Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #178

As always, two stories anchor another issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Both take the second world push of the publication to rather satisfying extremes, showing in both reflections of our own world distorted in interesting ways. In the first, the world is explained as being like our own but grown on the leaf opposite us, like a branch with opposite leaf structure. In the second, the setting involves time travel of a sort and an examination of insurrection and love. Both are interesting, building worlds that live and breath, but I should just get to the reviews already!

Art by Julie Dillon

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 07/20/2015 and 7/27/2015

Two more weeks of Strange Horizons means one story, two poems, and one article that I'm looking at today. As always, there are things that I'm not getting to review for various reasons but definitely go check out all the offerings. For what's here, there's a nice mix of science fictional pieces with poems that evoke much more a natural fantasy, a sense of nurture and humanity. These two aspects of the weeks' offering makes for a nice balance, a serious examination of life and wonder but also an optimism about the future, about the universe. So I should just get to it!

Art by Sishir Bommakanti

Quick Sips - Terraform July 2015

Well Terraform is certainly branching out a bit this month, including not only a piece of nonfiction but also an excerpt from a novel. The nonfiction I will be checking out, but I'm skipping over the novel excerpt for now. Aside from those newer offerings, there is also a humorous fictional nonfiction piece and a slew of mostly humorous stories, with a large exception being the first story which is decidedly not very funny. But there's a fair balance of different speculative stories, even if some are purposefully ridiculous. So to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Urban Fantasy #9

This month's Urban Fantasy Magazine is all about guilt and the weight of actions. In the first story, the weight comes in the form of a child, half-mer, who is never really allowed to be her own person. In the second the weight comes from a dead friend, one who is never really allowed to pass on. Both are interesting and sad and do a good job at showing how actions can lead to these weights, how people construct mental walls that keep them alone and suffering, and both give small hints at how those walls might come crumbling down. So let's get to it!

Quick Sips - Book Smugglers July 2015

The 2015 publishing schedule of Book Smugglers continues with this novelette. As it is the only thing I'm looking at today, the review might have grown a bit. Of course, some of the review is full of spoilers, so beware I guess. Oh, and I suppose I should mention that this is a First Contact story, and as that it does work, a human woman meeting a man who was literally a star. The story is fun and romantic and I'm just going to get to the review, okay?

Art by Yasmin Khudari

Quick Thoughts - 8 Things Writing Erotica Has Taught Me

So I write erotica (no big woop). There will be news later on this year and perhaps into next and probably further still surrounding that but for now just know that I write it. Nice, speculative erotica. And in the spirit of that I thought I would write up this list of things that writing erotica has taught me. Preface achieved!

1. It’s not something I tell people about. Except you, oh internet. But somewhere in the mix of telling people I write things, erotica usually does not get mentioned. I imagine that this would be different if I wrote primarily erotica or didn’t have other published works out, but with the screen of more “respectable” writing, I don’t often advertise my naughtier successes as much. Especially to family (though to be honest I’m not all that forthcoming about my other successes either). This, of course, opens up a weird sort of paradox, because…

2. I’m less ashamed talking about reading erotica. And indeed I find myself wanting to argue with people who dismiss erotica or romance even as not worth reading. I like both, and can say without reservation that there are erotic and romantic stories that are just as subtle and crafted with just as much skill (or more) than anything in “regular” spec. Of course, it’s weird because I don’t often identify as a writer of it in these discussions but as a reader. Like, maybe I feel that if I admit to writing it people with think I’m biased? Like that’s a thing? I’m not sure, but I do know…

3. Writing erotica is fun. Like, writing in general is fun, but there is something to be said about sometimes writing a story with the basic commandment of Let There Be Sex and a rather happy ending. I mean, if sci fi “purists” are so much in need of fun stories, they should be reading erotica. This is where the starship captains of old have gone (although chances are they’re getting it on with Spock, at least with the stuff I read, but still). And there is that push to be more dramatic, to be more over-the-top, to be more pulp-y I guess. Not with all of it, but there is more freedom to play, perhaps because…

4. Erotica is easier to get published. For me, at least. I mean, it’s still not like everything I write gets picked up the first go, and maybe I’m just super good at writing erotica (ha!), but my submission to acceptance ratio for erotica is crazy high compared to my more “respectable” submissions. Seriously it is not even close. This might be that the process is less competitive, which makes a certain amount of sense. This does, of course, present a few problems for me, because…

5. I feel really guilty writing erotica. Not because it’s erotica, but because it’s not something that will ever count toward SFWA membership, which I am still short of, and because there’s only so much time in a day and writing erotica does mean that I am not writing some other story. Of course, it’s been very hard to write anything recently so having this to fall back on has probably helped (curse you depression!!!). So it’s part that writing erotica isn’t exactly seen as “professional” but also that…

6. Erotica pays less than “regular” spec publications. Which does matter. I mean, I’d want them all to pay the same, but the truth is that for some places there is a very small payday involved for writers. Less than a cent a word, which is below the cutoff of semi-pro for a lot of things. Of course, it’s also something where you might have a more robust contract that includes ebook publication and percent of royalties and things like that. One has to be a bit more careful, and there is the feeling for me that if I have to section off time to write that I should be shooting for the most prestigious (or at least a professional rate). And this might explain more why erotica seems a bit easier to get published, because the rewards aren't quite as good. So the guilt remains. Not helping is the fact that…

7. Erotica editing seems way more intense than for “regular” spec publications. Again, this might just be my experience, but when I’ve had stories accepted for publication (even at professional venues), the editing process has not been too bad. One or two rounds, maybe. For erotica it seems like there is layer after layer after layer. And serious revisions. Sometimes for a story that is making like $25, which can make it seem like why bother because editing (for me) can be a painfully slow process and I would almost think erotica would require less editing. Cliché is that it would. But in truth there is probably more a push with erotica to make sure things are all matching more of an external style, making sure that they have that "erotica feel" to them that typically means writing to what people want and less darkness, less sadness (not that darkness in erotica is not there, but that the point is normally the fun sexytimes). Which can be frustrating but as long as you want to be writing those stories it's fine (and most of the time when I write erotica I do want to be writing less doom and gloom). It also, however, has shown me that…

8. Erotica is for extroverts (mostly). And I am an introvert (mostly). I mean, erotica tends to be more small press which sort of asks more from its authors in terms of promotion. They want you to have a blog and a facebook and twitter and things of that nature, and are rather serious about that. There are author groups to join which I have not found at any “regular” publication. There is more of a central community, I guess, with more expectations on doing things. Not that spec is without community, but there is much more the sense that things are expected of you in erotica. You need to have this and that. You need to promote, or else things will be difficult for you. Your story won’t sell. For spec short fiction it’s more like hey, I wrote a thing, it was accepted, end of my work. Not really, but there's a bit less of a need to have a public face. Trust me, as someone who normally tries to tag people on twitter for reviews, some writers are difficult to find any trace of on the internet.

And I will call it a day there, because eight is enough. But yes, erotica is a wild ride, full of fun and fear and good times. Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Charles Payseur

Quick Sips - Apex #74

July brings what might be considered a light month to Apex Magazine, what with only one poem to look at and three stories. The works all have a weight to them, though, that this issue can definitely not be accused of being light. It is dark and heavy and gripping, a mix of sex and creation and rebellion. The stories are a mix of science fiction and fantasy and the poem is amazing. Seriously, I love longer poems and this one is very much a must-read. For those who normally skip the poetry, don't. But I should just get the reviews already.

Art by Carly Sorge