September brings a certain return to form for my enjoyment of the stories from Tor dot com. Meaning, I like them. Quite a bit. The four stories provide a moving and often dark picture of the world. Of cities and the dangers lurking in and around them. Of songs and their power and their transformative essence. Of resistance and the call of standing up to the overwhelming press of danger and corruption. Of finding oneself suddenly in a very precarious situation and having to fight out of it, though not always alone. These are great pieces that explore humanity brushing against something…different. The great unknown. A monster from the night. Living cities. They are fascinating and powerful and it's time to review them!
The Strange Horizons Fund Drive continues with two more weeks of excellent content, featuring two stories, two poems, and a nonfiction piece. There are also nice previews of some of the initiatives that Strange Horizons will be running or hopes to be running that are worth checking out but that I won't get into here. The pieces from these weeks, though, seems to deal heavily with both history and heroes. Looking at the myths we tell, about the way in which history and narratives mix and mingle. There is a strong Greek mythology vein that is explored in a number of the works, and larger than that they all explore old wounds and newer efforts to heal and make right the injustices of the past. And the pieces are touching and interesting, complex and heavy. It's a great collection of works that I'm going to get to reviewing!
This month marks another one of experiments for Terraform's short SFF. Not only is there a story told as a series of documents making up a packet of information that still manages to tell a compelling story, but there's also a continuation of the running graphic story and two rather formally daring pieces of fiction. There's a lot weird in this month's offerings, but also a lot of good. Most of the risks taken pay off, are exceptional for their innovation as well as their hitting content. And it mixes a jaded look at the future with a spot of hope as well, that even in the worst of futures there's something worth fighting for. To the reviews!
The stories in this issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies carry with them a heavy dose of darkness. From madness on an isolated island to being hunted through the heart of a swamp, they're about pursuit, about pursuing and being pursued. They're also about stories, about narratives, and the power of knowledge and ignorance. Often, those who hold the narratives are those with power, and when the stories become lost, the dangers they were illuminating become active and aloof once more. It's an interesting issue and it's time to review!
The Year of the Superhero officially comes to an end at The Book Smugglers with this story. At least as far as original short fiction is concerned. It's a good thing, then, that it's a longer piece, and that it's a bit of a departure from the other superhero offerings the publication has put out so far. Instead of capes and cowls, this story looks at the idea of being a chosen hero, of having some role to fill in a larger story. And what happens when, for most, the story ends. What happens to the primary character? It's a fascinating and poignant work and it's time to review it!
The two fiction works in this issue of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination are solidly urban fantasy, exploring how the creatures of myth and legend live among "normal" humans. These are, to me, stories about abuse and about struggling to overcome abuse, to stop it where it is or at least try to stop being a part of it. The worlds presented are mirrors to our own, where the magical elements are hidden but for those who know to see, and it mirrors the way that abuse in our world is often invisible, lurking. Both stories do an amazing job of creating compelling plots and characters and complicating the traditional folklore. It's an excellent issue that I should just shut up and review!
It's another fairly large issue of Apex Magazine with three fiction pieces and four poems, exploring a number of interesting different worlds that all seem to reflect back on our own. With the fiction, the stories are all rather more fantasy than science fiction this issue, though perhaps science fantasy might fit some of them better, with mixtures of magic and mortality. The poetry takes things in a bit more science fictiony direction, though, with glimpses of post-apocalyptic Earth as well as other worlds that might be experiencing catastrophes of their own. It's an issue that brings the dark but doesn't forget to pack some extra hope just in case. So yeah, to the reviews!
What can I say about the September content from Uncanny that will convince you enough to go out and read it now? Star Trek nonfiction? There are two and they are amazing and I would love this month's offerings for that alone but there's also three pieces of fiction that delve into relationships and love and yearning and dysfunction and are definitely worth checking out and there is a poem that has left me desperate for a flavor I've never know, a food that I can almost taste and it is so good. Seriously, everything is good this month and this is just the thing for people looking for some great SFF fiction, poetry, and nonfiction! To the reviews!
With two stories and four poems*, Strange Horizons has kicked off their annual fund drive with these two weeks of content. There's announcements galore and, oh right, some SFF to read and enjoy. The fiction offerings are decidedly different, from a longer piece deconstructing the idea of art and death and sentience to a cute little story that looks at loss and fantastical cooking. There's certainly a lot to digest between the stories and the fiction, though, and a great many reasons that giving to Strange Horizons is a great idea! So yeah, time to review! (*well it was two and then bonus content happened so now it's four, hurrah!)
It's another full month for Clarkesworld with six original stories and a nice array of nonfiction that I don't have time to talk about but which I recommend to everyone. The stories here are, by and large, about the ways that humans destroy. Corrupt. Harm. Make war. The stories largely take place in the aftermaths of devastation. Science fiction and science fantasy stories about characters making do (or not) About characters finding hope despite the destruction, despite the harm, even if that hope is only for escape and release. More, though, the story is about people finding each other in the desolation, reaching out when they could pull away, and being richer for it. It's a fine bunch of stories and it's time to review them!
The two stories in this month's Shimmer content explore the boundaries between ideas that seem distinct but, upon closer examination, become a bit fuzzy. The space between human and plant, waking and dreaming, shadow and body, male and female. The stories dive into the ways that categories sometimes fail, that treating things with scientific distance sometimes means losing the real point. They are moving and complex stories of magic budding into our world and so I'm going to jump right into reviewing them!
The September GigaNotoSaurus has arrived and it's a contemporary fantasy novelette that brings a kind of Hell on Earth. But, you know, not really the whole fire and brimstone kind. This month's offering is full of more quite suffering. Ghosts that linger but don't really do all that much. Suffering that needs to be unearthed before it can be eased. It's a tale that could almost be a horror story for its elements but ends up being something more tender and more luminous. Whatever it is, though, I should just get to reviewing it!
The two stories in the latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies drive for mixing the magical with the mundane. Showing young characters reaching for some escape from rather oppressive situations and finding portals (of sorts) into different worlds. Whether the portal is mathematics or a hand-built raft, and whether the magic involves is fairy-related or steampowered, the stories show how the greater world is waiting for these characters, though it's not always what they imagined. And for some of them, it's not at all welcoming. But these tales bring a more classic feel to the issue, blending in styles that evoke the literary traditions of bygone years. And they're both rather fun to read. So to the reviews!
The stories in this issue of Nightmare Magazine are a mix of older tropes and newer innovations. The many faces of haunted houses. A very different take on cults and Heaven. These are stories that don't flinch away from difficult topics—death, suicide, grief, despair—but the stories also show or hint at the other side of that, of the only power able to cut through the oppression of loss. Hope. They show the utter hell of hopelessness and the redemption of hope, of escape, of finding power to move on and move toward a future that might be brighter. So to the reviews!
The September issue of Lightspeed Magazine is all about crime and punishment. About people running from their pasts, running from authority, running from justice or injustice alike. In each of the stories there is a looming threat of some sanction. Police officers trying to maintain a status quo or a corrupt government trying to quash transparency or some nebulous force urging surrender or an actual crocodile waiting for the right moment to… These are stories that complicate crime and resistance, activism and revolution. And though they are unified by their focus on characters running from pursuit, from punishment, they show very different motivations and outcomes. So, without further dithering, to the reviews!
The latest issue of The Dark Magazine offers up two original stories that focus on family and hurt. About the oppression of the roles people are forced to adopt, and how seeking to escape them is not always successful. Because regardless of how much a person wants to flee, wants to escape, wants to be free, family is something that often sets its hooks deep, and can only be broken with a lot of pain and blood. These stories don't hesitate to show the harm that family can cause, that societal expectations can cause, and how people have to live with what comes after. So yeah, time to review these dark fantasies!
Well Flash Fiction Online is back for September and, well, dark as hell. These are stories that concentrate on certain ideas and craft stories around them on many levels. Distillation, consumption, and flooding. Through these ideas the stories explore injustice and abuse. They explore the cycles of oppression and the weight of inheritance. They explore the burdens forced on children because they were born, because their parents lacked the power or spirit to force change. And because they are so burdened, these children often drown under the deluge of violence and inequality. To the reviews!
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| Art by Dario Bijelac |
