Quick Sips - Uncanny #4 (May Stuff)

So the new issue of Uncanny is out. Woo! Of all the various publications around, Uncanny is normally where has the biggest names consistently, which makes sense for some place looking to create a reputation and secure funding. So maybe go and support them. They're having a funding drive and do provide some amazing stories. In any event, the May offerings are indeed many and some intensely entertaining pieces. Three stories, some short and others pushing the short story word limit, but still everything is very readable. Plus some (as always) great nonfiction and an honest-to-god Sonnet for poetry. So a solid month, which I should get on with already!

Art by Tran Nguyen

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons - 04/20/2015, 04/27/2015, and 05/04/2015

So I got behind a bit with Strange Horizons. Normally I've been trying to do every other week but sometimes things slip a little and here is a collection of three weeks worth of stories, poems, and nonfiction. There is a lot to like with everything. The prose is solid, understated a bit and dealing primarily with family. The poetry is linked by its structure, each poem being broken into sections. But they are quite different thematically, and boy do some of them get under the skin and burrow for vital organs. Some of it is very, very dark. I'm not looking at quite all of the nonfiction, as some was either a bit over my head or on topics that I don't feel qualified to critique (or both). It's all interesting, though, and Strange Horizons continues to be a must-read publication.

The Monthly Round Is Up!

Today is Monthly Round Day! Woo!

So go check out my monthly recommendations over at Nerds of a Feather and raise a glass in honor of some great fiction!

Quick Sips - Flash Fiction Online May 2015

Three new original stories this month at Flash Fiction Online, and they all fall on the speculative spectrum. For that, though, there is a nice variety, from a off-world science fiction to a contemporary science fiction to a nice, dark fantasy. As always, these are some short short stories worth checking out, short enough to be read all in one go without really losing much time for it. And at the beginning of the month, it's nice at times to not have to worry about a huge issue to get through. So yeah, let's get to it!

Art by Dario Bijelac

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #172 - Weird Western

Really, Beneath Ceaseless Skies? A special issue released on the last day of the month? I mean, I love the issue, but I'm afraid for Monthly Round considerations I'm considering it a May read. However, did I mention that I love the issue? Yes? Well it's true! And the issue even breaks the old BCS pattern of two stories per issue. There are three! But then, this is a special issue, so it makes sense. Also, the image below does not do the cover justice. It is amazing but I couldn't seem to get all of it so you'll just have to go to the site and check that one out. Very worth it! The three stories all take different tracks when it comes to approaching the Western theme. Only one really has a gun fight in it, but they all use the place and setting of the West to good effect, and all manage to capture a bit of that feel, the Weird Western style that makes them unique and interesting. So to the stories!

Art by Ignacio Bazan Luzcano

Quick Thoughts - Text and Subtext

As is usual for a lot of these thoughts, this week was preluded on Twitter with a bit of a rant about a book I had just finished. Not a terrible book, but one that got me rather conflicted because of the way I thought it toyed with me. Manipulated me into liking it perhaps a bit more than I should. And I won't quite go into the book right now, but basically it was a YA book that had a character (not the main character) that was portrayed as rather…well, the implication was that he was gay and dealing with bullying and as such the book had a chance to really make a statement with that character's journey.

I shouldn't get my hopes up. I know this. And yet there is a part of me that thrills when stories hint at things, especially that certain characters might not be straight. There are entire communities that pick up on the not-straight eroticism in shows and books and ship and write fanfiction and do all sorts of things because that story and those character speak to them in that way. As someone who has read fanfiction for a long time (mostly quietly, mostly ashamed), it makes sense to me and when I see things in shows where a character is show to maybe be more than "just friends" with another character in a queer way I get all hopeful.

But again, I shouldn't. I know the track record of such things, how many shows are willing to pay lip service to such relationships but would never make a popular character anything other than straight. This happened fairly recently with the Walking Dead show deciding to not make a character gay, or asexual, or bisexual, and state very clearly that he was straight, despite toying with the idea (and the audience) for a long time before that. Comic books have done it, books have done it. They revel in the subtext that a character might be gay or bi but then almost invariably reveal that nah, not so much, and all you people who wanted it are weird and isn't it funny haha!

I get where this comes from. People are hungry for queer content. Queer stories, queer characters—people are starved of them. Especially ones that exist in the mainstream. It's not just queer people wanting these stories, either, but it seems like whenever a show or a book series or a game or anything plays up subtext and never delivers text the excuse is that they don't want to alienate straight consumers. Which is ridiculous and stupid, because it's not like only queer people enjoy queer stories. A diversity of voices benefits everyone and is enjoyed by everyone. The idea that diversity doesn't sell is "conventional wisdom" that has been disproven time and again. I think a big reason why there's such an angry pushback against diverse voices getting more attention is because it challenges the idea that the mainstream should be white and straight and male.

But perhaps getting a little wide afield there. Pulling it back. The practice just seems predatory. A sort of bait-and-switch where people are drawn in for what they assume and hope is something only to learn that it's not, with the expectation that by the time it's revealed that the character is not queer, the reader/viewer/etc. is already invested in the story and will stick it out regardless. And it sucks. Slowly I feel that things are changing. I really need to watch Legend of Korra because of how it subverts this trope, and there are a few other examples of mainstream work that actually do deliver on queer text instead of subtext.

But mostly it's pushed aside, deemed deviant and weird and worthy of derision. I kind of like Supernatural, but wow if it doesn't have a love/hate thing going on with its fans, like it wants to pretend its fan base doesn't want to see Sam or Dean in a same sex relationship, that it would ruin something about the show. When, really? Really? And I guess I'm just tired at the moment of seeing this happen. When the book continued to avoid taking a stand, then killed the character in question and then brought him back as a ghost, well…things went from hmm to problematic and upsetting.

So is there a point to all of this? Maybe all I'm trying to say is that I expect better. For all that I love fanfiction, the reason it exists is largely because there is a demand in mainstream stories (of whatever medium) that is not being met. It's being ignored. And admitting there is a problem and then continuing to contribute to it and expecting everyone to be understanding is not cool. Don't do that. Don't make excuses. Just do better.

Ahem. So end of long and grumpy rant. Sorry about that. Thanks for reading, though!

All the best,

Charles Payseur

Quick Sips - Tor.com April 2015

Sometimes I wish that the stories at Tor.com would be shorter. Because even intrepid readers might have a little difficulty fitting in some of these stories in the otherwise packed month. None of these stories are quick, none of them light. But they are all rewarding, all interesting and deep and worth wading into. Or diving into headfirst. Most of them have a longing quality about them, circle around a lack that might or might not be filled by the end. The most successful of the stories seem to leave the question open, leave it to the reader to fill in, but all the stories are interesting and compelling. Another excellent month from one of the few non-print/free publications that will put out novellas. So let's get to it!