Quick Sips - Orthogonal #3: Criminal Variations

There’s a new issue of Orthogonal out and this time the theme is crime. The way that the stories take on the theme are varied and, largely, very strange. There’s corrupt and abusive pastors, a number of conversations concealing pain and death and damage, and a number of people seemingly broken by their experiences and lives. The stories are not the happiest of pieces, either, which might be because of how they look at crime and criminals. The perversion of law and justice. These stories are bleak and they are uncomfortable, featuring characters making difficult decisions or trying to avoid making difficult decisions. So, before I ramble on any more, to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Orthogonal SF: Code

The second issue of Orthogonal SF is out and this time it's focusing on the theme of codes. Not necessarily in the traditional sense of puzzles and ciphers, though. Instead, these stories seem to rely more on language as code. As sensation as code. About interpreting what is foreign, what is alien, and trying to make sense of it while realizing that our lives are codes, are narratives, and how we shape those narratives shapes just not our perception of the universe but the actual shape of the universe as well. These stories are at times opaque and quite stylistic but pointedly so and movingly so and so, without further delay, I will get to reviewing them! 

Quick Sips - Orthogonal SF "The War at Home"

A new publications has appeared! Orthogonal SF is a new speculative fiction venue (despite the name, these are not all science fiction, which I like FWIW) formed a bit out of spite. And anger. And that does come through a bit in this first issue, which is fairly dark but also nicely balanced. The stories are moving and do have a strong vein of anger to them, as well as the claustrophobic feel of being trapped and trying to get out, with a bit about anonymity and archetypes thrown in for good measure. It's an interesting mix of stories, and I'm just going to get to the reviews, shall I?