Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #72

Art by Amanda Makepeace

Well Fireside Magazine certainly takes its Halloween seriously, because this issues is entirely ghost-centric in order to get you into the spoopy mood. The stories explore what it means to be a ghost, what defines ghost-ness. And obviously, spread over so many stories, the place it arrives at isn't homogeneous. There are a variety of ghosts, as there are a variety of people—ghost who remember their lives and those who don't, ghosts who hunger for the living, and those who want only a break from isolation. Ghosts created by violence, and those created by longing. And it's a wonderful celebration of ghosts carried out over the issue. So let's get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/21/2019 & 10/28/2019

Art by Sarah Gonzales

The end of October brings one heart-rending story and two poems very much suited to the season to Strange Horizons. The story is gorgeous and difficult, examining a future that might as well be the past for all that history might move in circles, in cycles where certain groups are always more vulnerable, always more at risk of being stripped of their rights and lives. The poems are actually rather creepy, both of them unfolding from perspectives that gives voice to a bit of darkness. That are waiting for people to initiate a bargain that the people might not even realize they are making. But it’s enough for horror to blossom. So yeah, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #289

Art by Ferdinand Dumago Ladera

Well I think that Beneath Ceaseless Skies is starting to get in the Halloween mood, as this issues stories do kind of lean toward the spooky side. Full of darkness and difficulty, the stories find characters who are pushed into violent situations. For one of them, it’s an opportunity to repay a debt and maybe break his isolation. For the other, though, the violence is part of a control being exerted over his life, and is very much causing his isolation and pain. But both characters need to work through it in order to try and find what’s on the other side. Community perhaps. Forgiveness? Well, you’ll just have to see. To the reviews!

LIVER BEWARE! You're in for a Drunk Review of Goosebumps #24: PHANTOM OF THE AUDITORIUM

Okay, so I admit I always wanted to get into theater, but I guess was never really good enough. Or maybe by the time I would have gotten into it, I was in sports and things instead, and it didn’t seem open to me. Or maybe I avoided it on some unconscious level because it’s not exactly...the...straightest of things. And maybe I just steered clear because I didn’t want to get into that. I’m kinda messed up. But anyway, that is all to say that this book hits me right in the drama geek feels, and I just can’t wait. Y’all, I can’t wait!

Oh, I should say that I’m drinking from the Dogfish Head summer variety pack (which is super cheap right now and full of things like a coconut IPA which is weird but good). So right, drinks are lined up. Let’s get to this book!

LIVER BEWARE! You're in for a Drunk Review of Goosebumps #23: RETURN OF THE MUMMY

So what actually earns a Goosebumps sequel? This book marks the second return visit in the series (the first being Monster Blood), and as with that...uh...shining example, I'm not really sure what merited a return to this particular set of characters. Mummies are classic? Or...uh... Well, what's certain is that this book is a waaaaay better sequel than Monster Blood II. Not that giant hamsters aren't awesome, but that this book at least stays consistent with itself and the world it introduced in the first book. Gabe still gets lost way too easily. Uncle Ben still shouldn't be allowed to supervise children. And Sari is still quick to make Gabe look like an ass.

But first, some booze! I'm actually drinking a strange milkshake IPA, which has lactose in it, I guess? Look, I'm not here so you can judge my drinking decisions (and besides, it's really good). Thusly fortified against the descent into madness that this is sure to be, let's get right to it!

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 - Translunar Travelers Lounge #1 [part 2: With a Twist]

I’m back looking at the inaugural issue of Translunar Travelers Lounge, this time taking a taste from their With a Twist offerings. The section promises new takes on classic tropes (at least as I read it) and I can definitely say that it delivers. A ghost story with a musical (and romantic) embellishment. A post-disaster story with a badass librarian and a few overdue books. A fairy tale with its own defiant happily ever after. A kaiju story with a human heart. A time travel story with a meta filter. There’s lots of interesting ideas to explore, and I’ll happily do just that with my reviews!