Quick Sips - Shimmer #37 [June stuff]

June has arrived at Shimmer Magazine and it’s a month of relationships and yearning, distance and growth. Both stories focus on a central relationship and the power it has over those in it. For the first piece, it’s a budding relationship that brings meaning and nourishment for the people experiencing it, for the people unable to be together but still drawing nearer and nearer, more and more intimate. For the second piece the distance between the characters means that they can never really know what they might have had. And for all that it pushes the characters forward, inspires them and in some cases protects them, it’s a more haunting kind of relationship, defined by absence and not potential. Both are beautiful to watch unfold, though, and each offer their own flavors of hope, even when its bittersweet. To let’s get to the reviews!

Art by Sandro Castelli

Quick Sips - Mothership Zeta #2

The second issue of Mothership Zeta has landed and once again it proves to be a well balanced and mostly-enjoyable mix of genres with an eye on fun. Humor is a very difficult thing, at times, and fun perhaps just as elusive and varied from person-to-person. What Mothership Zeta proves itself capable of, though, is providing a wide range of options arranged in a way that flows nicely from piece to piece. The issue doesn't really bog down, and there's a momentum behind it that makes it difficult to put down once its been started. And this issue also shows how genres can be bent, broken, stitched back together, and reanimated to some great results, the stories excelling at not being limited to anything other than "fun." So yeah, time to get to those reviews!

Art by Elizabeth Leggett