Quick Sips - Tor.com March 2016 Part 2

After a breakneck pace during the first two months of the year, March slows things down only marginally for Tor.com, which still released five original fiction stories. The second half of the month has been dominated by clever twists on genre classics and a sense of loss and hope. In each of the stories there has been great pain, great loss, both personal and more sweeping. Wars and catastrophes and paradigm shifts. But there is something that remains, something aching and human and hopeful, something that stares into the heart and feels empathy, a bond that cannot be broken. It makes for a rather sad but beautiful set of stories that I should just review already.

Art by Yuko Shimizu

Quick Sips - Terraform SF March 2016

Uh...well this is awkward. I've been waiting to post this review of Terraform SF's March offerings because...well, I was hoping there was going to be more than one. Especially after last month's amazing array of stories I was quite looking forward to seeing what was next, but it seems like output has been slightly down. But hey, a story's a story and this one is certainly rather entertaining and fun and well conceived and executed. And hopefully next month there will be more to look. To the review!

Quick Sips - Plasma Frequency Q1 2016 Part 2

I'm back looking at the first issue of Plasma Frequency Magazine's triumphant return. Last month I featured the first seven stories of the quarterly issue, and this month I'm cleaning up the final six. And I must say that I think I like the second half of the issue even more than the first half. Most of the stories are fairly short, but there's a nice balance to them, some flash fiction and some a bit longer. There's a good balance to the tone and mood of the pieces, as well, from much darker and more psychological stories to ones that bring the fun and left me smiling. Above all, these are well-crafted speculative stories. There's murky contemporary fantasies and political science fictions and it all comes together nicely, making Plasma Frequency's return a happy thing indeed. To the reviews! 

Art by Tais Teng

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #195 Science Fantasy Month 3

The month of Science Fantasy continues with another extra-large issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. These stories take things in a slightly different direction. They're about land and about family, about growing up and digging in and trying to find a better way, even if it doesn't always mean an end to violence. The stories are complex and haunted—by ghosts, by intentions, by the land itself. The past returns in these stories and helps to inform a future that might be brighter, that has the hope of changing things, ending or at least easing oppression. It's another great issue, and I'm just going to jump into the reviews!

Art by Sung Choi

Quick Thoughts - Updates! March 2016 Edition

I swear at some point I'll get back to having intelligent(ish) things to say about short fiction, but my brain just hasn't had much room for anything aside from reviewing recently so I'm not even going to try. Luckily I'm still get stories out and some of them even accepted so I figure I'd take some time to annoy you all with what's coming up in the land of me.

April:

I'm actually really excited about April for a number of reasons. My erotic M/M Thor/Loki short story will be appearing in Torquere Press' A Fool for Love anthology (and will available for purchase as it's own thing as well). It is probably one of the funnest things I've ever written and ridiculous but (I hope) rather awesome as well. I also have my second speculative poetry publication in Eye to the Telescope with "Ey Who Kissed the Sun." It's actually the third part of a five part longer poem that I'm now not sure what to do with, but I'm super excited to have another poem out there. It's…well, it's sweet and I think it works all right on its own. I'm rather terrible about my poetry, so I'm glad this one worked out. I guess I'll see what I can do with the rest of the poem this came from.

May:

I seem to be plodding along at about two publications a month, it seems, which is amazing really compared to my output any other year. May will see the release of "A Million Future Days" at Lackington's Magazine. There will be art paired with the story and I am so stoked about that. The story itself is…not particularly happy but is technically a story about the city I live in. Eau Claire is never named exactly but much of the details are there and it deals with social safety nets and charity and possible alternate futures and I'm rather proud of the story and very excited to be appearing in Lackington's. May is the release of the issue for sale. People wanting to read for free might have to wait a few extra months. May will also see the release of "Beta Tester" in the Theory of Love anthology from Torquere Press. This is another M/M erotica and my first strictly science fiction bit of smut, about immersive video games and a game tester and his manager/friend. There's dancing and hopefully a fun feel without being too shallow. Indeed.

June:

This is as far out as I can see at the moment, and is another busy month. I will have my story, "Medium," out in a super secret project from the Book Smugglers (and I am psyched to be published from them as they are one of my favorite publishers of great fiction and nonfiction). I can't say too much about it but I think I'll have an Inspirations and Influences up at their site sometime around then and the story itself definitely fits into their theme for the year. The announcement will hopefully be coming out soon. Until then, that's all I can say. Also out in June is my longest publication yet, a 12k novelette M/M paranormal romance called "Fieldwork" published as part of Dreamspinner Press' Walk on the Wild Side story-a-day June release. It's set in Chicago and features lots of shifters and pizza and hopefully is very cute. This is a romance story, so no sex, but lots of flirting and aside from the endless rounds of editing it's been very fun. It will also be released on it's own as an ebook which I'm looking forward to. Dreamspinner is probably the biggest of the M/M publishers and pay pretty well on top of being rather popular so there's a chance I might actually make some money on this even though it's just a short story. Here's hoping, at least! [And oh hey, another last minute addition. My M/M/F fantasy erotica "The Colors of Magic" will appear in the Torquere Press antho Time of Your Life. It's kind of a poly adult Harry Potter story with color theory and it's the first erotica accepted that's not strictly M/M, so hurrah!]

Other stuff:

I do still have another story, "Beyond Far Point," accepted but no contract yet so no official announcement. It's a flash and a bit lighter than my usual fare but I'm hoping still interesting. I'm currently hard at work on a number of things, too. Firstly trying to expand a piece of M/M/M erotic fairy tale to fit an upcoming call. It was rejected first time around (hard sell, the M/M/M plus probably a bit more violent—not the sex, but the story in general—than some are comfortable with, but we'll see if I can sell it yet…) but I'm working at expanding it to get it up to the new word count min. May 1st is a big day for smut deadlines with both a Lethe Press steampunk call and a Dreamspinner "celebrity" call that I want to submit to (thinking historical fantasy involving steam-hodags for the Lethe and a contemporary superhero romance for the Dreamspinner). In non-smut projects, I have a story titled "The Death of Paul Bunyan" that I'm rather pleased with but I'm waiting because the places I want to sub for are closed, so I think I'll use it for a new crit group I'm helping to put together. Which is my last project. If you know any spec fiction or poetry writers in or around the Chippewa Valley (in westcentral Wisconsin near-ish the Twin Cities of MN), please send them in the direction of the SPACECATs (facebook page here) or just have them contact me at cvspacecats@gmail.com. And that's about it. Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Charles Payseur

Quick Sips - The Sun Magazine March 2016

So something a bit different today, as I'm looking at a not-really-spec publications called The Sun Magazine. Or, rather, I'm looking at the piece of fiction it released in its March issue. Why? Well, a few reasons. First, I was asked by the author, whose Terraform SF story I was a big fan of last year. And because I'm in that time of the month where publications are all holding onto one or two stories yet so it's either let a Thursday go with no new review or else pick something new. And I'm quite glad I decided to read this story, as it's challenging and deep and really rather uncomfortable. It's fantasy, or maybe science fiction, but whatever it is the story is a great meta-fictional experience worth checking out. The story is excerpted online and available for free in the digital edition of the magazine. Definitely go read it. For now, though, the review!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 03/14/2016 & 03/21/2016

It's March and spring is upon us! At Strange Horizons that means stories of water melting and things awakening. Of fairy tales and danger and loneliness. Of the resolve to do something. From a far future where the world has been irrevocably changed to a time much closer to our own when the weight of living might open doors best left closed, the stories are dark and layered, about human interconnections and separation, responsibility and the will to life and death. The poetry takes on almost mythic overtones, setting a few creepy and unsettling scenes, and I apparently have a lot to say on the piece of nonfiction. So yeah, lots to review. Let's get to it!
 

Art by Luke Spooner