Quick Thoughts - (Posi/Nega)tivity in SFF Short Fiction Reviewing

Hello, Dear Readers. Do you have your torches and pitchforks ready? Good, because there's something we need to kill with fire. It is the idea that SFF reviewing (and especially SFF short fiction reviewing) is overwhelmingly positive. Or even, really, mostly positive.

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online January 2017

The first issue of Flash Fiction Online's 2017 kicks things off with...well, not a bang exactly. These are not, by and large, stories about action or explosions. These are stories about quiet revolutions. Against reality. Against injustice. Oh, and one of them is by me, so while I encourage anyone to go read it, I won't be looking at "A Lumberjack's Guide to Dryad Spotting." The two other stories, though are both about people getting over death. About either breaking down systems or breaking down themselves. There's the feel of loss and grasping for something to make sense of that loss, though the characters of these stories take very different approaches. It's an interesting issue, though, and I'm all set to review it!

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Sips - Nightmare #52

The first 2017 issue of Nightmare Magazine explores the border between the human and the monstrous. In these two tales of fantasy horror, we find monsters who seem nearly human and humans who might just be a little bit monster. These are story that delve deep into the dark corners of the mind but never quite lose their spark, stories that understand cycles of tragedy but also hold out some spark to keep going all the same. These are stories about fear. The fear of being alone, or of letting down those you care about. The fear of the unknown, and the slow creep of mortality. They're some interesting pieces of SFF horror, and I'm ready to review!

Art by annamei / Adobe Stock

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #80

Lightspeed kicks off the year with a collection of stories that certain lean toward the dark. These are stories that brush against some large issues and human tendencies, and chief among everything the desire to love and be loved and how that desire can be twisted. How it can be used as a weapon and as a salvation. How it can transform us into better people or into monsters. These are stories that all recognize the human desire for love, for companionship and family, and show how difficult it can be to make connections in situations that seem hopeless, surrounded by people who seem hostile. The stories vary greatly in tone, from fairly horrifying to full of an aching longing, and each are interesting in their own ways. Which means, of course, that it's time to review! 

Art by Galen Dara

Quick Sips - The Dark #20

2017 has officially begun and my first review of new content in the new year is of The Dark Magazine, which continues to put out a pair of original stories alongside a pair of reprints. FYI they also have planned to restart podcasts and have a Patreon now, so anyone interested in some excellent speculative horror and dark fantasy, definitely check that out. Anyway, the years starts off a bit slow in this issue, with two pieces that explore the space between childhood and adolescence, between adolescence and adulthood. Between generations and between genders and between spaces. These are stories not anchored by action but by the slow turn of emotions and time, pressures and expectations. It's a lovely, almost nostalgic way to kick off the new year, and I'm ready to get to reviewing!

Art by Alexandra Schastlivaya

Quick Sips - Tor dot com December 2016

The offerings from Tor dot com this December all hover around the long short story/short novelette line in terms of length, and start in the distant fantastical past before drawing closer and closer to the fantastical present. Things kick off in ancient China with a judge and a unicorn (well, a kind of unicorn) and a personal crisis, then move to the Manifest Destiny of American colonialism, then finally end in a New York much like our own…but with some superpowers involved. These are story that are at turns fun and fast and brooding and dark. There's a lot to see and feel, though, and as the stories draw nearer to the present they seem to me to grow a bit more hopeful about the new year approaching. So yeah, to the reviews!

Art by Ashley Mackenzie

THE SIPPY AWARDS 2016! The "I'd Ship That" Sippy for Excellent Relationships in Short SFF

Welcome to 2017! Quick Sip Reviews is officially two years old! And what better way to celebrate than by kicking off the SECOND ANNUAL SIPPY AWARDS!!!

For those who might be new to QSR or missed last year's awards, the Sippys exist primarily because I wanted to give some special love to my favorite SFF. Wait, though, don't I already do that? YES I DO! But where The Monthly Round is my monthly recommendation column, I really wanted to do something annually. And wait, don't I sort-of already to that, too? YES I DO! But not here, on Quick Sip Reviews, and so I wanted to make something EXTRA SPECIAL. Enter THE SIPPY AWARDS, the SFF awards that no one asked for or really cares about!

These aren't just my favorite stories of 2016, though. The Sippys have categories, five in all, celebrating different aspects of SFF. From stories that made me afraid to go to sleep or left me a ball of tears and feelings huddled in the corner, I want to look at the different ways that SFF can be effective. And my categories might seem a little…odd, but that's just part of the fun. Each category has five picks, four Sippy Award winners and one Big Sip Award winner. So yes, without further ramblings on my part, let's kick things off with…

The "I'd Ship That" Sippy 

for Excellent Relationships in Short SFF