Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #84

Art by Anna Dittmann

October brings four short stories to Fireside Magazine, and the works deal a lot with bodies, with control, with violation. As such, there are some rather important content warnings to heed, but also a very driving sense of exploration of what it means to be embodied, to have skin, to be perceived. Characters struggle with and against the cultural forces that keep them at odds with the meat they carry themselves in, or the code, or both. Sometimes able to pull free, sometimes not. But always still left with the concept of self as observed versus self-observing. Always still left in this messy space of trauma, desire, and anxiety. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 10/19/2020 & Samovar 10/26/2020

Well, the month managed to bring a little bit of a curveball at Strange Horizons, as I wasn’t expecting a new Samovar. But here we are, and I’m certainly not complaining about the three stories and two poems that round out the two issues. As they come from essentially two different publications, there’s not a huge amount of thematic links between the issues, but they still all embody the kind of strange that both publications do so well. A complex and yearning weirdness that kinds people struggling to find their place in broken worlds. Clinging to rationalism or absurdity to make sense of it all or to reject that sense can exist at all. Add in some wonderful poetry and it makes for a great mix of short SFF. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #315

Art by Vladimir Manyukhin

The latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies brings two novelettes about invasion, about resistance (or lack of). About two queer characters dealing with the prospect of their home being conquered. Of having to make hard decisions between what their heart wants and what’s expected of them. In both cases, what’s expected might win out, but the two stories have two very different takes on what that means. In one, that means a character submitting to the need to sacrifice for a cause, for justice, for the hope of a future. In the other, that means a character submitting to corruption, to lies, to a betrayal of what and who they are. It’s some emotionally powerful and devastating work, and I’ll get right to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Baffling Magazine October 2020

October brings the single largest amount of stories to date for Baffling Magazine’s early access Patreon, which means three new stories just in time for PSL season. And while the stories aren’t exactly spooky, they do feel a nice fit for the season, for autumn and its lengthening shadows, it’s creeping chill, and its mix of monsters and magic. The stories blend romance and horror, love and death and betrayal. Each of the stories finds characters apt to hurt each other, characters who might be preying on one another. Hungry magics and mad sciences. But wrapped in that is the messy reality of affection, love, and heartbreak. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Breathe Fiyah

Art by Eli Minaya

A collaboration between Tor and Fiyah Magazine, this special Breathe Fiyah issue features eight short stories (entirely flash fiction) by Black writers exploring race, oppression, resistance, and revolution through a speculative lens. The stories are largely (though not completely) contemporary, both fantasy and science fiction (with some horror elements thrown in as well at times), and they create a framework, one that ends up resembling perhaps a structure of kindling. Each piece a small addition that, when put together and struck, sets off a blaze. The stories are about resisting, about surviving a world that is actively trying to erase, exploit, and exterminate you. And the works do indeed spark and smolder, ending with a bang that, hopefully, will shake things up, weakening the racist and white supremacist structures that marginalize Black writers. To the reviews!

Quick Sips - Diabolical Plots #68

Art by Joey Jordan

The October Diabolical Plots brings two new short stories with a nice twist of horror, perfect for the season. First up, a transcript of a video channel that’s…not quite right. That shows a certain enthusiasm but not so much a…certain wholesomeness. The second story delves into the horror of shopping, and the horror of shopping culture. It’s a sharp look at consumerism and corruption, and manages a nice creepy atmosphere throughout. Both of the stories mix a bit of spookiness, a healthy dose of strangeness, and enough awkward adorableness amidst pervasive terror that they complement each other well. And if you need more convincing, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World that Wouldn't Die (Neon Hemlock) [part 2]

Art by Grace Fong

It’s time for part two of my review of the Glitter + Ashes anthology, published by Neon Hemlock and edited by dave ring, with a look at another seven stories. The pieces range a bit longer in the meaty center of the book, and there are less very short works to break things up. That said, the anthology is really punching above its weight with every piece, with beautifully rendered and stunningly complex takes on queer life and love after and in the face of the end of the world. And the stories show that what people cling to when the world is falling apart says a lot. The stories find characters who have the option of acting selfishly, of saving only themselves, and who choose instead to help others, to try and retain art, and expression, and of course love. It’s a wonderful collection of pieces, and I’ll get right to my reviews!