The theme for this issue of Crossed Genres Magazine is Success. Which is an interesting and wide theme to play with, not really a content restriction so much as a way of ending. And the three stories tackle the theme in different ways, some of them having victory but at the cost of bodies on the ground, mass death and sickness and some having a bit more personal of success, a new way of seeing the world, a new way of doing a job. In all the characters overcome some aspect of the world that is oppressing them. Not always completely, but these are most definitely success stories. Onward with the reviews!
Short(ish) Reviews of Speculative Short Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction. Word counts are approximate. Opinions are my own. (also, probably SPOILERS ABOUND!)
Monday, June 8, 2015
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Quick Thoughts - Birthdays and Checking In
So my birthday was on Wednesday. I am (for those who would like to imagine me as some magical, ageless voice from the internet, look away now) 29 years old. Which feels to me both very young and also no longer very young. I mean, I'm under thirty, so I can't really be anywhere approaching old yet. I'm not even really middle aged. But I am almost out of my twenties. And my early twenties seem so long ago that it's like I was an entirely different person then. But I am a year older, and the blog is now over five months old, and so I figured I would take this time to check in with a sort of mid-year retrospective.
Spoilers: this years has been awesome. In so many ways this has been a great year even as I feel most of the time like I'm just spinning my wheels. I've had many stories out already (though none forthcoming so a little worried there, to be honest), including my first two professional sales! Which is huge. I was not really expecting them to come so close together, but it is amazing and I feel quite lucky that I'm already halfway to SFWA qualification (now that it's 10k of stories and not just three stories equaling $250 at at least six cents a word). A bit more difficult (and for which I feel really guilty about) is that it seems even harder now to handle the rejections. I mean, I get lots of practice (I just passed 100 rejections for the year so far this last week). But somehow it feels worse now. Paradoxically. Like somehow having that taste of success has changed things. But I'm just complaining now. I will move on.
As I said, Quick Sip Reviews is now over five months old. That's…well, not as old as I am, but it seems like it's doing okay. It's a lot of work to do, to review everything that I read, but I hope that it's also worth it. I'm one who rather obsessively searches out reviews of my works. I want to know if people are reading, what people are thinking. And while it is heartbreaking to read a bad review, and probably I should stop caring and stop paying attention to reviews, I find it so difficult. Because, as a reviewer, I do like to see what people think. And, heartbreaking as it can be, I do want to know the problems that people have with my writing. What works and what doesn’t. How I maybe can do better, or at least be aware if I'm succeeding at what I want to be doing. N.K. Jemisin had a great article last year about reading reviews and I try to keep her advice in mind when both reading and writing reviews (basically, learn what you can ever from negative reviews, even from reviews that you might not have a lot of "value").
So the reviews continue. There are a few things that I'm still figuring out. I am going to start doing (probably a very small amount) of reviews of slightly longer things that are more like collections. I’m not sure when the first will go up, but soon, soon. And I don't know, there are things that I think would be really cool to do. Like having a Quick Questions segment that I could fun on Sundays instead of my Quick Links (which have been slightly difficult to keep up on recently). I'd love to just send a few short questions to various writers asking them about their process or their thoughts or maybe other reviewers as well. Not sure, really, and I'm a bit busy just at the moment to make it happen, but maybe the time will come to reach out and see if there is any interest there.
Anywho, it was my birthday on Wednesday. I guess that's conducive to looking back. Taking stock. I'm super happy where the blog is after just five months. I hope that it's something that I can continue indefinitely. At the very least I want to see how I feel in another five months, or in another seven when the blog will be a year old. Because birthdays mean that time is passing, time that seems to pass quickly and yet take forever. Already January seems ages ago. But times marches on. There are stories to read, reviews to write, and trials to survive. As always, thanks for reading!
Spoilers: this years has been awesome. In so many ways this has been a great year even as I feel most of the time like I'm just spinning my wheels. I've had many stories out already (though none forthcoming so a little worried there, to be honest), including my first two professional sales! Which is huge. I was not really expecting them to come so close together, but it is amazing and I feel quite lucky that I'm already halfway to SFWA qualification (now that it's 10k of stories and not just three stories equaling $250 at at least six cents a word). A bit more difficult (and for which I feel really guilty about) is that it seems even harder now to handle the rejections. I mean, I get lots of practice (I just passed 100 rejections for the year so far this last week). But somehow it feels worse now. Paradoxically. Like somehow having that taste of success has changed things. But I'm just complaining now. I will move on.
As I said, Quick Sip Reviews is now over five months old. That's…well, not as old as I am, but it seems like it's doing okay. It's a lot of work to do, to review everything that I read, but I hope that it's also worth it. I'm one who rather obsessively searches out reviews of my works. I want to know if people are reading, what people are thinking. And while it is heartbreaking to read a bad review, and probably I should stop caring and stop paying attention to reviews, I find it so difficult. Because, as a reviewer, I do like to see what people think. And, heartbreaking as it can be, I do want to know the problems that people have with my writing. What works and what doesn’t. How I maybe can do better, or at least be aware if I'm succeeding at what I want to be doing. N.K. Jemisin had a great article last year about reading reviews and I try to keep her advice in mind when both reading and writing reviews (basically, learn what you can ever from negative reviews, even from reviews that you might not have a lot of "value").
So the reviews continue. There are a few things that I'm still figuring out. I am going to start doing (probably a very small amount) of reviews of slightly longer things that are more like collections. I’m not sure when the first will go up, but soon, soon. And I don't know, there are things that I think would be really cool to do. Like having a Quick Questions segment that I could fun on Sundays instead of my Quick Links (which have been slightly difficult to keep up on recently). I'd love to just send a few short questions to various writers asking them about their process or their thoughts or maybe other reviewers as well. Not sure, really, and I'm a bit busy just at the moment to make it happen, but maybe the time will come to reach out and see if there is any interest there.
Anywho, it was my birthday on Wednesday. I guess that's conducive to looking back. Taking stock. I'm super happy where the blog is after just five months. I hope that it's something that I can continue indefinitely. At the very least I want to see how I feel in another five months, or in another seven when the blog will be a year old. Because birthdays mean that time is passing, time that seems to pass quickly and yet take forever. Already January seems ages ago. But times marches on. There are stories to read, reviews to write, and trials to survive. As always, thanks for reading!
All the best,
Charles Payseur
Friday, June 5, 2015
The Monthly Round is UP!
No reviews here today because the Monthly Round is up over at Nerds of a Feather!
So go check that out and see what my top picks for May were. Plus booze pairings!
So go check that out and see what my top picks for May were. Plus booze pairings!
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online June 2015
Another three stories from Flash Fiction Online, and this time there's even a waffle recipe to go wtih the third story. Which is great. I always enjoy pairing things with stories. For me, it's normally drinks, but having an actual recipe to go along with a story is a nice touch. All in all, the stories here are about loneliness. For most of them they feature characters unable or unwilling to reach out, though in the case of the first story this is overcome (though not by choice). It's a solid collection of flash fiction, so let's get started!
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| Art by Dario Bijelac |
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Quick Sips - Book Smugglers May 2015
So Book Smugglers is back to publishing original fiction. Last time it was retold fairy tales and now the theme is First Contact. Only one story a month, but that's fine by me. Gives me a relatively short reviewing day, which can be nice. And the story this month is quite interesting in terms of form and structure, told as a questionnaire. Really Book Smugglers just continues to show that they have a good eye for fiction and for stories that push boundaries. They might be relatively new as a fiction market, and might have a fairly small output, but they are definitely a place to watch. So let's get to it!
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #174
So apparently this issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies is quite concerned with rivers and prices to be paid. Sometimes the stories in each issue are very different, but these two are very strongly linked thematically. In both there is the crossing of a river, and in that crossing there is a buying into an agreement, a sort of cycle. There is no way to avoid paying for either main characters of these stories, no real way to get around the fact that by accepting help in crossing the river they have entered into a bargain that binds them. And yet both character do manage to twist that bargain into something that changes them and their function and also changes the one that takes them across, giving those characters a release. Interesting apart, this is an issue that begs to be analyzed together. Which I always love to do. Also, despite releasing this issue in the last few days of the month, the stories are fairly short for the publication, which I always appreciate. So yes, let's get to it!
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| Art by Christopher Balaskas |
Monday, June 1, 2015
Quick Sips - Tor.com May 2015
Well I guess I was right that Tor would also win the "wait for the last possible moment to release their longest story of the month" award. I'm fairly sure this is something that only bothers me because it means that I was not able to get the review up on Friday. Of course, Tor was nice enough to make it up to me by publishing some great stories. Really, it's a full month, with four stories and a graphic story. So a lot to look at and none of it bad. Indeed, Tor is a great resource for some amazing stories, many of which tie in to other, larger works. So it's the gateway drug of fiction sites. It gave me pet elephants to cry about and ghost busting to cheer. There is an abundance of talent here and I'm just going to get to it, okay?
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