Quick Sips - The Dark #21

Both original stories in the February issue of The Dark Magazine deal in some way with loss and with the generational passing of knowledge and potential. Both stories look at losses that are transformative, but experienced from opposite positions. In the first story, the main character is a governess, a care-giver to a group of girls. In the second piece, the main character is a bit younger, and learning from her elders about some of the dangers of the world. The stories are worlds apart in terms of tone but both circle around how people react to loss and, more telling, how unprepared some people can be to experience it. To find themselves in a situation that has gone beyond their control. These are interesting stories and contrast nicely while both looking at the supernatural and the ways that the older generations care for the younger ones. Time to review! 

Art by captblack76

Quick Sips - Lightspeed #81

February is a month of love but you might not know it from reading the latest issue of Lightspeed Magazine. Though all of the stories do show a certain amount of love for tropes. For classic stories. This love, however, comes with an edge. Destroys even as it embraces. The stories all take on some classic ideas. Superheroes. The End of the World. The Chosen One. The Gunslinger. And they manage to tell stories that at the same time celebrate these kinds of stories for the imagination and the hope that they can inspire…and they also tear them apart. Subvert them. Twist them. What is left are stories that are fun but obliterating, funny but bleak as fuck. It's a great issue, though, and I'm going to get right to my reviews!

Art by Alan Bao

Author Spotlight - Priya Sridhar

So today I'm doing something new. I'm looking at a number of stories from one author that have fallen outside of the scope of my reviews. Now this isn't exactly an unusual thing, that I would read and very much like a story by an author only to find that they have a larger body of work out there. In this case, the story that I read was "The Jeweled Nawab Jungle Retreat" by Priya Sridhar (appearing in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #214). In this case, though, the author reached out and asked if I'd be interested in reading/reviewing more. And given that I liked "The Jeweled Nawab Jungle Retreat" enough to put it in my Monthly Round, and because I had some time, it worked out. So yeah, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to do spotlights like this, but here's the first!

Art by L.E. Badillo

Quick Thoughts - "Snow Devils"

Okay, when I said I had some other, non-lumberjack stories coming out I was kind of thinking this wouldn't be my next one to appear. But despite it being my most recent sale, "Snow Devils" is out in the wild and does fit in thematically rather nicely with some of my other pieces recently. It appears in Persistent Vision, fyi, and the art is amazing.

Art by S. Bell

Regular Sip - Kaiju Revisited #1 (from Apokrupha Press)

So I'm trying something a little new. I've been trying to step out of my shell a little more with regards to novellas, and so when the opportunity arose to look at a series of kaiju-inspired tales from Apokrupha, I sort of jumped for it. I'm a little late to the game as the first two in the series came out in 2016, but I hope I'm not too late to point people toward what is a rather delightful first installment in the series. I will admit, part of the draw of kaiju stories is that they are…well, a little over-the-top. Giant monsters bent on city-wide destruction. There's a nice vein of horror there, but this first entry into the series focuses on something a bit different—humor. Through a charming voice the story reveals a situation equal parts nightmarish…and funny as hell. So yeah, the review!

Art by Christopher Enterline

Quick Sips - Fireside Fiction #39

I had almost given up on seeing a January release from Fireside Fiction, but lo and behold on the last day of January we have three short stories, two of them flash length, that explore the boundaries of Otherness. All three, in their own ways, look at how people relate to each other. How labels are powerful. Monsters and gods, good and bad, black and white. And each story complicates nicely these concepts, breaking down binary thinking to show just how complicated the supposed dichotomies are. Looking at power and prejudice, the stories don't flinch from getting really fucking dark, but that also gives them a deep strength and lasting impact. These are stories that use voice to great effect, as well, letting the various characters speak and letting their words guide understanding and conflict. It's a great issue and it's time to review it!

Art by Galen Dara

Quick Sips - Strange Horizons 01/16/2017, 01/23/2017, & 01/30/2017

I almost thought this was going to be a light three weeks from Strange Horizons. Trust providence to throw an extra-big issue on the penultimate day of the month! As much as a beleaguered reviewer might find such last-minute work a bit harrowing, it's impossible for me to be anything less than thrilled because the work in these three weeks is pretty awesome, and finding out that instead of one poem a major SFF pub has released six? Well, that's a pretty good thing. So between these three weeks there are two original stories and eight original poems, plus many reprinted poems and nonfiction that's worth checking out, including two different awesome round tables (one of which I got to participate in!). It's an excellent assortment of pieces that tackle resistance and colonialism, passion and pain. So let's get to these reviews! 

Art by Soraya Jean-Louis McElroy