Two Magazine Minis in a month? In this economy? Earlier this month, I took a look at some stories from OnSpec and The Deadlands that were included in the Hugo packet. But publishers didn’t stop releasing new things just because I was reading stories from last year. And guess what? There are some new releases… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis (Again!): Adventitious, Kaleidotrope, and Reckoning
This month, I’m pivoting a bit away from my usual Magazine Minis habit, which typically involves sampling some sci-fi/fantasy new releases and dedicating small review sections to publications with multiple stories that catch my eye. The process this month is the same, the difference is that the focus has not been on new releases. Instead,… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: On Spec and The Deadlands
A new issue of Asimov’s, a review copy of Otherside, and several eye-catching pieces from Uncanny have given me a nice three-zine spread for this month’s Magazine Minis. As always, I have plenty of short fiction to recommend, so let’s get to it. Asimov’s A quick scan through the new fiction in the July/August 2026… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Asimov’s, Otherside, and Uncanny
The last two months of Magazine Minis were enormous, but as the TBR churns along, the May entry will be much shorter, dipping into just a pair of magazines: Adventitious and Lightspeed. Adventitious I received an Advance Review Copy of Issue Three of Adventitious, and as usual, I scanned through to see which stories immediately… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Adventitious and Lightspeed
For the second month in a row, my Magazine Minis post will be a five-zine blitz. Well, I suppose not technically the second month in a row, since I didn’t get this one up before the calendar flipped to May, but they were read two months in a row. Point is, I found five magazines… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Five-Zine Blitz, Again (April 2026)
For the last year or so, my habit has been to supplement my monthly Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus review with a second feature where I highlight a couple different publications with multiple stories that caught my eye. This month it’s a bit longer than usual, as I’ve rolled up stories from two magazines that do smaller,… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Five-Zine Blitz (March 2026)
Each month, I supplement my full magazine reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus with Magazine Minis, in which I read a handful of intriguing stories from a couple magazines, despite not reading them cover-to-cover. To open 2026, I’ll be looking at the year’s first issues of Asimov’s and Kaleidotrope. Asimov’s Three stories immediately stood out to… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Asimov’s and Kaleidotrope
For my last Magazine Minis of 2025, I’ll be taking a look at a handful of stories from the year’s final issues of Apex and Uncanny. Apex Apex almost always has something that catches my attention, but the editors enjoy body horror far too much for me to read it cover-to-cover. But they closed 2025… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Apex and Uncanny
It’s been a bit of an unusual reading month, with a little bit less novel-shaped reading time than usual but quite a bit more places to carve out some short fiction. Between that and my attempt to free up the holiday season posting schedule, this month’s Magazine Minis is my biggest ever, with a blitz… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Five-Zine Blitz (October 2025)
Early September travel has thrown off my usual reading schedule and has me swapping the order of my regular short fiction reviews. So we’ll save the monthly Clarkesworld review for later and start with Magazine Minis: short reviews of selected stories from the same magazine issues. Today, I’ll be looking at tales that caught my… Continue reading Tar Vol’s Magazine Minis: Asimov’s, khōréō, and Translunar Travelers Lounge
