Quick Sips - Lightspeed #101

October brings something of the spooky to Lightspeed Magazine, with a novelette and three short stories that examine the darker sides of humanity. From muses and obsession to lust and monsters, the works all show people trying to find happiness in (perhaps) all the wrong places. Finding instead addiction and decay and a deterioration of their relationships. But at the same time, these disasters also break down the walls that they’ve built to keep their true selves hidden and safe. They are revealed even as they are threatened with complete destruction, and it’s a beautiful and haunting experience. To the reviews!

Art by Reiko Murakami

Quick Sips - Tor dot com January 2018

After a light November and a completely absent December, Tor dot com returns in January for a rather long novelette about Hollywood, films, and what might have been. It’s a moving piece about family and about holding to the glamor of illusion, in the hopes that in holding to it there might be some comfort it can bring to a rather bleak reality. The story mixes history and alt-history, reality and alt-reality, and it makes for a strange but compelling read. Before I give too much away, though, to the review!

Art by Dadu Shin

Quick Sips - Nightmare #51

The two stories in the December Nightmare Magazine certainly show what makes speculative horror so captivating—revealing the uncomfortable truths and darkness that exists all around us, giving it physical form, and then making us face it. These are both stories that lean more fantasy than science fiction, pulling on some older traditions, of werewolves and Lovecraftian horror. While both are in some ways monster stories, though, they are also both stories that deal with youth, that feature main characters on the verge of adulthood, and reveal how quickly roles can be reversed when adults try to control the next generation. These are viscerally dark and violent stories but also deep insights into people and fears. And it's time to get to the reviews! 

Art by James T. Robb

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #119

It's a month of surprises at Clarkesworld this August, as there is an extra original story plus a story in translation from German instead of the usual Chinese translation. So there's definitely a lot to see with four short stories and two longer novelettes. The good news is that it's all weird. Seriously, these are stories that push at the boundaries of the imagination. That conjure up strange worlds and uncertain realities and the vastness and power of both space and violence. Stories that set aliens next to 50's greasers and mix time travel, tragedy, and immigration. And through it all there's a sense of yearning that pervades. For a brighter future, a peaceful cooperation, and the comfort of another presence. To the reviews! 

Art by Jaroslaw Marcinek

Quick Sips - Nightmare #33

The middle of the month means a new issue of Nightmare Magazine, and this issue definitely brings it with the dark and rather disturbing. Of course, the two stories approach horror in two very different ways. One is a sort of fairy tale filled with a sense of justice and things unable to stay buried. The other slips on the classic trappings of survival horror to offer up a bit of a thrill ride with plagues and things more dangerous still. It's an interesting month of horror, and I'm jumping right in!

Art by Okan Bülbül

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