to ground two people dealing with a much more labyrinthine web of intrigues that might have implications not just for them and their city, but for an empire, a world, and maybe even beyond. So yeah, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #42

Art by Jereme Peabody

November brings a new issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, this time featuring three short stories, one novelette, and two poems. So there’s a lot of heroic fantasy to get to! And the pieces do a nice job of exploring certain themes. Second chances, for one, or the lack of them. Aging, for another, and the way that age has of teaching people lessons that are much harder to get any other way. The works are grim at times but not overly so, giving the characters some adventures, some chances to revisit things from their past. For most of them, there is hope to be taken away, even if it tastes bittersweet. And there’s just a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Nightmare #86

Art by Mikesilent / Adobe Stock Images

November’s Nightmare Magazine brings two stories that deal with violence, with torture, and in some ways with roles and expectations. Where the first focuses more on the horror of when a girl breaks from the sugar and spice and everything nice expected of her, though, the second piece is all about the horror of when women go along with those expectations. It truly is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation, and it might just take a voice reimagined from one of the most foundational texts in SFF horror to give a map of a way forward for people that rejects the abuses of convention and fights for a new way of thinking and being. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Diabolical Plots #57

Art by Joey Jordan

The two stories from Diabolical Plots this month are...well, they're rather weird. In one, a young girl reaches out to the shadows of her world. In another, a man finds himself having to fix something he thinks is too far gone. In both, the stories are grounded by a rather profound trauma. A death. A looming disaster. And they find the characters facing the prospect and reality of these situations with compassion and hope, pushing back against apathy and lethargy. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Uncanny #31 [November stuff]

Art by John Picacio

I’d say that it’s a short month from Uncanny Magazine, but despite there being only two stories and two poems, one of the stories is a whopper of a novella, so wordcount-wise it’s a very robust issue. And the novella is certainly a story that captures some of the feeling of the uncanny, strange and mixing science and magic, focusing on a girl tossed back in time, struggling with her own desire not to screw up the timeline and her desire to prevent a tragedy from happening. And the story doesn’t re-tred old ground in providing a wonderful murder mystery time travel adventure, full of shadows intense and unsettling. The rest of the stories and poems round out a strange but rather lovely and haunting feel that for me personally fits with the time of year, with the first tendrils of winter digging in, and the sudden shortening of days and deepening of night. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 11/11/2019

Following some technical difficulties, Strange Horizons officially gets into November with a story and two poems that cover difference and roles and danger. In the works, characters are faced with choices. To give into the societal pressures pushing them into their prescribed roles, or to break out of them. Or, perhaps, to bend within them enough to chance them. There are dangers whatever choice is made, though, and the works also explore what happens next, to the people who have to choose, and to the people stuck in impossible situations. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #290

Art by Alexey Shugurov

The two stories in the latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies are (to the surprise of no one, especially given the recent World Fantasy win) very well paired, circling around the ideas of gods and family and sacrifice. The stories find characters who have lived among the gods, or at least around their believers, and who have found their own way of making sense of the world. That might mean taking a more practical approach to divinity or rejecting altogether, though part of that boils down to the gods and their desires. Are they violent and competitive? Or are they part of the natural world, demanding of respect but only truly frightening when provoked? Both stories have veins of humor and grittiness, and before I give too much away, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #158

Art by Tomas Kral

November brings two short stories and three novelettes to Clarkesworld Magazine, most of them science fictional though some with fantasy elements thrown in there as well. There’s actually a strong focus on survival in this issue, on humans outliving (or not) some ecological or man-made disasters on Earth and having to decide what to do next. Having to decide whether to hold on and milk survival of every last drop of joy (and despair) or to embrace that humanity might be doomed, and that maybe it’s not the ultimate loss in the universe.

Quick Sips - GigaNotoSaurus November 2019

November brings one of my favorite subjects in SFF to GigaNotoSaurus with a novelette all about magical cooking. And it shines a light on the brutal, often toxic atmosphere that dominate in many high end kitchens, where everything is expected to be conducted perfectly every time. The story finds a woman dealing with the prejudices inside the profession, as well as the added complications of cooking with magical ingredients. She’s determined to reach for her dream of being a chef, though, and so she’s willing to press through a lot that is crushing her spirit at the same time it’s helping her get ahead. So without further delay, let’s get to the review!

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online November 2019

November’s Flash Fiction Online brings an interesting perspective on different kinds of magic and ownership. In one, both come down to a ritual, to an encircling. In another, they are tied up with memory and relationship, where items following the dissolution of a relationship go to those with more of a connection to them. And one, the ownership is of narratives, of images, and it has everything to do with the violent magic of colonialism. In all the pieces, characters are trying to reach for something, and all are dealing with corruption and power. Some are fighting against it, though, and some are rushing to embrace it. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - The Dark #54

Art by Romolo Tavani

Halloween is over but the darkness continues year round at The Dark Magazine. November brings a pair of stories that are very much about family...and the forces working to break them apart. They look at war and immigration, racism and despair, magic and peace. The characters revealed are struggling against heavy weights that seem poised to crush them, and their ways of coping are...not always the healthiest. But without other options, it’s what they have, and the stories explore what that means, and the cost it has for the characters and their families. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #114

Art by Christopher D. Park

Three short stories and a novelette round out the November fiction from Lightspeed Magazine. Things kick off with a new story in the Robot Country series, and from there things progress to soul mates and annihilation of worlds, documentaries and punchlines. And a lot of the works have what might be a particular focus on world building, on large stories that unfold even outside the constraints of the stories featured here. Especially with the Phetteplace and Lee stories, these feel more like chapters that will unfold in larger confines, where the stakes are huge but still only a taste of what will be. It's a fascinating collection of fiction, with action probably taking prominence over introspection (by and large, though not without exception) and it's certainly an issue to spend some time with. To the reviews!