Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 07/18/2016 & 07/25/2016

I think Strange Horizons is trying to kill my feels with Our Queer Planet, which keeps right on rolling along with double the poetry, double the nonfiction, and some excellent, amazing fiction. Seriously, I'm pretty sure these works have reduced me to a small puddle of feels that has sunk into the earth, become one with the stone, and then risen as some sort of Geodude of resolve. AND GEODUDES DON'T CRY! <breaks down weeping> Okay, I might not have recovered so well as I implied. But keep a box of tissues nearby and prepare for some reviews!

Art by Slimm Fabert

Quick Sips - Harlot Media July 2016

I must say, Harlot continues to be a delight when it comes to finding speculative stories that don't shy away from sex or sexuality and that paint moving and gripping portraits of characters in conflict. From science fiction to fantasy to this piece, which is a metafictional experience that I would probably describe as a contemporary alt-history memoir, the stories show the power of speculative fiction to open up spaces between the "real world" and the infinite worlds beyond. So, without further hesitation, let's jump right into the review! 

Quick Sips - The Dark #12

So things are a bit different in this issue of The Dark, as the publication moves from bi-monthly to monthly content. With the change comes a decrease in original stories per issue but also the addition of reprint content. So really there’s more magazine overall to enjoy and a bit less for me to review per issue, so win-win! And especially so with stories like this, glimpses as darkness and trauma, monstrosity and victimization. These stories grab on and don’t let go, unsettle and disturb in the way only great dark fiction can. From the distant past to present, they look at how sometimes it’s impossible to run from what’s stalking you, especially when it might be in your own mind. To the reviews! 

Art by Vincent Chong