Quick Sips - The Dark #33

The February issue of The Dark Magazine brings a pair of stories that prove that sometimes a person is their own worst enemy. The stories explore the ways that people trap themselves and seek to escape themselves. The way that they want to change, want to grow, and the forces that hold them back. For some, it’s their own hesitation and trauma. For others, it’s the limitations of their setting, poverty keeping them prisoner in a cycle that seeks to devour them. For both the characters, though, it means wading through memory and disgust, hope and anger, as they push toward the unknown, and find a heaping helping of darkness waiting for them. To the reviews!

Art by Vincent Chong

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 08/21/2017 & 08/28/2017

Well, we’ve made it to the Strange Horizons annual fund drive! If you haven’t chipped, I strongly encourage you to. Strange Horizons is a non-profit publication and it does some very incredibly work, lifting up voices in SFF while keeping an eye out for awesome poetry and providing a nice assortment of nonfiction. Strange Horizons is one of my very favorite publications, and today I’m looking at a short story and a whole lot of poetry. Because of the nature of the fund drive, bonus content is being released on a rolling basis as they reach funding goals, so I will try to keep up with what’s been released there as well, but please forgive me if I miss a little bit. Anyway, there’s quite a bit of awesome to look at, so I’ll just jump right into those reviews!

Quick Sips - Lackington's #14 - Musics

The latest issue of Lackington’s to be released for free is themed around Music. And what results are six original stories that show just what music can and does mean—the rhythm of it, the magic of it, and the power of it to push change. And these stories explore not just the way that music can be enjoyed, but the ways that it can be used both to inspire and to lure, to remember and to heal. The stories are by and large rather dark, showing an appreciation for characters experiencing loss, for people needing direction. Songs can be maps, and these stories show characters following songs off into the unknown. Finding paths by no means safe, and at times very dangerous indeed, but also often paths that they need to take. That offer some way forward after everything has been wiped away. These are some great stories, and I’ll jump right in to the reviews!

Art by Stacy Nguyen

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #126

It's a pretty standard month from Clarkesworld Magazine for March, with five original stories including a great novelette in translation. Indeed, the four short stories all come in within about 500 words of each other and all of them are science fiction pieces. More connective than length, though, these pieces are concerned with new forms of intelligence and with the end of the world. Or maybe just with the end of certain aspects of it. But at least two of the stories are more specifically apocalyptic, and many besides are about doubt and depression, anxiety and seclusion. These stories show people closing themselves off from the rest of the world—out of fear or hurt—and then having to decide whether to open up again. It's a wonderful issue and it's time to review!

Art by Sergei Sarichev

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #78

The November issue of Lightspeed Magazine certainly brings the dark. At least for three of the four original stories, the atmosphere is steeped with violence and loss and the gravity of conflict. Human against human. Sibling against sibling. These are mostly stories that are difficult and disturbing, with a weight that is impossible to ignore. And while there are some lighter notes to close out the issue, the lingering flavor is still of blood and ice. There's hope, here, too, but a rather bleak sort, nearly nihilistic, and it makes for an interesting and complex and not-incredibly-happy read. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Reiko Murakami

Quick Sips - Clarkesworld #107

Today I'm looking at the latest issue of Clarkesworld, which continues to be one of the most impressive publications month to month, especially with its commitment to translated stories. It also manages to have a fairly nice mix of stories and themes despite the original fiction being entirely science fiction. Due to some time constraints, I'm not reviewing the nonfiction, but still encourage everyone to go read, because it does provide a lot of food for thought. The fiction, though, is a nice mix of science fictional ideas and themes. Exploring virtual war crimes, collaborative AI, the nature of sentience, and the philosophy of security, the stories all show visions of the future through various lenses of intent and critique. All manage, though, to tell moving stories, fun stories, and provide a very nice picture when considered as a whole. So on to the reviews!

Art by Julie Dillon