Quick Sips - Mithila Review #13 [part 2]

Art by John Glover

I return to the latest issue of Mithila Review to look at two short stories, a novelette, and three poems. The poems are actually all by a single author, though they cover a lot of thematic ground, from death and space to The Little Prince to Greek mythology. And the stories vary greatly too, though all of them have a touch of magic to them. One’s a second world fantasy, though, one a post-disaster sci-fantasy, and the other a contemporary fantasy. They deal with family and with conflict, war and illness. And they feature people a bit out of their depths trying to care for other people. Trying and not always getting it right. It’s a wonderful bunch of short SFF that I’ll get right to reviewing!

Quick Sips - Mithila Review #11 [part 1]

Art by Edward Hicks (1848)

It’s been a while since the last issue of Mithila Review, but issue 11 is out now! Now, things are a little different, in that the works aren’t being released all at once. Most of the content is live, but there are some more to come, and to cope I’m going to be taking the issue in two parts. In the first half there are three stories and four poems, and there will be again when I finish up my review next month. There’s a lot to experience, from a very very short piece to a full novelette, from a satire featuring zombies to a nightmarish look at a possible future where a border wall is being built. The poetry is great, the fiction dips into some rather dark wells, and the issue as a whole is a solid experience. So glad to see a new issue from this publication. Let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #37

August brings a new Heroic Fantasy Quarterly into my greedy hands, with four stories (one novelette and three short stories) plus three poems, all diving into myth and magic, war and longing. The pieces have a bit more of a battle focus in this issue, moving from battlefield to battlefield and finding knights, giants, dragons, and necromancers aplenty. The stories do more than just provide an action-packed fantasy read (though they do that, too). They dive into the realities and horrors of battle, and the reasons people have for entering into them anyway. It’s a varied and resonating issue, and before I give too much away, I’ll get to the reviews!

Art by Jereme Peabody