Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 08/19/2019 & 08/26/2019

August closes out Strange Horizons with a new short story and two new poems that deal with magic and technology. From a hologram of a historical figure that has a surprising amount to say to a poem exploring the shifting end of the world, the pieces tend to look at damage, at the toxicity of expectations and roles. They examine the ways that people accept the world around them, taking it as permanent and right even as they know it isn't, even when they can see and hear from others that it has been different, that it can be different. But often it's very hard and painful to push against The Way Things Are to try and find peace and belonging, and there's often a price to be paid for it. Before I give too much away, though, let's get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lackington's #18: Magics

Art by Carol Wellart

Lackington’s gets magical this issue with six new short stories circling the theme of magic. It’s not exactly wizard duels or hidden schools that populate the worlds the stories reveal, though. Rather, the magic is often much thornier, and more subtle. Concentrated into witches, or gods, or lovers trying to make the world a better place. And in good Lackington’s fashion, the pieces all have a rather heady style to them with an emphasis on language. The stories evoke tragedy and romance, comedy and philosophy. It starts off weird and really only gets weirder from there, flowing seamlessly from one experience to the next. Each one might take a little bit of care and deliberation, but these are some fantastic works to wade into, that come alive with resolve and tenacity and, yes, magic. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Apex #112

It’s another rather large Apex Magazine this month, with three short stories and a novelette full of darkness, damage, and families. For most of the works, at least, the focus is on the pressures that people, especially women, face to blend in and accept a world that is so actively harmful to them, loaded against them. That they are pushed into participating in a system that harms and abuses them, without real help in dismantling that system. And for some, this is something to fight against, something to push back against, and maybe win some room, some progress towards a better world. And for others it’s something where any attempt to push back is met with brutal punishment and constant bombardment of abuse and humiliation. The stories map the complexities of desire and hope in settings where darkness holds sway, and they are all beautifully devastating. So, to the reviews!

Art by Joel Chaim Holtzman