Quick Sips - Tor dot com August 2019

Art by Rovina Cai

One short story and two novelettes makes for a pretty standard bunch of fiction from Tor dot com this month. And the genres span science fiction and historical fantasy, with two pieces that look at how things might have been if magic (or superpowers) were a bit more real. And really in many ways the stories are about isolation, about people who are on the outside looking in when it comes to community and acceptance. Each has a place they feel like they belong, be it a physical location or personal relationship, and the works show how that effects their lives and decisions, how it leads some down some very dark paths, but maybe eventually into light. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 08/19/2019 & 08/26/2019

August closes out Strange Horizons with a new short story and two new poems that deal with magic and technology. From a hologram of a historical figure that has a surprising amount to say to a poem exploring the shifting end of the world, the pieces tend to look at damage, at the toxicity of expectations and roles. They examine the ways that people accept the world around them, taking it as permanent and right even as they know it isn't, even when they can see and hear from others that it has been different, that it can be different. But often it's very hard and painful to push against The Way Things Are to try and find peace and belonging, and there's often a price to be paid for it. Before I give too much away, though, let's get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #70

Art by Francesco Giani

Four stories and a poem make August's Fireside Magazine a hearty helping of short SFF. Of course, I've made a bit less work for myself as the poem, "How to Spend Your Free Time," is by me(!) and so I will not be reviewing it. The fiction this month is very strong, though, and moves from deserts to cities, from post-apocalyptic ruins to post-death traumas. The moods range from isolated and free to crowded and pained to all points in between. The pieces examine injustices and how people approach them, how they move on given the severity of the things they've suffered. How they retain hope, and how they reach for healing. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Escape Pod #694

August brings only a single story to Escape Pod, but it’s a rather delightful experience all the same. The work explores what it means to just sort of roll downhill through life, taking the path of least resistance, going where the wind blows, etc etc. It introduces the reader to a great wide universe and the rather limited way that the narrator lives, drawn into things they don’t really understand or care about. Almost sacrificed for another person’s greater good which turns out to be...well, that would be telling. So let’s get to the review!

Quick Sips - Anathema #8

Art by Jade Zhang

A new issue of Anathema Magazine brings with it four short stories and two poems, the works mixing despair and joy, trauma and resilience. It starts off with a heavy piece about assault and trust and relationships before segueing into a much more joyful and light read (which nonetheless ends with a devastating force). From there it gets grim once more before closing on a sense of hope and wonder. The issue captures danger and the happiness that live hand in hand for many queer people of color, a living truth that is presented here without apology or hesitation. It’s on the reader to read with the same bravery, finding the beauty and meaning and impact in the works here. To the reviews!

LIVER BEWARE! You're in for a Drunk Review of Goosebumps #22: GHOST BEACH

Right, so, ghosts. The Goosebumps series has already featured a number of ghost stories so far, including the very first installment, Welcome to Dead House (though let's not forget Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, too). This book dives back into the idea but with a very key twist. It takes place...on a beach! A GHOST BEACH! Get it? Haha—kill me now...

Anyway, to celebrate this incredibly clever idea, I'm drinking. As much as possible. To stay on theme, I'm having some Ghost Ship, a white IPA from Capital Brewing (based out of Madison, WI). It certainly fits the theme and hey, it's booze, so it makes everything just a little bit easier. That out of the way, let's dive right in!

Quick Sips - Diabolical Plots #54

Art by Joey Jordan

Two stories round out Diabolical Plots' August offerings, with two rather twisted takes on familiar tropes in SFF. The first takes a look not only at inspiration but at corporate culture as well, revealing a novel way of looking at innovation and greed. The second takes aim at zombies, tying them explicitly to colonization and then complicating them further with a deconstruction of belonging, identity, and isolation. Both works definitely work with some grim themes, though they often find strange moments of beauty tucked into the gritty realities they expose. Before I give too much away, though, let's get to the reviews!