Quick Sips - Lightspeed #113

Art by Grandfailure / Fotolia

It’s a rather wrenching bunch of stories at Lightspeed this month, focusing on relationships, from a long term romance on the verge of collapse to one just beginning, from a prince finding her place in the world to a sentient building doing likewise. There are tragedies that run throughout each, death and traumatic injuries, settings full of corruption and stagnation, magic that doesn’t seem to bring justice and justice that loses sight of history. But there’s hope to some of them, as well. That someone out there is the narrative that will fit the characters, and that maybe they’ll be able to defy convention and the pressure of expectation to find what works for them. To the reviews!

Quick Sips Beneath Ceaseless Skies #287 [part 2]

Art by Ferdinand Dumago Ladera

The latest special anniversary issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies continues, and this second part opens my October reviews. The stories take on a rather different feel, with one story a retelling of an epic of religion/mythology through the lens of one of the slightly less traditionally prominent and the other looking at a pair of sisters separated in some rather tragic ways. The stories deal with life and rebirth, with finding meaning and finding the will and determination to push for something that seems impossible. In both, characters deal with the whims of the gods, pushed to sacrifice themselves in order to fight injustices and right wrongs that cannot be defeated otherwise. It's a fascinating way to close out this issue, and I'll get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 09/30/2019

Well this is certainly a wonderful way to close out September, with five short stories and three poems of Brazilian SFF in a special issue from Strange Horizons. The works are varied and vibrant, alive with rebellion and beauty and despair and loss and resilience. That find characters struggling against oppressive worlds and situations, trying to find ways to survive and, more than that, to thrive and grow and heal. I will admit that reviewing poetry is always something that I kind of have to grapple with, and especially with work that comes out of situations very different from mine, where I might not know the context intended. But I am all for owning my opinion and I love the feeling of the poems, the call for resistance against corruption and the need to act. It’s a wonderful issue, all told, and I’ll get right to my reviews!

Quick Sips - Tor dot com September 2019

Art by Kuri Huang

September brought three new fiction releases from Tor's digital arm, two short stories and a novelette with a bit of a mind-bending feel to them. From the "real world" slipping into fantasy to scientific proofs of life after death to a kind of disease that takes away people's sleep cycles, the works explore things happening that completely change how people live. How people adapt. How people strive for something better, even when they are afraid, and challenged, and tired. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - PodCastle #591

PodCastle released one original story in September (on top of a lot of reprinted work. The new story is a strange one, haunting and slightly surreal, but at its heart (couldn't help it) it's about intimacy and relationships. About two people who find themselves in a difficult place, in a world where so many are hopeless and alone. And through their doubts and fears and hurts they have to find ways to reach out, both to one another and toward a future that seems broken. It's a difficult piece, and before I give it away entirely, I should get to my review!

Quick Sips - Terraform September 2019

It's still been a little slow at Vice's Terraform, but September saw two releases exploring different rather bleak visions of the future. Both pieces are rather philosophical, exploring questions of race and "equality," science and revolution. It features characters struggling against pressures to conform, trying to find ways to resist in a way that will be meaningful not just personally but on a societal level. The pieces explore when it might be better to fight back openly, and when to work subversively. When to concentrate on science, and when to join in the physical and political movements. And without further delay, I'll get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #287 [part 1]

Art by Ferdinand Dumago Ladera

It’s anniversary time again at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, with a special double issue, the first two stories of which I’m looking at today. The works are both novelettes, and both linked by a sort of preoccupation with the soul. They are in some ways rather philosophical pieces, examining morality and grit, will and skill and magic. They find women who have set themselves on a course that they could leave at any moment, but that they are resolved to see through to the (perhaps bitter) end. I’m eager to see how these two fit into the larger issue, too, but I’ll have to wait for next week when I’ll be finishing up my look at the issue!