Quick Sips - Omenana #4

The cover says September but apparently I missed it at the end of the month so I'm considering the new Omenana issue an October release. And, as always, it is damn good. The stories are a rather even mix of fantasy and science fiction, with an toward the weird and unsettling. I love reading these issues because invariably I am left a bit shaken by it, in part because these stories do defy expectations and go places that I'm not always ready for. But the ride is always worth it, and so I'm going to get to reviewing!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #183

Well Beneath Ceaseless Skies is celebrating again! What exactly? Being around of seven years! But I don't need an excuse to drink--I mean, celebrate. It means some extra fiction. I'm skipping over the reprint but the rest of the fiction is...well, there's a lot of it. About 30,000 words of original fiction. So no joking. And it is emotionally devastating. Devastating. I am in ruins over here, trying to type this. It's...it's good. But wow, I don't know how much my heart can take. I better get to the reviews.

Art by Feliks Grzesiczek

The Monthly Round is Up!

You heard it right, the Monthly Round is up at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together!

September recommendations include:

Tasting Flight

"The Occidental Bride" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Clarkesworld #108)
"Ten Things to Know About the Ten Questions" by Gwendolyn Kiste (Nightmare #36)
"Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World" by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed #64)
"The Oiran's Song" by Isabel Yap (Uncanny #6)
"Mountain" by Liu Cixin, translated by Holger Nahm (Apex #76)
"Bodies Are the Strongest Conductors" by James Robert Herndon (Strange Horizons)

Shots

"The Attic of Memories" by Sunil Patel (Fantastic Stories of the Imagination)
"The Wedding Gig" by John League (Flash Fiction Online)
"Homesick" by Debbie Urbanski (Terraform)

Thanks for reading!

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online October 2015

This October issue of Flash Fiction Online certainly brings the spooky. Or at least the dark as hell. Because yeah, most of these stories are a bit light on the...uh...light, I guess. They are moody and dark and somewhat bleak, but mixed in there is also a sense, however fleeting, of hope. Of trying to get to a better place. And, maybe, by the end, of getting there. So let's get to some stories!

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Links - 10/04/2015

So you know how I said I was behind on some reviews. Well, I (mostly) caught up on them. So hurrah! Also had some go up elsewhere so those are here as well. Again, I've had the good luck of liking most of these, with no "negative" scores. It's actually been a little while since I read a book I disliked, which is nice, but some of these had some problems that were harder to ignore, so yeah. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Secret Coders Vol. 1 by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - This was a rather cute start to a series but didn't really feel whole to me. It ends on a cliffhanger and while I think that can work from time to time, I wasn't completely sold. Still, not a bad read.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (Goodreads, my score 5/5) - I LOVED IT! It was amazing and examined sexuality and choice and freedom and systems of power and yes, this one fully lived up to my hopes after The Left Hand of Darkness. Go read this one!

Making Wolf by Tade Thompson (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - Another great book and one whose grittiness surpasses anything I've read before. It's not perhaps the kind of book that I seek out but it is brutal and good and provocative and another one to challenge yourself with.

Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - This one did not really live up to the others in the series. It's a fine book, and super short, but it didn't really do as much as the other books in the series. Next to The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness it's...well, good, but not on the same level.

Pluto Vol. 7 by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - Finally I got back to reading this series after having waited for a while to get the last two books. It's a great series, and the mystery here is finally wrapping up. Another rather heartbreaking installment.

Secret Coders Vol. 1 by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes (Kidsreads) - Same as above, but a bit more polished because it's for a site and not for just me. Still, glad I read it so I could enjoy the extra at Tor that much more. Indeed!

And there you have it. Pretty much entirely Goodreads reviews, but I managed to mostly caught up on things. Now to get behind again! Thanks for reading!

Quick Thoughts - The Hungry and the Full

So occasionally I see posts up about the state of short SFF. I see complaints and warnings and, for the most part, I think "huh, okay." I see things about how people don't read short SFF. Which is...well, I read about as much short SFF as is humanly possible and I know, I know, I also write and review so I'm not like a casual reader of short SFF and where are those guys anyway? I mean, come on, SFF novels get tons of casual readers, so the same should be true for short SFF, right? Right?

Now I'm going to say a few things that are going to be controversial. One is: I think that people, given the choice, gravitate more toward novels than short fiction. In general, because novels offer more pay off, because novels offer the larger landscape to explore, the greater depth. Now, I love short SFF, but I love SFF novels as well. And I hear that short SFF needs to do more to attract novel readers. But...

Second controversial thing: the reason we don't see a huge overlap between casual SFF novel readers and casual short SFF readers is because casual SFF novel readers are full. They are sated. Really, look at how many science fiction and fantasy novels are out every year. That make no real attempt to be "literary" or anything like that. Not like the Puppies had to try had to find a slew of novels to promote. A reader wanting "fun SFF stories" (regardless of how much I dislike that description) need only walk into a box book store to find dozens. An entire section of books geared just for them, to their tastes. What cause have they to seek out short SFF? Why should they bother when their needs are being met?

Now, if I wanted to go into a big box bookstore and looked around I'd find a lot of books I might enjoy. But I will likely not find the books that make me the most excited. That might be starting to change. Maybe now I can find one or two. But I'd be better off turning elsewhere, because I'm hungry for stories. Where do I turn? Third controversial thing: short SFF seems disproportionately "literary" or "diverse" or "whatever-the-fuck-you're-complaint-is" because within short SFF that's exactly what is wanted. Because short SFF is where the hungry go to be fed. It's where people who are turned off by most of what they see at the novel level of SFF go to find things that maybe, maybe provide some representation and voice and presence.

Is there an abundance of publications of short SFF? Maybe. Some days it seems that way and some day it seems so far from the truth that it's not funny. But I hate, hate, the call to pull short SFF in a more "mainstream" direction. Not only is that not what most short SFF readers seem to want, but it's not what most mainstream SFF readers want. They could honestly mostly not be assed to seek out short fiction. They'll wait for Gaiman's next collection. They'll wait for the god damn book. Because they are so full and secure in their fullness that they are basically guaranteed a book for their favorite author. Seeking out short SFF would be to garnish their steak and potatoes. For the rest of us? Short SFF is more like our bread, and there's really no steak to be seen.

Might there be a market correction at some point? Maybe. It's possible that there will come a time when the people who have flocked to short SFF to find the stories that aren't getting published as novels, or in collections at the big Houses, will finally be fed. There are more novels from short SFF authors that are considered "too literary" and "too diverse." I don't necessarily think that such a time is right around the corner. I see a lot of people who don't otherwise have a lot of power, who might not have a lot of funds, still hungry for stories, and finding it in short SFF is still their best bet. So I imagine we will continue to see new projects, and that some will fail, and some will stay. I imagine there will be corrections, but as long as there are those hungry not getting fed by novels, they will find their way to short SFF, which is, by and large, ready to welcome them with something to eat, something to read.

So yeah, this is why when things happen to denigrate short SFF, especially by "SFF fans," I get a bit angry. Like they can't stand that there is a place the hungry can go to read what they want. That they want more garnishes, even if they aren't going to eat them. Like someone seeing a vegetarian table at a buffet and wanting to shit on it because they don't like it. When they have an entire buffet of other things. When they can eat from that table as well and maybe like the food. That the mere existence of something catering to someone else is offensive. And it's...well, it's just pretty awful. That's what the Puppies were. To which I always want to say, it's not that these people are unwelcome in short SFF, it's that they don't want to be there. They want their steak and potatoes and bacon-wrapped sausages. And they get them. Maybe they could not shit all over what to some is the only food available to them.

Anyway, metaphor's probably long dead, so I'll stop. But there it is. Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Charles Payseur

Quick Sips - Tor.com September 2015 (part 2)

Here is the second part of my review of this month's Tor stories. And yes, I am glad that I broke these up, because not only is there more fiction but another graphic story that I wanted to review, having just read the thing that it spins out of. All in all, it's another fine month from Tor, with a lot of fun and some darker and more poignant moments as well. Most of the stuff in this installment, though, is tie-in material, or at least stories that seem to fit within larger narratives. Interesting work, and for those looking for some new series, maybe the tastes will be tantalizing enough to seek further. Anyway, to the reviews!

Art by Goñi Montes