Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #170

Art by Arjun Amky

Seven new stories from Clarkesworld weave a lot around sentience. Intelligence. Beings who are not human. Or not quite. Robots, AI, stars, even altered humans--the stories explore how these beings relate to the people who created them, or imprisoned them, or both. Some find ways to break free. Some find ways to cooperation. Some find ways to domination. Whatever the case, the issue hits on these ideas again and again, building up a rather thematically tight issue that looks at what it means to be alive and sentient, and explores how humans treat those they might not want to recognize as fully “people.” To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Glittership Winter 2020

Not sure if you missed it, but the latest issue of Glittership is available for purchase Right Now!!! Four original short stories and two poems, plus five reprints (which I’m not covering but that you should definitely check out!) make for a jam-packed issue of queer short SFF. Some of the works are smoking hot, some smoldering--some lighter and fun, some with a bit more heft and depths. Whatever the case, though, they follow through on the Glittership promise of featuring SFF works with queer characters. Adventures are had, mysteries are explored, relationships are formed, and evil is thwarted in these tales of people mostly just trying to live their lives, and finding out that along the way they might just need to change the world. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Uncanny #29 [August stuff]

Art by Julie Dillon

Three short stories and two poems make August rather standard in amount of content for Uncanny Magazine. The quality of the work, though, makes it another stand-out issue, though, that looks at family and history, magic and love. It’s a mix of science fiction and fantasy, from a story about religion and dragons to one about an exploitative Magician to one featuring the distant origins of a lunar colony that wants to break free of colonization. Add in poetry that echoes back with notes of war and love, and the entire issue flows quite well, leaning a bit grim at times but resolving into beauty and community. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Shimmer #46 [part 2/2]

Art by Sandro Castelli

It’s happened. Shimmer Magazine has put out its final issue. And though the stories will be coming out on the site through April, I’m closing out my look at the giant final issue today. There are six stories, from authors old and new to the publication. And I have to say, for a publication that has always leaned toward contemporary fantasy, these stories show that Shimmer has always been into science fiction as well. Because a lot of these stories take on some classic sci fi tropes, from time travel to resurrecting dinosaurs to space exploration. These are stories full of ghosts, which is wrenching but appropriate. Firstly, because Shimmer has always been interested in ghosts, in hauntings. And secondly, because the publication might be gone, but its presence is going to be felt for a long time to come, a ghost full of words and worlds to revisit. A memory and a promise of magic and stars. And okay I’m not crying you’re crying. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - The Dark #37

The June issue of The Dark Magazine focuses very much on tropes and moving pictures. On television and movies. On slash movies from the 80s and teen detectives from the 70s. They look at history, and the weight of expectations, and how hard it can be to try to escape the gravity of harm and abuse and pain. These are stories that get into the heads of characters struggling to make sense of their lives, succeeding or failing at defining themselves outside of the roles that people want for them. It’s a chilling but lovely pair of stories this month, and I’ll get right to the reviews!

Art by grandfailure

Quick Sips - Tor dot com March 2017

First I guess I have to talk about Tor dot com's March project, Nevertheless, She Persisted, which features eleven pieces of flash fiction all centered around that idea, that quote. These are stories that hit and hit hard, some of them blisteringly defiant and some of them steeped in despair. The stories (and poem) show the many facets of the idea of persistence. The power of it and also the crushing nature of having to persist, and persist, and persist, ever and always. The stories run across a wide range of speculative genres and it's wonderful to see the authors taking this central idea and being inspired by it. Using it to say something new and interesting. Making a statement on our current situation and refusing to look away from the uncomfortable truths of it. So yes, it's a wonderful project and makes for a some surprising start to Tor's March.

That's not all that the publication got up to, though. Oh no. This would have been a full month even without the eleven flash stories, as there are also three short stories and two novelettes to look at. And wow. These are some gorgeous pieces that take on some deeply uncomfortable themes and manage to find glimmers of hope even in the most devastating of loss and corruption. They are stories of ghosts and magic, bodies and wars. And before I get too lost in describing them, why don't I just get to the reviews!

Art by Scott Bakal

Quick Sips - The Dark #14

I'm actually super glad that The Dark Magazine is out so promptly at the beginning of every month. Not so that I can get it out of the way but so that I can have the entire month to recover. Once again The Dark more than earns its name with two stories about artifacts. In one, the artifacts are postcards from a sister. In the other, they are bits of scrimshaw. Both sets of artifacts tell a story, and both stories are in turn interpreted first by someone within these tales and then by us, the readers. The effect is to both create distance from the events, from the traumas described and eluded to, and to obliterate that distance by deconstructing the way that we interpret those artifacts. It's a pair of complex, layered stories, that hit with the vengeance of a storm and have left me a bit adrift in still waters and both glad I have a month's respite before the next issue and hungry for more. So let's get to those reviews! 

Art by Ben Baldwin

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #114

Spring might be in the air, but at Clarkesworld this month things aren't quite jubilantly hopeful. Not that the stories are incredibly gloomy, but there is a certain loneliness to the stories this month. A longing and a loss and an isolation that is cut a bit by family and care, but often the losses in these stories are not ones that are recovered or recovered from. The characters in these stories are all alone and trying to figure out what to do with that, trying to figure out how to go on. Their answers are all different, all interesting, and all worth checking out. To the reviews!
 

Art by Waldemar Kazak

THE SIPPY AWARDS - The "Where We're Going We Won't Need Categories" Sippy for Excellent I'm Not Sure What in Short SFF

This is it, my friends. You've stood by as I've shipped my favorite relationships. And while I've shivered under the covers waiting desperate for dawn thanks to my favorite horror. And while I've wept enough rivers of tears to sail an armada on because of my favorite emotional stories. And even while I've revved my engine and worn my sunglasses at night in honor of my favorite ACTION! of 2015. But now we come to the final Sippy category, a category so mysterious that it defies the very nature of definitions...I think... Because the final Sippy category is--

The "Where We're Going We Won't Need Categories" Sippy

for Excellent I'm Not Sure What in Short SFF

Sometimes there are stories that just refuse to be placed into a specific box. Stories that, when looking back on them, I can't quite pick out one element that made them memorable. Not that the stories from previous categories were at all simple, but these ones feature cakes made from dead people and were-helecopters and fox spirits and just so many things that made me want to honor them for being...well, strange. And amazing. So instead of thinking of myself as lazy, I will try to think of this category as the wide net to make sure I don't let any really weird tales slip away. And the winners are...

Quick Sips - Shimmer #28 (November Stuff)

It's November, which means autumn is already in the decline here, and yet Shimmer is keeping the fall alive with two stories that take us into the woods where the wild things live. Where magic is possible, but only at a cost. The pair of stories offered this month are powerful and dark and focus on choice, on family, and on leaving people behind. Both feature characters who have to give something up in order to be faithful to themselves, in order to honor those they care about, even if it means they can't see those people in the same way again. They are stories full of the feel of dead leaves and long dusks, and it is my pleasure to review them today. 

Art by Sandro Castelli

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #109

Keeping with the theme of tons of fiction in October, Clarkesworld is new and offering five pieces of new fiction. I'd be angrier with the story-load as a whole except the month has managed to be mostly incredibly good so far. Seriously, there have been some amazing stories, and this month's Clarkesworld is no exception, taking some mostly science fictional views of the world. Indeed, I think all of these stories swing much more science fiction than fantasy, though there are of course elements in some of them that could be a bit more magical. Whatever the case, most of the imagine futures, imagine situations, where people see the need for action and act. Not always with the greatest of outcomes, but with a strength to take control of their presents and their pasts, to try and reach for a better future. So to the reviews!

Art by Shichigoro-Shingo

Quick Sips - Uncanny #4 (May Stuff)

So the new issue of Uncanny is out. Woo! Of all the various publications around, Uncanny is normally where has the biggest names consistently, which makes sense for some place looking to create a reputation and secure funding. So maybe go and support them. They're having a funding drive and do provide some amazing stories. In any event, the May offerings are indeed many and some intensely entertaining pieces. Three stories, some short and others pushing the short story word limit, but still everything is very readable. Plus some (as always) great nonfiction and an honest-to-god Sonnet for poetry. So a solid month, which I should get on with already!

Art by Tran Nguyen

Quick Sips - Apex #71

Today I'm looking at the latest from Apex Magazine. As always, there's a lot to like, including five short stories, two poems, and some nonfiction, of which I'm looking at one. Also, that cover. Amazing. The stories are fairly dark and most with some lingering questions after the final words fall. Which leaves it up to the reader to draw conclusions and find meaning. To introspect. It's a neat tool used to great effect in this issue. So without further delay, the reviews!

Art by Adrian Borda

Quick Sips - Lackington's #5

I've not had much experience with Lackington's, which prides itself on being home to nontraditional styles. That I can confirm. The style of these stories is more surreal, more metaphoric. The stories are not straightforward. They are not simple. Some of them are rather difficult to make sense of, but I think most of them succeed at using the strange style to good effect. So here we go!

Art by Derek Newman-Stille

Stories:

"Unravelling" by Julia August (2883 words)

A woman deals with a sort of personal witch in this story, told through many parts and across many places real and imagined. The witch acts as the manifestation of her own inner voice. At times it is helpful, at others not at all. It provokes, it belittles a bit, it's not very good at soothing, and it's generally rather frustrating for the woman to deal with. The prose of the story is vivid and relatable, taking the woman through the various instances when her witch appears to offer advice, or perhaps just to poke and annoy. And it has some narrative structure, recurring ideas that pop up throughout the story that gives tantalizing hints to what is going on. Whether the witch is the woman's doubt or fear or maybe something more vague, a source of both wisdom and bitterness. Still, it's a nice story and a nice way to kick off the issue.

"After the Rain" by Polenth Blake (1592 words)

This story is a bit unstuck in time, following Claire and Jenny as they deal with beasts that have come after a strange rain. The story is something of a puzzle, because time is a shifting thing. Jenny, who I think is the narrator throughout, doesn't move through time in a normal manner. Even whether or not she is Jenny is (to me) somewhat in question. She travels with Claire, her mother who also seems more like her child, through a world populated by beasts. What the beasts are is left mostly unexplained, except that they have something to do with the rain. Claire and Jenny take refuge in a park, but it's not a perfect place to hide. There are other figures, too, that arrive and disappear, live and die. The story is jarring, and there's a lot to tease out of it. It's possible, after all, that Jenny and Claire are the same person, or even the same person at two points of time. Whatever the case, the story is strange and dark, filled with magical twists and surreal landscapes. It's well crafted and a bit disturbing, so hurrah!

"The Lion and the Unicorn" by A.C. Wise (1563 words)

A story about a unicorn boy being exploited in a sort of monster...brothel? A place where magical creatures are used for the pleasure of their abusers. A place where the unicorn boy dreams of being free of, free and running away from the cruel hands that tear at him. Fortunately (or not, because there's considerable danger), he becomes sick and an old lion comes to care for him. And she tells him that she will help him escape, that she will break his chain, but that he has to go to her children (who might kill him) and give them her token and tell about the place they have been imprisoned to destroy it. Flowing and lyrical, the story manages a coherent narrative while being a bit fragmented, a bit unreal and magical. It hits well with the hopes and yearnings of the characters, and leaves the gravity of what happens at the end for the reader to follow to its logical and satisfying end.

"Tiger Baby" by JY Yang (2846 words)

A woman dreams of being a tiger in this story, dreams of power and wildness that she lacks in her real life where she is nondescript, where she blends in and plods along because she has to. She doesn't feel like she belongs, knows that she is meant for something different than the same old, same old. It's a common enough sentiment, but this story manages to breath new life into the idea, into how the woman seems lost in the mundane details of the world. She dreams of Blake, and as I myself fell in love with that poem at a fairly young age, I find myself nodding along. The story follows the woman as she walks through life, as she yearns for more, and it brings her to a point of crisis after she is fired from her job, after she has to consider moving out from her parent's home. All these things push her to going out and transforming. She thinks it will be into a tiger. That it doesn't work out that way is great, a way to show that for all her dreams of power, it's not that power that she was destined for. Too often in these stories the person with their dreams of being something more is shown to be correct. They transform into that thing and can punish the world that did not recognize their specialness. This story refrains from treading that tired ground and instead shows that the transformation might not be what the women expected, but it is true to what she wanted, to what she felt. She transforms and is content with it, at ease, finally at peace with herself. It's a great story (especially if you love cats and Blake).

"What the Highway Prefers" by Cassandra Khaw (1525 words)

And old woman makes a yearly pilgrimage to a stretch of dangerous highway in this story. Strange and weighty, the trip seems to be about making deals, the old woman, Fatimah, trying to starve the highway, trying to prevent it from killing more. It reminds me of a different story, "The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill" by Kelly Robson (out this month in Clarkesworld #101). Perhaps because they are both about a highway that seems to have a hunger. Obviously one is about (kind of) aliens and this one is about ghosts, or spirits, but they both seem to be circling about the same image, the same idea, this highway that is hungry, that wants young women. I wouldn't be surprised if they were both referencing the same road, but even if they aren't I can still see this story dealing with the violence and fear and lingering ghosts of those taken on such a road, and what a woman might do to not exactly set things right, but try to minimize the harm. It's a vibrant and interesting story, and I could really feel the exhaustion and stubborn power in Fatimah. She's a great character, and the story works as a creepy little tale of one woman trying to kill a hungry road.

"The Ogre's Brown-Eyed Daughter" by Barry King (2786 words)

This story was probably the most opaque to me. There's a lot going on as a young woman deals with oppressive abuse from her ogre father and a lack of compassion from her faerie mother. Not belonging anywhere, she tries to flee, tries to get away, but there is no place for her. The world is made up of lies, is made up of lies you tell yourself and the ones that others tell about you, and the girl grows to try and define herself, to tell her own lies. She grows and gets away and doesn't have much of a relationship with her parents and tries to have a family of her own but feels pulled down by the girl that she used to be, and doesn't want that person to become her daughter so she extracts that part of her and hides it away. I'm not sure, but I interpret it as a sort of loss, as her denying that part of herself and letting it open that she's trying to protect her daughter but in reality might be missing the fact that by denying a part of herself she's setting a precedent that isn't exactly the greatest. There's a lot of layers of lies here and I must be honest and say that one reading was not enough for me to entangle everything. Still, it was an interesting read, and I'll probably have to come back to it to really start pulling it apart.