Severance: “Defiant Jazz”

Posted on by

I haven’t done this in awhile, but we have been gifted with my new favorite TV show, Severance, and I have felt compelled to talk about the character and storycraft of my favorite episode of the season. If you haven’t watched Severance yet, or haven’t watched up to at least the focus of this discussion, episode 7, “Defiant Jazz”, you should be warned that this will be spoilerific. I don’t think I’ll be spoiling anything of the final two episodes of the season, but these things can bleed together a bit so I can’t make any promises.

Now, if you aren’t concerned with spoilers or have watched the first 7 or more episodes of the show then, please, read on. Last warning though, from here on: there be spoilers.

Continue reading →

2021 Short Fiction Round Up 7

Posted on by

Well, the streak was broken. After six straight weeks of roundups I missed getting one done last week. I’m back now though with the 7th installment of the round up for the year and another five stories I read and enjoyed this past week. We’ve got all sorts of stories here. Selections from a travel guide, a horror story with a monster, a more adventure style storry with a monster hunter, a story of a new romance, and a story of trying to put an end to an unsuccessful one. Hopefully that range should mean everyone can find something here to like for themselves.

“Destinations of Beauty” by Alexander Weinstein from Lightspeed #129

This was an interesting piece that is the latest in a series of travel guide style entries “From the Lost Travelers’ Tour Guide” written by author Alexander Weinstein that have been published in Lightspeed since January of 2020. This was my first time reading part of this series but I’ll definitely be reading through the previous entries. This one focuses on, as the name says, destinations exemplifying beauty in some way, but not necessarily happiness by any means. In fact, there is much in these entries that feel filled with the bittersweet, the melancholy, the nostalgic. Many entries feel written by a very weary traveler finding glimpses of very weary people. Despite all that though, I also find myself feeling a bit of longing reading these. The longing for travel we currently can’t partake in, and the unique memories of finding a special place at the end of a too long and tiring day of exploration that will stay with you for the rest of your life. These stories are written by someone who has traveled and explored and they will resonate a bit more for that with readers who have as well.

Continue reading →

2021 Short Fiction Round Up 6

Posted on by

A couple days later than I originally planned but the 6th Round Up of Short SFF Fiction of the year is here! Quite a bit of darkness in these stories this week but also a lot of hope. There is also a lot of gorgeous writing and striking imagery and I think there are plenty of little pieces of these stories that will haunt you in the best way. A lot of stories on the longer side than much of what I’ve been featuring here lately, including the longest story of the year for the round up so far: our first novelette of the year!

“A Remembered Kind of Dream” by Rei Rosenquist from GigaNotoSaurus

Take a Mad Max post-apocalypse vibe and mix in your favorite mind-and-or-memory bending story (Inception, Vanilla Sky, or Memento for example) and you’ll have a pretty good comparable for this intriguing novelette. The setting is a really good (and terrifyingly creative) take on a nearish-to-medium future post-apocalypse, one where the world has been largely abandoned to being an ecological horror wasteland and those who remain scrounge and scavenge to get by as best they can. The story starts in a way that feels pretty familiar for such a style – with the go-it-alone nomad finding themselves throwing in with a small group of survivors against their better judgement. As it goes on though, author Rei Rosenquist adds layer after layer of complexity and intrigue (or perhaps I should say they reveal those layers) until we are left with a great blending of genres and something more hopeful than I expected.

(Note: while the story does not have a lot of the nastier things that post-apocalypse stories can go in for, there is a scene of gruesomeness and eventual death that is not malicious, but definitely potentially stomach churning and disturbing all the same.)

Continue reading →

2021 Short Fiction Round Up 5

Posted on by

Welcome back to the Short Fiction SFF Round Up! I have 5 more stories I enjoyed and want to recommend to you for this, my 5th roundup of the year. I should point out that while not present in every story there is a quite a lot of grief and loss in the stories this week. That said, when those themes and experiences are in the stories I think they are handled well and explored with empathy and in the end these five stories each hit me just right when I read them and made me want to share them.

“History in Pieces” by Beth Goder from Clarkesworld #173

I’m always happy to explore stories with interesting structure and this one provides, as it’s name suggests, something of a puzzle structure. Its pieces of the tale told largely out of order come together to paint a picture of exploration and first contact, the beginnings of connection, and tragic ending for some. By the end, the alien archivist, Tan, who is creating the puzzle record, has become a fascinating character. I very much enjoyed moving back and forth through this story and its structure.

Continue reading →

The Jazz Chain – Link 8: Joe Henderson

Posted on by

Time for another link in The Jazz Chain! This is my exploration of jazz where for each entry I look at an album led by a musician who appeared as a player on the previous entry. Last time on The Jazz Chain I looked at Freddie Hubbard’s album 1970 album Red Clay. This week we move 3 years ahead in time to look at an album of saxophonist (and flutist) Joe Henderson’s. Henderson was a magnificent tenor sax player and he worked with many of the best musicians jazz had to offer throughout his career that last over 40 years. For The Jazz Chain I want to look at an album of his that is fairly different from a lot of the playing he is known for: his 1973 album, The Elements.

The Elements – Joe Henderson – 1973

Continue reading →

2021 Short Fiction Round Up 4

Posted on by

Week 4! I honestly wasn’t sure I’d get four weeks of roundups in a row without a stumble, that certainly hasn’t been the case the last couple years! My goal this year has simply been to take it one week at a time, no big hopes or plans. Just make time to read a bit each day and collect some favorites. It’s been working ok so far I’d say. 5 more stories this week including two from magazines that I haven’t featured in the roundup before. Apparition Literary Magazine (or Apparition Lit) is a quarterly magazine that published themed issues. This month’s issue’s theme was justice. Mermaids Monthly is a brand new magazine that funded through a kickstarter late last year (one I was happy to support) and it intends to bring, as the name implies, art, poetry, short stories and more all centered around mermaids (defined as any cool aquatic chimeras you can think of). I’d say with issue one it’s off to a great start!

As is usually the case we have a pretty wide selection of story settings, tone, and styles this week and hopefully you’ll find something (hopefully several somethings) to love.

“Commodities” by Zebib K.A. from Apparition Lit #13

This is an interesting story of a near and in many ways scarily too possible future. One that echoes obviously strongly with the terrors that have been amplified by the previous four years of American reactionary far-right politics. Here we have an America that has dissolved and has border walls to keep people out and in. What is really interesting is that the story takes place in California where many of the oppressed originally fled to. It’s supposed to be the “good” place. Indeed some patrolling officers even say so out loud. All while they look for people who had illegally crossed the border fleeing the bad of the other side of the wall. It’s a detail that resonated particularly with me as a Canadian, we who often paint ourselves as so much better than our southern neighbors, yet who refused to make practical moves to be a safe place for those persecuted by growing official American xenophobia. Our protagonist, Miriam only wants the private quiet life she has eked out for herself. Turning away from those in need is harder than she might like though and rugged individualism on its own is not much of a a solution to oppression.

Continue reading →