Quick Sips 01/28/2022

I made it! Kinda by the hair on my chin but I managed to close out my regular reviews for 2021. Not a huge week for it this week, but I manage to pick up the last of the 2021 Escape Artists podcasts, as well as the latest from Omenana. And really, given what a hectic time these last few months have been, this is something of a relief to finally close in on. A bittersweet relief, because it means that this chapter of Quick Sip Reviews is closing, but a relief all the same. This isn’t the end! Just a change. We’ll see what the future brings!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 12/17/2021

The slowdown continues, but I’m still working as hard as I can to catch up on 2021 content. This week I think I finish up what I had missed from November, covering last month’s Mermaid’s Monthly, Tor, and Escape Artists releases (Pseudopod and Cast of Wonders, specifically, as Escape Pod and PodCastle were entirely reprints). I also got through the latest from Lackington’s, so I did manage to get to a little bit of December content. And it’s all rather great stuff. The deadline for the secret thing I’m working on is almost upon me, too, so we’ll see what I can get to next week, but I’ll keep on trying!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 11/12/2021

Well I can’t say I’m not firing on all cylinders this week, as my review load just to get through the October content I hadn’t covered already meant I had to do a lot of reading and reviewing. It also means that yeah, I only cover October content this week, despite it being decidedly November. But I did get through all the October Escape Artists original offerings (except the special, which honestly, I have no idea how to cover, so I might just skip that for now). But that’s three episodes of Cast of Wonders, two each of Escape Pod and Pseudopod, and a special flash fiction edition of PodCastle. Plus the Fund Drive issue of Strange Horizons and the latest from Samovar. Plus October’s Diabolical Plots, Tor, and Mermaids Monthly. And if all that weren’t enough, Omenana released a late issues as well, and seems to be planning to release another before the end of the year. So yeah, any hopes of breezing into 2022 are pretty much gone. Still, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. Onward.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 10/01/2021

And the reviews just keep on coming. At the time this is posting publicly, October will have officially begun and there will only be a quarter of the year to go! Which…scary! But also, light at the end of the tunnel! This week I’m getting kind of all over, catching up on a bunch of smaller issues, mainly, as well as some novellas that came out a little while ago. Yay! That means I’m still in September (or earlier) territory, checking out this month’s The Deadlands and Clarkesworld. Plus the latest Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Strange Horizons. Plus all the Escape Artist episodes I’ve been behind on. So yeah, an eventful week hopping around, and lost of great short SFF to cover!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 09/10/2021

In some ways this week is a disappointment, because I don’t really get into more September content like I wanted. But I do finish off (I think) the regularly scheduled August stuff, which was the primary goal anyway. This includes stuff I was expecting, like the Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Tor, the stuff I kinda sorta forgot I hadn’t gotten to like GigaNotoSaurus, and the stuff I was bracing for that still ended up being more than I had prepared for like Strange Horizons and Mermaids Monthly. Plus some work from the Escape Artists that I’m always vaguely on the lookout for but still manages to sneak up on me. All told, it’s not a small week by any means, heavy on the poetry, but full and full of some great short SFF!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 08/20/2021

So August reading is officially well underway, and I sort of jump around a bit to start things off, in part because a lot of different places have already had a few releases. So I hit Flash Fiction Online and The Dark, as usual, and then grab two issues of Strange Horizons (looks like there will probably be a special issue dropping at the end of this month there) as well as individual issues of Escape Pod, PodCastle, and Pseudopod. Then it’s checking out the new Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Clarkesworld. I had kinda wanted to get the latest Beneath Ceaseless Skies, too, but alas, it was not in the cards. As it is there’s still lots to get to, including a few novelettes and a novella, though only a few poems. Still, it’s a full week!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 07/30/2021

Well I knew that this was going to be a bit of a smaller week for reviews compared to last week, though that doesn’t mean much given last week. I think I did end up slightly under average, but I did still get to quite a bit, rounding up a lot of the month’s releases. Luckily for my schedule, it seems like the Escape Artists aren’t doing many originals lately at PodCastle or Escape Pod, so that helped me catch up on Cast of Wonders and Pseudopod, as well as making sure I got to this month’s GigaNotoSaurus, which I would normally have read sooner. I also got to check out the new Diabolical Plots, The Deadlands, Fireside Magazine, and Omenana, as well at the latest week’s Strange Horizons, so a lot of ground I covered, all told, even if the total number of pieces covered isn’t huge. It leaves only a few things (I hope) to catch up on for next week (namely Mermaids Monthly, Tor, and another issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies). I am sort of catching up on reading, but also not. So it goes.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 06/18/2021

And like always, there’s a lot to get to this week. Most of it is regular monthly/weekly stuff, though there’s a new issue of Hexagon as well as a new Driesch story that I had missed from earlier. The week is almost entirely short stories, too, which isn’t incredibly odd but two poems (and only 2 novelettes) means that short stories are far and away the majority of what I’m covering. Taken over the year so far things are a little more balanced, with 554 short stories, 49 novelettes, 8 novellas, and 174 poems. I have a few more novellas to read (mostly from Neon Hemlock) coming up, but otherwise I think the mix is about right. Honestly I think it would be difficult to really increase novelettes and novellas without taking on more of the digests, and at this point I’m not in a place to do that. I don’t have flash fiction marked out, either, though I’m sure that’s pretty well represented as well, given trends. Indeed!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 05/07/2021

More new things! Yes, I know, that’s a recurring theme with me, but I just can’t help it (more like I just can’t say no when there’s an opportunity to review something and I feel like I have time). So I’m adding Reckoning to my rotation. The thing with that is the publication only comes out once a year, so…I’m already done with 2021 there. This week I’m also covering a new The Future Fire and the return of Samovar after a bit of a wait. Plus the latest Mermaids Monthly, Tor, and various Escape Artists podcasts. This will hopefully close out April releases (unless I’ve missed something), so next week I’ll be fully into May. After more novelettes and novellas last week, though, this week it’s almost entirely short stories and poetry. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, especially when it’s a lot of wonderful works!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 04/23/2021

And welcome back! I know I know I said that I was basically done with new venues but I feel that I’ve mostly stuck to that, for all that I’m adding another today. It’s more, though, that Cast of Wonders hadn’t had original stories until just now, and I feel I technically added it back when I added Pseudopod (essentially the beginning of the year. So there. But then, I also am looking at a new poetry collection today. But that’s a one off! And probably I don’t need to make excuses for any of this, because I doubt anyone is actually upset that I’m getting to more reviews. And aside from Cast of Wonders, Omenana also put out its first issue of the year, which is always reason to celebrate. I’m excited about the editorial that says they’re hoping to get a more regular schedule, and I’m wishing them all the best with that!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 03/26/2021

A new week, and new reasons for me to once again add new venues to my reading. I mean, obviously. What could go wrong? Seriously, though, I’m adding both Future Science Fiction Digest and The Future Fire to my reading, both of which I’ve admired from afar for a while but couldn’t fit into my plans. The Future Fire issue is technically from January so oops there, but better late than never I hope. I’m also looking at some single-author stuff, including a new installment in Julie C. Day’s mosaic novel/story collection and a collection of speculative crip lit by Brian Koukol, whose work I enjoyed when it appeared in GigaNotoSaurus a while ago. But yeah, lots to cover today, even if it’s technically not a huge week numbers-wise. Cheers!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 03/19/2021

Just go ahead and ignore me whenever I say I’m done adding publications to cover. I’ll stop saying it, because I apparently can’t resist having a bit of time and immediately going to track down more to read. Just the way I am, I guess. And this week I’m adding some more…again. Both Hexagon Magazine and the Future Fire and new to my coverage, though neither are terribly new to me personally. It’s nice to be able to add them to my reading, though, and already I’ve found a lot of great stories in them. Further, here’s the first time I’m adding stories from a single author collection, but I do plan on continuing that trend, so that while I’ll only be covering the original stories, I’ll still definitely be able to keep up with some that might otherwise have slipped by. Otherwise not too much to report.

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 02/26/2021

So there’s a lot to get to today. A LOT. And most of it rather new to me, including me starting coverage on a new magazine, a new serial/mosaic project, and quick reviews on yet another anthology from last year (which I missed at the time and which is Ah-Mazing! Just saying). On top of that there’s a new Translunar Travelers Lounge, new Strange Horizons, and new Pseudopod works all out. So from my lightest week to, well, this deluge of SFF goodness. Wow!

NOTE: This will be a recurring note that will run with every Quick Sips. First, please note that I don’t necessarily mention every story or poem out in an issue. I am giving myself permission to either DNF stories, or else finish and just not comment on them. Please don’t assume it’s because I disliked the work! There are many reasons I might chose not to comment on a piece, and I reserve the right to do just that. Second, you might notice the notations at the end of the micro reviews and wonder what the [c# t#] is. These are for the Scales of Relative Grimness and a full explanation of them can be found through the tab at the top of the page or through this link. With that said, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips 02/19/2021

So the year continues to give me the chance to expand my coverage, and I’m happy to add Prismatica Magazine to my rotation, as well as Pseudopod. I’m also happy that most of the feedback I’ve been getting about the Scales of Relative Grimness has been positive. Though, that might be because I haven’t been hearing any of the negative feedback. Again, I do encourage people to reach out if they have objectives. I am always willing to listen.

It's hard to reckon that the year is already a month and a half over. 2021 feels like a mess still, but something of an exciting mess. I’ve got some amazing news, namely that I have a short story collection coming out later this year! The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories will be released from Lethe Press in the autumn. It even has a phenomenal cover that I revealed over on my Patreon publicly on Monday. So yeah, between that and We’re Here, it’ll be a rather me-heavy year. Yay! Anyway, sorry, that’s a bit of an aside. Reviews to follow the regular note!