Quick Sips - Mithila Reviews #11 [part 2]

Art by Edward Hicks (1848)

I’m finishing up my look at the most recent issue of Mithila Review, today checking out two short stories, one novelette, and four poems. The pieces cover a lot of thematic ground, from transplanted mythology/folklore to sea monster hunting, but I think there is a sense of resonance for me with an examination of how to live in an oppressive world. Of how to navigate the tricky and sometimes impossible landscape of capitalism or other corruption. How to exist while being near powerless, and how to try and keep hold not just of yourself and your family, but your soul as well. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Omenana #14 [part 2/2]

Art by Sunny Efemena

I close out my review of the latest Omenana today with a look at three short stories. And they are stories filled with people with powers. Powers they receive as part of a global trend, or powers they inherit from their god, or powers that seem to come by accident thanks to an experimental procedure. But all of the stories in this back half of the issue focus on what those characters do with their powers. Do they seek to better the world and right great wrongs? Or is there perhaps more important things to do, like using them to try and deal with the traumas in their lives to give themselves a bit more power in situations where they feel powerless? Whatever the case, it's some amazing short SFF that I'll get right to reviewing!

Quick Sips - Escape Pod #702 & #704

Escape Pod doubled up in October, with two original releases covering some very interesting future technologies. I almost feel like Jonathan Frakes at the beginning of Beyond Belief. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if memories...could be passed down like grandma's furniture? Or, have you ever looked at a new piece of technology and wondered "am I going to be replaced...by a machine?" The stories look at the implications of technologies that allow humans added avenues of thought and efficiency. Where people can gain the skills of the dearly departed, but might end up haunted. And where efficiency gives rise to Singularities that have already ravaged the world once, and might again. The pieces carry with them a weight of loneliness and loss, and yet refuse to be bogged down in despair. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Terraform October 2019

I thought for a minute there that there wouldn't really be much out at Terraform this month, but a few later-month releases mean that there's still some rather sharp SF visions of the future to enjoy. In one, the world is ending and the people looking down the barrel of that possible, even likely extinction have to decide how to meet the end, and how they might leave something that will outlast them. In another, a character enters a novel kind of sleep study and end up realizing that his own biases going in can have very real outcomes coming out, in a nice look at the problems with scientific studies that rely on people to describe their own results. Not exactly the spookiest content, but full of shadows all the same, and well worth checking out. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Omenana #14 [part 1/2]

Art by Sunny Efemena

In an unexpected bonus this month, Omenana is back with a brand new issue! And, well, it’s big! So big that I think what would be best for me is to break it up across two review posts. So today I’ll be looking at the first half of the issue, at four short stories that cover science fiction set on distant worlds, horror pieces much more terrestrially based, and some fantasy to round things out. It’s a challenging start to the issue, not flinching away from some very difficult truths, and it challenges readers to face some things that most would not choose to. So pay attention to the content warnings and I’ll get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Tor dot com October 2019

Art by Mary Haasdyk

October opened strong at Tor, and closed out with two short stories and a quite long novelette that mix science fiction and fantasy in interesting ways. There's a new Wild Cards story that picks up from an earlier one released on the site, so fans will definitely want to check that out, as it's fun and (dare I say) rollicking. The other two stories are a bit more somber, though, dealing with human fragility and resilience. Finding people coping with some huge issues of survival and ethics. Questioning how to make personal decisions and live responsibly when there are larger societal demands, and blurring the line between what's good for the whole and what's good for the individual. These are some dense and careful pieces while still managing to capture some wonder and beauty. So let's get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #72

Art by Amanda Makepeace

Well Fireside Magazine certainly takes its Halloween seriously, because this issues is entirely ghost-centric in order to get you into the spoopy mood. The stories explore what it means to be a ghost, what defines ghost-ness. And obviously, spread over so many stories, the place it arrives at isn't homogeneous. There are a variety of ghosts, as there are a variety of people—ghost who remember their lives and those who don't, ghosts who hunger for the living, and those who want only a break from isolation. Ghosts created by violence, and those created by longing. And it's a wonderful celebration of ghosts carried out over the issue. So let's get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/21/2019 & 10/28/2019

Art by Sarah Gonzales

The end of October brings one heart-rending story and two poems very much suited to the season to Strange Horizons. The story is gorgeous and difficult, examining a future that might as well be the past for all that history might move in circles, in cycles where certain groups are always more vulnerable, always more at risk of being stripped of their rights and lives. The poems are actually rather creepy, both of them unfolding from perspectives that gives voice to a bit of darkness. That are waiting for people to initiate a bargain that the people might not even realize they are making. But it’s enough for horror to blossom. So yeah, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #289

Art by Ferdinand Dumago Ladera

Well I think that Beneath Ceaseless Skies is starting to get in the Halloween mood, as this issues stories do kind of lean toward the spooky side. Full of darkness and difficulty, the stories find characters who are pushed into violent situations. For one of them, it’s an opportunity to repay a debt and maybe break his isolation. For the other, though, the violence is part of a control being exerted over his life, and is very much causing his isolation and pain. But both characters need to work through it in order to try and find what’s on the other side. Community perhaps. Forgiveness? Well, you’ll just have to see. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #11 [part 1]

Art by Edward Hicks (1848)

It’s been a while since the last issue of Mithila Review, but issue 11 is out now! Now, things are a little different, in that the works aren’t being released all at once. Most of the content is live, but there are some more to come, and to cope I’m going to be taking the issue in two parts. In the first half there are three stories and four poems, and there will be again when I finish up my review next month. There’s a lot to experience, from a very very short piece to a full novelette, from a satire featuring zombies to a nightmarish look at a possible future where a border wall is being built. The poetry is great, the fiction dips into some rather dark wells, and the issue as a whole is a solid experience. So glad to see a new issue from this publication. Let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Diabolical Plots #56

Art by Joey Jordan

The two stories that round out the latest issue of Diabolical Plots look at futures both bleak and bright. Or, well, mostly bleak, but with their moments of warmth and hope brought about by an awareness of the power of humanity to inspire each other (and maybe some pandas?). It features characters who in some ways are agents of the status quo. Someone responsible for enforcing a system that exploits originality. Someone responsible for getting pandas to follow through on their supposed biological imperatives. And it finds these characters pushed to examine their own methods and beliefs, to doubt that their way is the only way. It's a mix of styles and voices, but two rather neat stories that I'll get right to reviewing!

Quick Sips - Nightmare #85

Art by Elena Schweitzer / Adobe Stock Image

The stories in October’s Nightmare Magazine a quite different, though both are definitely horrifying in their own way. In one, a woman deals with being the final girl, the one left to the end of the massacres. The one who has survived twice but is now considered cursed, and has to figure out where to go from there. The other story looks a different kind of random horror, though not the kind that stalks or targets its victims specifically. This one lies in wait for a person to pass along and open themselves unknowingly to…something. It’s an interesting one-two punch, and I’ll get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/07/2019 & 10/14/2019

It's always nice when I can make a little less work for myself, and having a new story up at Strange Horizons means that I'll only be looking at the other story and two poems from last two issues. I will still hope that maybe people check out my story, "The Sloppy Mathematics of Half-Ghosts," but otherwise the issues focus on magic and revenge, the afterlife and how we tell stories. There is a great edge to the pieces, and especially to the fiction, that twists expectations when it comes to how a person can seek and accomplish vengeance. One that recognizes and actually utilizes the cyclical nature of harm and violence. So buckle up, and let's get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #288

Art by Ferdinand Dumago Ladera

Well the anniversary issue is over and it’s back to business as usual at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, which in this case means back to two stories about distance and isolation, memory and transformation. In one, a man looks back on his life and especially his youth, preparing himself for a new kind of adventure. In the other, a boy finds that he can’t remember his life, and that as a ghost he only gets to interact with the living world one day a year. Both are slow and winding stories, serene but ruled by sadness and yearning. Both find characters who are looking to move on, and might finally have found a way to do just that. It’s a somewhat sorrowful issue, and I’ll get right to reviewing it!

Quick Sips - Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! part 2 (Uncanny #30 [October stuff])

Art by Julie Dillon

Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! wraps up with these three short stories and three poems from Uncanny Magazine. Once again it’s a very eclectic mix of stories and styles, from a romantic fairy tale (with a great twist) to a dream-like piece featuring someone continually burying the dead. From a very different kind of portal fantasy to a slew of poems about disease, body image, and safety. There’s a lot to read and experience, and it’s been a phenomenal special issue that you do not want to miss. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online October 2019

Halloween month finds Flash Fiction Online in a rather horrifying mood, with three new stories to delight and terrify. Now, not all of the stories are scary, but 2/3 ain’t bad when it comes to getting into the spirit of the season, with rituals involving the dead (and undead), and an old stuffed animal who just wants some love. The pieces deal with children or teens and their families, and what they have to do in order to help those they care about, or how there are forces trying to lead them astray into ruin and shadow. There’s a lot to see, so make sure the lights are on and prepare yourself for a few quick jaunts into nightmareland. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #157

Art by Beeple

It’s a fairly large October issue from Clarkesworld, with four short stories, one novelette, and one novella. As usual, the stories lean more science fiction than fantasy, and deal with people struggling with loss, with grief, with death, and with the prospect of ruination. The stories find characters who have been through Some Shit, and are dealing with that in various ways. Veterans, star ship captains, drug addicts, the narrators and main characters face situations beyond their experience, where they must look into a new frontier, an alien face, and decide what to do next. Some of the reactions are violent, some tender, and all are worth checking out. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - GigaNotoSaurus October 2019

It’s a rather long story at GigaNotoSaurus this month, with a fresh novella for your reading enjoyment. And it’s a bit of a challenging piece, taking on ideas of vocation and fate, community and art. It centers a young woman coming of age in a community with some strange and rather extreme practises. It’s probably best described as fantasy, what with its magical talking stone, but in many ways it’s a story that could be taking place in an isolated community in the here and now, where there is a Way Things Are and an almost cult-like organization. But before I give too much away, let’s get to the review!

Quick Sips - Fiyah Literary Magazine #12 (Chains)

Art by Sophia Zarders

There’s a new issue of Fiyah Literary Magazine out now! Rejoice! The issue featuers three short stories, one novelette, and one poem that all revolve around the theme of chains. Chains that bind. Chains that chafe. In most of the pieces the chains are there to be broken, to be shattered. But that’s perhaps a simplistic way of really looking at it. Because not all the chains are broken. Not all are evil. Not all limitations are corrupt. Some are mutually agreed upon. Some chains are used for support, for anchoring, for something constructive instead of oppressive. But it’s the complex and multifaceted nature of chains that become clear in these works, and it’s a stunning issue very much worth considering. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - The Dark #53

Art by Miranda Adria

October means an issue of spooky stories from The Dark Magazine, which is mostly just business as usual, to be honest. The stories do carry some of the hallmarks of “Halloween season,” though—namely, they feature ghosts and zombies. Just...not the kind that one would expect to show up in a rather commercialized monster tale. Instead, these stories trace the roots back to something still very much dangerous and lurking at the edges of vision, in the space where the laws of man and nature seem to blur and something else asserts itself. To the reviews!