tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51462887054712081602024-03-13T06:04:09.616-04:00The Future Fire ReviewsDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.comBlogger568125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-59634974292389428882024-03-12T13:35:00.039-04:002024-03-12T13:35:00.140-04:00The Dark #104 (January 2024)The Dark, ed. Sean Wallace & Veronica Giguere. Issue 104 (January 2024). Prime Books. $1.99 or online at thedarkmagazine.com.
Reviewed by M.L. Clark
The first 2024 issue of The Dark brought us assemblages: entities created out of smaller pieces—sometimes to sinister effect, sometimes to appease a greater menace, and sometimes with good intentions that soured. In all cases, the emerging Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-23444256643756769102024-01-04T12:20:00.034-05:002024-01-04T12:20:00.129-05:00Yoo, Small Gods of Calamity (2024)Sam Kyung Yoo, Small Gods of Calamity. Interstellar Flight Press, 2024. Pp. 151. ISBN 978-1-953736-28-4. $9.99.
Reviewed by Julie Reeser
Small Gods of Calamity is a debut novella by Sam Kyung Yoo, who has had a short but illustrious career publishing stories in magazines such as Fantasy and Strange Horizons, with work showcasing themes of East Asian folklore and ghosts. This foundation has servedDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-6947767871671683972023-11-20T11:39:00.018-05:002023-11-20T11:39:00.131-05:00Kaleidotrope (Autumn 2023)Kaleidotrope, ed. Fred Coppersmith. Autumn 2023 issue. Online at kaleidotrope.net or on Kindle.
Reviewed by Storm Blakley
Kaleidotrope’s Autumn 2023 issue offers a wonderful collection of fantasy, sci-fi and a little horror. Each poem and story held, for me, a reflection on very fundamentally human needs and ideals, from a delightful array of differing perspectives.
This issue opens with “A PlaceDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-86049661688948423252023-11-13T07:37:00.057-05:002023-11-13T07:37:00.132-05:00Seize the Press #8 (2023)Seize the Press #8, ed. Jonny Pickering and Karlo Yeager Rodríguez. Issue 8 (September 2023). Online at seizethepress.com.
Reviewed by Gwen C. Katz
’Tis autumn, the season of death and endings and remembering things you swore you’d get around to sooner, and that makes three good reasons for me to review the new Seize the Press. You know, the maggot sex one. But is the maggot sex any good, one Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-42124807157130729692023-11-06T09:09:00.033-05:002023-11-06T09:09:00.141-05:00Cahill, Unicorn Death Moon Day Planner (2023)Zachary Cahill, Unicorn Death Moon Day Planner. Red Ogre Review & Liquid Raven Media, 2023. Pp. 74. ISBN 979-8-8600-3593-5. $14.99.
Reviewed by Julie Reeser
Over the last few years, I’ve established a personal habit of spending time each morning planning my day with a view toward my yearly goals and reading poetry. When I saw the Unicorn Death Moon Day Planner by Zachary Cahill, I anticipatedDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-36991270557570503772023-10-16T17:17:00.001-04:002023-10-16T17:17:25.129-04:00Nightmare #131 (August 2023)Nightmare Magazine, ed. Wendy N. Wagner. Issue 131 (August 2023). Online at nightmare-magazine.com.
Reviewed by Jason Kahler
Full disclosure: A little ways back, I attended a Clarion West workshop facilitated by Nightmare’s Managing/Senior Editor Wendy N. Wagner. She was knowledgeable, insightful, and enthusiastic about our work and about making us better writers. I finished the workshop full of Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-88109625962839696232023-09-17T10:37:00.000-04:002023-09-17T10:37:35.206-04:00TFF Reviews: some changes comingThe TFF Reviews site, which has run on an open submissions basis for 18 years (15 of them on the current blog platform), is changing focus. Our reviewers are now invited to write about online speculative magazines and fiction sites, of which we circulate a monthly list of titles not recently covered. Priority will go to free-to-read venues, but sites that require subscription or purchase Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-44270879451229876212023-07-24T07:21:00.018-04:002023-07-24T07:21:00.129-04:00Weinstock, Mad Scientist’s Guide to Composition (2020)Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to Composition. Broadview Press, 2020. Pp. 246, ISBN 978-1-5548-1445-9. $15.55.
Reviewed by Don Riggs
I have taught from Weinstock’s Mad Scientist’s Guide to Composition for three years now, and have found it to be extremely useful in presenting the basic principles of academic writing for students, including what instructors call the “mechanicsDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-349509319647738122023-07-17T12:10:00.049-04:002023-07-17T12:10:00.133-04:00Raglin (ed.), Shredded (2022)Eric Raglin (ed.), Shredded: A Sports and Fitness Body Horror Anthology. Cursed Morsels Press, 2022. Pp. 274. ISBN 978-1-73695-327-3. $13.99.
Reviewed by Gwen C. Katz
First off: I am not a sports person. The closest I come to a sports horror story is being stuck on the bleachers in the freezing rain waiting for my sister’s track meet to finish. So I wasn’t initially real drawn to Shredded. Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-4605859573726139562023-06-15T17:44:00.003-04:002023-06-15T17:44:54.529-04:00Nikolits, Everything You Dream Is Real (2022)Lisa de Nikolits, Everything You Dream Is Real. Inanna Publications, 2022. Pp. 323. ISBN 978-1-7713-3930-8. $22.95 pb/$11.99 e.
Reviewed by Christina De La Rocha
As the plot cartwheels, a motley crew of the old, the young, the lovelorn, the pregnant, the queer, the disabled, and the drug-addled overthrow the authoritarian patriarchy whose secret subterranean sex show funds its military operationsDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-37052392728049508792023-06-01T08:23:00.040-04:002023-06-01T08:23:00.138-04:00Evans, Babel Apocalypse (2023)Vyvyan Evans, The Babel Apocalypse: Songs of the Sage, book 1. Nephilim Publishing, 2023. Pp. 388. ISBN 978-1-7399962-2-2. $13.99.
Reviewed by Don Riggs
Vyvyan Evans is a professional linguist with an extensive interest in online technology and publishes in academic journals as well as magazines such as Psychology Today and The New Republic, so his credentials in the real-world fields of Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-24794869557475162922023-04-13T13:49:00.022-04:002023-04-17T16:55:31.853-04:00Jones, Of Weeds and Witches (2022)Shelly Jones, Of Weeds and Witches. Alien Buddha Press, 2022. Pp. 36. ISBN 979-8-357779-18-2. $10.99.
Reviewed by Julie Reeser
Shelly Jones is an educator, author, and researcher nominated for a Pushcart Prize, a Dwarf Star Award, and she has been a finalist for the Best Microfiction 2023. Their chapbook, Of Weeds and Witches, contains twenty-four poems that thrum with mythical magic. Nature Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-31165379562013061032023-04-06T17:47:00.006-04:002023-09-07T17:39:20.295-04:00Solarpunk Magazine #7 (2023)Solarpunk Magazine, ed. Justine Norton-Kertson & Brianna Castagnozzi. Issue #7 (Jan/Feb 2023). Online at solarpunkmagazine.com or $6.00.
Reviewed by Storm Blakley
Solarpunk Magazine describes itself as a “bimonthly online publication of radically hopeful and optimistic science fiction and fantasy.” In this issue, I found a recurring theme of family, solidarity, and what we owe one another Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-87928650359144072972023-03-16T19:25:00.004-04:002023-03-19T07:36:35.239-04:00Thorne, Hell Spring (2021)Isaac Thorne, Hell Spring. Lost Hollow Books, 2021. Pp. 374. ISBN 978-1-938271-55-7. £19.99.
Reviewed by Rachel Verkade
So… this one is weird. And I do not say that lightly. Let me try to describe how this book opens. It opens within the depths of hell, in a wood ringing a field surrounding a giant penis. Buckle up, folks. We’re just getting started.
Within the woods are hellhounds. All of the Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-17813741028639937612023-03-02T11:36:00.012-05:002023-03-02T11:36:00.201-05:00Margariti, The Saint of Witches (2022)Avra Margariti, The Saint of Witches: A Horror Poetry Collection. Weasel Press, 2022. Pp. 92. ISBN 978-1-9487-1234-7. $12.00.
Reviewed by Jason Kahler
The witches depicted in Avra Margariti’s collection The Saint of Witches are cursed with the burden of knowing, the pressures of womanhood, and the threat that comes with being the other. Dangerous love waits on a blanket under a moonlit tree, and Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-15327754970215681622023-02-23T10:03:00.011-05:002023-02-23T10:03:00.208-05:00Apex Magazine #134 (2023)Apex Magazine, ed. Lesley Conner. Issue #134 (November 2022). Online at apex-magazine.com.
Reviewed by Storm Blakley
Apex Magazine’s January issue was a collection that made me think of bargains and agreements, and how those can change our perspectives on the things that really matter. Those bargains can be dangerous things, especially when made with powerful beings and magic. Whether we Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-86223105587079748332023-02-16T10:18:00.035-05:002023-02-16T10:18:00.210-05:00Schein, Lady Anarchist Café (2022)Lorraine Schein, The Lady Anarchist Café: Poems and Stories. Autonomedia, 2022. Pp. 110. ISBN 978-1-57027-391-9. $15.95.
Reviewed by Cait Coker
Speculative poetry is an often overlooked genre in the fields of the fantastic, despite a wealth of practitioners in and out of the mainstream. Lorraine Schein’s collection, The Lady Anarchist Café: Poems and Stories, plays with the conventions of both Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-40462797882195165792023-02-09T15:08:00.019-05:002023-02-09T15:08:00.201-05:00Schroeder, Archer 887 (2022)Anna Schroeder, Archer 887 (Archer book #1). Self-published, 2022. Pp. 308. ISBN 979-8-9862308-0-1. $15.00 pb/$8.99 e.
Reviewed by M.L. Clark
Military sci-fi comes in many moral flavours. Anna Schroeder’s Archer 887 is a highly conservative variant, as illustrated in its treatment of empire, military service, aliens as enemies, righteous torture, gender relations, and the core romance. Action Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-59762218622880579032023-02-02T11:52:00.032-05:002023-02-02T11:52:00.202-05:00Hyslop, Miasma (2022)Jess Hyslop, Miasma (Luna Novella #16). Luna Press Publishing, 2022. Pp. 108. ISBN 978-1-915556-01-1. $11.99 pb/$5.99 e.
Reviewed by Zachary Gillan
Jess Hyslop’s Miasma is a book that I wish had been around when I was younger. It’s a novella that would have fit nicely in the fantasy works of the 1990s that I spent my teenage years reading, but with a revisionist approach. It takes a variety of Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-7508478835737782032023-01-19T11:33:00.001-05:002023-01-19T11:33:00.193-05:00Nightmare #124 (2023)Nightmare, ed. Wendy Wagner. Issue 124 (January 2023). Online at nightmare-magazine.com.
Reviewed by Christina De La Rocha
The 124th issue of Nightmare is, for this online magazine of horror and dark fantasy, typically compact, consisting of three short stories, one poem, one essay, one book review, and some author interviews. Freshly freed from holiday hell with the people who are the reason youDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-16629549540178065842023-01-12T15:15:00.001-05:002023-01-12T15:15:16.451-05:00Karl, Exogeny (2022)Nathan Karl, Exogeny. Self-published, 2022. Pp. 101. ISBN 978-1-0880-5771-1. $6.99.
Reviewed by Jason Kahler
I’ve been reading DC’s current Poison Ivy mini-series, which is excellent. The main thrust of the story is that Ivy, to one degree or another, is becoming a plant monster and is making other people into plant monsters or moss or mulch or trees or what have you. I also read a lot of Jeff Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-79922235798478634162022-12-29T14:47:00.036-05:002022-12-29T14:47:00.220-05:00Sizemore and Connor, Apex Magazine 2021Jason Sizemore and Lesley Connor (eds.), Apex Magazine 2021: The Companion Anthology. Apex Book Company, 2022. Pp. 544. ISBN 978-1-955765-06-0. $27.95 pb/$8.99 e.
Reviewed by Christina De La Rocha
Apex Magazine 2021: The Companion Anthology serves up 48 stories originally published in Apex Magazine in issues 121–128, representing the year the publication bounced back from a brief hiatus. Buying aDjibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-20793859149117723952022-12-22T12:56:00.002-05:002022-12-22T12:56:11.565-05:00Rosen, Cascade (2022)Rachel A. Rosen, Cascade: The Sleep of Reason Book 1. Bumblepuppy Press, 2022. Pp. 410. ISBN 978-1-7770944-5-4. $19.95.
Reviewed by Don Riggs
Rachel Rosen’s Cascade is the first book of a trilogy, The Sleep of Reason, alluding to Goya’s etching of the same title, in which a young man is sleeping on his desk and swarms of bats, owls, and other denizens of the dark flock towards him—or is it from Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-24495710852792912112022-12-14T16:54:00.000-05:002022-12-14T16:54:49.492-05:00Strange Horizons (November 2022)Strange Horizons, ed. Gautam Bhatia (et al.). November 2022 (four issues). Free online at strangehorizons.com.
Reviewed by Storm Blakley
Strange Horizons’ November issues have a lot to say, and in them, I saw a reflection of much happening in the world today, from the climate crisis to the digital world, monsters and magic and far-away planets. Stories and poems about communities standing Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146288705471208160.post-44892718410991953852022-11-15T12:39:00.004-05:002022-11-15T12:39:00.201-05:00Applegate (ed.), It Was All a Dream (2022)Brandon Applegate (ed.), It Was All a Dream: An Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes Done Right. Hungry Shadow Press, 2020. Pp. 338. ISBN 979-8-986920-20-7. $16.98.
Reviewed by Gwen C. Katz
When Hungry Shadow Press announced It Was All a Dream, I was immediately curious and a bit puzzled. The foremost question in my mind: What does it mean to do a trope right? There are many possible answers to this Djibrilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06382333338207409292noreply@blogger.com0