Quick Sips - Lightspeed #59

All right, so now that the stories are out I can review the latest issue of Lightspeed. As always, two science fiction and two fantasy stories. Unlike some months, this issue is a bit lopsided. The sci fi stories are quite short, and the fantasy stories quite long. Which is all right, but a little jarring, especially when the longest fantasy story, the one released latest in the month, is so dark. Still, though, there's a lot to enjoy here, and while two of the stories seem to center on human failings, on loss and perhaps futility, there is some hope here as well, and some great humor. So yeah, let's get to it!

Art by Elena Bespalova

Quick Sips - Terraform April 2015

Another month, another handful of stories from Terraform to review. This month the stories are mostly on the longer side for the publication, but they are an interesting mix. I suppose now would be a good time to reiterate my review policy, though, in regards to negative reviews. Some stories...well, they bug me. I either find the messages that I pull from them a bit offensive or else I just find them not effective at doing what they seem to set out to do. As always, that a story did not work for me does not mean that I think it is "bad." These reviews are only my quick reactions to stories. Unfortunately, given the amount of time they take, I cannot always linger and reread and really figure out every story. So I might miss things. How I interpret a story might not be how it was intended. That said, these are my interpretations and thoughts and I feel that I should keep them honest. So what they hell am I talking about? Read on to find out!

Quick Sips - Urban Fantasy Magazine #6

Today I'm reviewing the newest Urban Fantasy Magazine. I must say, the magazine does what it sets out to do: providing some solid urban fantasy stories and nonfiction. I'm just looking at new, non-serial fiction this week. two stories, one taking on the adapted fairy tale route with the Swan Princess and the other being more of an X-Files type tale with a secret government agency tasked with dealing with paranormal threats. Both are interesting stories, the first being the more complex, showing just how nuanced urban fantasy can be and the second is a bit more shoot-from-the-hip fun and gun. So let's get to it!
 

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #171

I'm reviewing the latest Beneath Ceaseless Skies today. Two stories, as always, and quite different in their themes and styles this time. Sometimes the stories in an issue have some clear links, but here I can't quite find any. One is a second-world fantasy with action and magic and the other is a historical weird fantasy with a much slower style and not as much overt magic. Still, for all their differences they are still both entertaining and the issue itself stands up pretty well. But you don't have to take my word for it—to the reviews!

Art by Christopher Balaskas

Quick Links - 04/26/2015

Wow, this week has a lot of reviews for my Quick Links. I had a review go up at Nerds of a Feather and Teenreads, plus mostly caught myself up on my Goodreads reviews. So there's a lot to enjoy. Most of the entries are a little on the meh side of things, but there were a few that brought the average up, and no stinkers, so that's always good. Hurrah!

Prophecies, Libels, and Dreams by Ysabeau S. Wilce (Nerds of a Feather, my score 6/10) - A good collection with a great structure and idea. I wanted so much for this to succeed a bit more than I feel it did for me. Still fun, though.

Prophecies, Libels, and Dreams by Ysabeau S. Wilce (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - And here is my inevitable review for myself. Once again, the theme is that I liked it, but wanted a bit more cohesion and a bit more of a complete picture. Still, some very good stories.

Last of the Sandwalkers by Jay Hosler (Teenreads) - I did my Goodreads review of this last links, but here is my more "official" review. Basically, it is a great story. Science! The entire time I was thinking of Bill Nye taking apart Ken Hamm's "science" argument. Good times...

Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliott (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - I liked this entry in the series a bit more than the first book, which bodes well for the rest of the Crown of Stars. Of course, it might be a year or two before I read the next book, but it's still a good read.

Mameshiba: On the Loose! by James Turner, Jorge Monlongo, and Gemma Correll (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - So Mameshiba is adorable! Go look it up on YouTube if you don't know what it is. Bean Dogs! Random Facts! Good life decisions!

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - I read this out of order as part of a challenge and it was pretty good. I really didn't care for the ending, but I loved the Pigoons!

The Great Glass Sea by Josh Weil (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - This one took me forever to read. I was hoping for more spec but it's definitely in the lit camp and as such is tragic and slow and a bit of a slog at times. Still, an interesting read.

And there you go, seven reviews for your viewing pleasure. And lots of things to come in the next week, as I reach the end-of-the-month crunch. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Urban Fantasy, Terraform, Lightspeed, and Tor.com all on the docket to review this week, plus a book of poetry I was approached to review. That might not go up until I have an open day, but we'll see. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Quick Thoughts - New Project: The Postcard Chronicles

Okay, so some people might have noticed that I have a new project that I just started with fellow Wisconsin writer Jes Rausch. It's called the Postcard Chronicles and it's quite a lot of fun. Of course, at the same time that it ridiculously fun, part of me is wondering if I am insane for starting up a new project.

Time. Sometimes it really sucks. And I feel like I'm never doing enough. Not writing enough, not reading enough, not reviewing enough. Not that I'm sure what enough would look like, but it's my fear that I should always be doing more, that if I'm not then I'm just sort of sitting back on my privilege and being a rather shitty person. So I like to be doing a lot. I love reviewing and I love reading and I love writing. But sometimes I think I spread myself a little thin and think that I wonder where it would be best to spend myself. And sometimes I just want to write a little, and this project does just that, gives me a way of getting out small bursts of writing during the week.

Which maybe I should talk about. So I've perhaps not been writing as much recently as I would like. I've been busy, it happens. But it does weigh and wear on me, and so I've been trying to find ways to sneak in little writing projects. The Postcard Chronicles is one. I can't take credit for the idea. Jes had approached me with the idea to exchange postcard micro-fiction. It sounded amazing. So we exchanged a few postcard-stories as tests and it was great. The main problem was that we didn't really know what postcards to send. So we decided to choose a set we could buy online and go from there. The TASCHEN's Magic set seemed perfect. They're old and rather creepy and seem absolutely ripe for micro-fiction.

The first round of stories is up now, and they make me super excited for to continue on with this project. Like, seriously excited. It's fun to see how my stories and Jes' differ and how we both interpret the story at hand. Maybe some of these will prompt some longer pieces. Or maybe it's just a fun little exercise in writing. Even if that's what it is, I think it's well worth doing and I hope that it's entertaining for anyone wanting to follow along. And at some point maybe we'll see if anyone else feels like participating, to see if we can get some bonus stories for the Chronicles. For now, I hope people find what we're doing a pleasant diversion.

So go check out the Postcard Chronicles if you haven't and thanks for reading! 

All the best,

Charles Payseur

Quick Sips - Lackington's #6 - Seas

Today I'm looking at the latest from Lackington's. There's even a theme this issue, Seas. And each story does do a nice job of capturing the feel of the sea, even when the sea is not water, as in "Spider Moves the World" and "Excerpt from UNLANGUAGE." Most of the stories use the literal seas, the watery kind, and there's a lot to draw up from the depths. As is usual with the publication, the stories are a bit strange, focusing on form and style perhaps more than plot and action. Not that there's not action. "The Selkie" has quite a bit of tense action, Nazi ships exploding and all. But the stories are a bit more layered than that, some a bit hard to pull apart but all of them beautiful in their own way and worth pouring over. So to the reviews!

Art by Tomasz Wieja