Quick Sips - Lackington's #20 [Birds part 2]

Art by Kat Weaver

And I'm back looking at the most recent and oversized Bird-themed Lackington's #20! Apparently I kinda went out of order when I read the first "half" so my apologies there. It actually rather worked out, thematically, though, as this "half" of the issue really holds together thematically, involving kinds of hauntings, kinds of festering historical wounds that need to be addressed and healed. Often those wounds are brought about by abuse, maintained through silence and contempt, and made worse by time and the constant pressure and pain those wounds cause. But in standard Lackington's fashion, these situations are rendered in lyrical, vivid prose and a sense of surreal beauty that make it all a joy to explore. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Lackington's #12 (Animals)

The latest issue of Lackington's has a theme of Animals to it. And while it does feature a number of precocious and mischievous characters, this isn't exactly an issue I'd recommend giving to a young child as a diversion on a rainy day. Unless you want some very interesting conversations (and maybe therapy) later. The issue is full of stories that twist the unexpected, that show that just because there are talking animals in a piece doesn't mean they're all going to be sweet. Many of these are dark. And violent. And beautiful. The prose flows in good Lackington's style and the themes approach justice and human (and animal) nature, as well as loss, and dissolution, and expectations, and roles, and…well, you get the idea. It's a big issue full of characters and beasts great and small. And it's time for me to get to my reviews! 

Art by Pear Nuallak

Quick Sips - The Dark #15

The stories from The Dark Magazine this month seem to focus on families. Mothers and daughters. Or stepmothers and stepdaughters. These are stories about how things are inherited. How the darkness that the mother grows can reach for the daughter. Or how the stepmother can feed the stepdaughter to the darkness only to find it…doesn’t go to plan. As always with this publication the stories are filled with uncomfortable moments, unsettling silences, and some unforgettable horrors. Tackling fairy tales and apocalyptic destruction, they don’t pull their punches and are not for the faint of heart. To the reviews! 

Art by Tomislav Tikulin

Quick Sips - Unlikely Story 12.5 - The Journal of Unlikely Observances

The latest offering from Unlikely Story is out, and this time it's The Journal of Unlikely Observances. The call for this issue included a list of elements, a certain number of which had to be in each story. Water fights. Resurrections. Celebrations. What comes out of those guidelines is a very fn and mostly joyous issue. Now, full disclosure, I have a story in this issue as well, and as my custom I will not be looking at it here. But that still leaves a bunch of stories to see and experience and love. Stories that touch on what it means to live and be free and imagine a different world. Stories that touch on death and rebirth and cycles and history. Stories that I should really just start reviewing! 

Art by Linda Saboe

Quick Sips - Lackington's #6 - Seas

Today I'm looking at the latest from Lackington's. There's even a theme this issue, Seas. And each story does do a nice job of capturing the feel of the sea, even when the sea is not water, as in "Spider Moves the World" and "Excerpt from UNLANGUAGE." Most of the stories use the literal seas, the watery kind, and there's a lot to draw up from the depths. As is usual with the publication, the stories are a bit strange, focusing on form and style perhaps more than plot and action. Not that there's not action. "The Selkie" has quite a bit of tense action, Nazi ships exploding and all. But the stories are a bit more layered than that, some a bit hard to pull apart but all of them beautiful in their own way and worth pouring over. So to the reviews!

Art by Tomasz Wieja