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A review by joannerixon
FIYAH Issue #14 by DaVaun Sanders, Errick Nunnally, Veronica Henry, Woody Dismukes, Dominique Ramsey, Jacqui Swift, Tobi Ogundiran
5.0
This is a great magazine! Light, fresh, interesting, with a strong variety of stories.
GUARDIAN OF THE GODS // TOBI OGUNDIRAN - 5765 WORDS: A young acolyte is confronted with new information about the life cycles of the gods. I was hesitant about this one until about halfway through and then I really liked it. A great meditation on faith and a powerful reclamation of cosmic power.
UNIFORM // ERRICK NUNNALLY - 5549 WORDS: A mechanized veteran faces crisis in peace. I struggled with this story and was shocked to find out when reading the author bio that the author is himself a veteran. There's a certain amount of 'fighting for your freedoms' rhetoric that I expect to come from folks who haven't seen the American military machine from the inside. But maybe that's necessary, these days, to connect the myths known by the civilian reader with the disappointing reality of life as a vet. Which this story does do.
A TERMINAL KIND OF LOVE // VERONICA HENRY - 3041 WORDS: A woman, a dirtbag husband, a tech startup, and a sentient computer virus. My main takeaway from this story is that meme about how the bar for men is so low it's actually buried underground. Where they should be.
YOUR ROVER IS HERE // LP KINDRED - 3415 WORDS: Uber, but make it magic. I loved this story! Gripping and vivid, I also found its world sophisticated and complex, with hints at a much larger arc for the main character. I would love to read more from Kindred!
The poetry is also quite good. My one gripe with the magazine, and this is in the ebook version, is that the poetry is hidden away in the back rather than interspersed between prose pieces. Myself, I would have put the first poem between stories 1 and 2, and the second poem between stories 3 and 4. Especially because "Autolysis..." complements "A Terminal Kind of Love" very nicely, while Dismukes' poem fits nicely with some of the transformative themes in "Guardian of the Gods."
GUARDIAN OF THE GODS // TOBI OGUNDIRAN - 5765 WORDS: A young acolyte is confronted with new information about the life cycles of the gods. I was hesitant about this one until about halfway through and then I really liked it. A great meditation on faith and a powerful reclamation of cosmic power.
UNIFORM // ERRICK NUNNALLY - 5549 WORDS: A mechanized veteran faces crisis in peace. I struggled with this story and was shocked to find out when reading the author bio that the author is himself a veteran. There's a certain amount of 'fighting for your freedoms' rhetoric that I expect to come from folks who haven't seen the American military machine from the inside. But maybe that's necessary, these days, to connect the myths known by the civilian reader with the disappointing reality of life as a vet. Which this story does do.
A TERMINAL KIND OF LOVE // VERONICA HENRY - 3041 WORDS: A woman, a dirtbag husband, a tech startup, and a sentient computer virus. My main takeaway from this story is that meme about how the bar for men is so low it's actually buried underground. Where they should be.
YOUR ROVER IS HERE // LP KINDRED - 3415 WORDS: Uber, but make it magic. I loved this story! Gripping and vivid, I also found its world sophisticated and complex, with hints at a much larger arc for the main character. I would love to read more from Kindred!
The poetry is also quite good. My one gripe with the magazine, and this is in the ebook version, is that the poetry is hidden away in the back rather than interspersed between prose pieces. Myself, I would have put the first poem between stories 1 and 2, and the second poem between stories 3 and 4. Especially because "Autolysis..." complements "A Terminal Kind of Love" very nicely, while Dismukes' poem fits nicely with some of the transformative themes in "Guardian of the Gods."