Quick Sips - PodCastle #643

Just a single story in this month’s PodCastle original releases, but that’s not to say it’s does hit above its weight. The story is complex and beautiful, daring and demanding in ways that I don’t often see in short SFF. It deals with transition, with changing a body in magical ways, but the change isn’t just a metaphor for gender transitioning, in part because that’s already literal in the text. Rather, the transition here is more complicated, a way for the main character to reshape her body and get a manner of control and freedom she’s always wanted. It’s stirring and emotionally resonating work, and I’ll get right to my review before I give too much away!

Quick Sips - Glittership Autumn 2017/Winter 2018 (part 4/4)

I’m closing out my look of Glittership’s Autumn 2017/Winter 2018 issue today with reviews of an original story, two reprints, and an original poem. And…and I think for these stories there’s a general weirdness that pervades. They’re queer not only in the identities of the characters involved, but in the way they bend genres and expectations. From a vampire dating story to gay space cowboys and beyond, the pieces have a way of being original and very memorable. They also carry with them some heavy darkness. From loss, from fear, from the various systems that have let the characters down, and that they are determined to fight back against. And ultimately the stories mix tragedy and hope, survival and joy, and make for a great way to close out what has been a great issue for the publication. To the reviews!