Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 08/31/2020

So there’s a special 20th anniversary issue of Strange Horizons out! Happy anniversary!!! Now, I debated with myself a while how to actually handle the issue, because it’s not a usual one. Instead of original fiction and poetry, the issue features stories pulled from Strange Horizons’ past issues, plus some brand new poetry. I’ve decided to cover the (technically reprint) fiction in this case alongside the poetry mostly because I am super curious to check out what made the cut for this extra special issue. Now, that said, I’m not looking at the Wiggins story because I reviewed it when it originally came out. The rest of the bunch were before my time as a reviewer, though, and are all super great. So is the poetry, by the way. But before I bore you to tears, let’s get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! part 1 (Uncanny #30 [September stuff])

Art by Julie Dillon

This month kicks off Uncanny Magazine’s Disabled People Destroy Fantasy!, with three poems, two short stories, and a novelette all written by disabled authors. The pieces definitely look at different ways that characters deal with disability, with pain, with limitations, with chronic issues that they can’t just will away. It looks at how the rest of the world treats them, which ends up defining a lot of their existence, what they’re able to do. The works are often a bit grim, and perhaps not surprisingly take on fairy tales and other media that has a history of...not handling disability very well. The fantasy is strong here, and gorgeously rendered, so let’s dispense with further small talk and get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #85

It’s June at Lightspeed Magazine which I guess means science fiction that shows just how dangerous capitalism and technology can be and fantasy that shows the ups and downs of trying to steer a clear course in dealing with people. These are stories that show people either at the losing end of bad deals or seeing their careful plans fall apart. These are not wholly hopeless stories, though, and many of the pieces show that even though chaos seems inevitable, that preventing harm is in some ways impossible, there is still work to be done, and lessons to be learned, and a hope of healing and maybe, in time, improvement. So yeah, let’s get to those reviews!

Art by Randy Gallegos

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 09/05/2016 & 09/12/2016

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!)

Art by K. C. Garza

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 08/15/2016, 08/22/2016, & 08/29/2016

August concludes with three weeks of content from Strange Horizons, including a pair of linked reprints that I apparently had time for and was very curious about. And they are worth it! It helps that the original fiction is also incredible and the poetry is wrenching and the nonfiction tackles some of the recent reports coming out of SFF. It's a nicely balanced few weeks and a great way to close out the summer and get things ready for the real beginning of autumn. To the reviews!
 

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #1

I'm pleased to look at the debut issue of the Mithila Review today, which is a home for fiction and poetry from the margins, from the borderlands of imagination, experience, and justice. The issue is a mix of original stories and poetry with reprints of both as well, and as such I have to make a decision about what I'm going to be looking at (my normal policy is to not look at reprints because of time restraints). But as I seem to have a moment and this is the debut issue I'm going to be looking at the reprint fiction and poetry (except the one I already reviewed last year) as well. And, after all, it's all quite good, moving and deep and dense, about resistance and place and violence and resolve. It's all worth checking out, and so that's what I'm going to do. So hold on tight, it's time for some reviews!

Art by Steve McDonald

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/05/2015, 10/12/2015, and 10/19/2015

Okay, here we are in the fourth week of October, and with these three weeks of Strange Horizons the month shows no signs of slowing down. The good news is that the fund drive that had been going on was fully funded! So there will be even more great stories, poems, and nonfiction next year. The other good news is that there is a lot of fiction and poetry that was released as part of the bonus issue. I say good news because, while it might destroy me, there is an awful lot to like about these pieces, many of which deal with the way we tell stories, and what we choose to tell stories about. And I just need to get to the reviews!

Art by Rachel Kahn