Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #294

Art by Rytis Sabaliauskas

It’s a new year at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, which means a new opportunity to remind people what the publication is good at. First, it’s a well paired issue, something that they excel at. These are two stories of fantasy adventure, with characters having to use their minds as well as their daring and bravery in order to try and thwart the destructive wills of those who have already taken from the main characters. So the characters are out for more than just setting right some wrongs. They’re out for a bit of payback, as well, and it lends an added flare to the prose, an added brashness. And it makes for a very fun look at what BCS does, and I should just get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #224

The last April issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies provides looks into worlds alive with shadows. With talking animals and talking vegetables. Both stories feature characters seeking to overcome things. For one, it’s an injury he suffered that requires him to change how he operates. For the other, it’s a pair of deaths that leave her completely alone. Where the first is able to make bargains with magical beings in order to help his situation, though, the second faces entirely different prospects. The stories are about protection and judgement, about trades that don’t necessarily go as expected. They are rich in fantasy and deep in characters, and I should really just get to the reviews!

Art by Ashley Dotson

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #217

In the second issue of the 2017 Beneath Ceaseless Skies inches up the story lengths while also turning up the action a bit. These two stories are well paired, both of them fast-paced tales that weave magic and transformation, betrayal and loyalty. The settings for the stories are quite different, one much more historically based and the other a world where airships and storms of the damned share the same skies. But for all that they unfold in much different places, both also develop a similar danger—that of the twisted unknown. The familiar made strange and monstrous. The mind or the dead made into a sort of weapon, a sort of maze, that must be navigated quickly and successfully to survive. These are some thrilling tales that I'm just going to review! 

Art by Jinxu Du

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #197

Sometimes I just can't predict where Beneath Ceaseless Skies is going to go with its stories. There are issues that are steeped in blood and tears and darkness. That enjoy looking at the frayed, gray edges of morality and stare boldly into the abyss. And then there are issues like this one, which brings a breath of life and fun and joy into the air. That celebrate how entertaining SFF can be without being sad, without being tragic, without being hopeless. These are stories that are clever and funny, with characters that are plucky and who manage to win some rather unambiguous victories. Especially for people who have noticed the at-times gloom of tragic stories in SFF, this issue might offer a glimpse of some unashamed happiness. To the reviews! 

Art by Geoffrey Icard