Capricious, Issue One

by Andi C. Buchanan (Editor), A.J. Fitzwater (Contributor), Sean Monaghan (Contributor)

This issue takes you through fairy tales and to other worlds in none of the ways you’d expect. The authors challenge and interrogate genre boundaries, exploring themes of consent, communication, and obligation. Their work is filled with the senses of exploration, danger, and ultimate success that characterise so much of the best speculative fiction.

Capricious is a new New Zealand-based magazine of literary speculative fiction, criticism, and hedgehogs. Issue One is available for free download.

84 pages, ebook

First published September 21, 2015

About the author

See A.C. Buchanan.

Reviews

[Avery (Book Deviant) · Rating 5 out of 5]

See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant

Note: The Need for Overwhelming Sensation is a story within Capricious, Issue #1. This review is only for Takács’s piece.

I hadn't known how alluring Takács writing would be, but let me promise you this. When you open something e has written, you will be drawn in, and you won't be released until you have finished. Takács will draw you in with eir's writing style, building the world around you as you read. Once I opened the link to the story, I was done for. I kept telling myself: "you can read this tomorrow, it's time to go to bed." But the next thing I knew, the story was over, and it was much later in the night.

Takács didn't waste time with lots of world building, instead deciding to build it up as you read. While it is confusing at first, you get the handle of the world as the story goes on, giving you the perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy. I wanted to know more, and Takács kept teasing me, giving more information, but holding so much more back. E gives you morsels, giving you laws and place names, and people, but never enough to satisfy me. It was cruel, and yet it was a clever way to draw someone into the story.

I loved the characters as well. In honesty, The Need for Overwhelming Sensation was my first story with a character using neopronouns. What's best is that Takács uses the same pronouns as Iryu, so you not only know eir's portrayal is accurate, but also honest. Iryu's Master was also an alluring character, with how little information was given about them, but also how they treated Iryu. I especially loved how Iryu's Master defended Iryu's use of e/em/eir pronouns when e was misgendered.

In addition to that--neutral pronouns were used for ALL characters unless it was revealed which pronouns they used. It really helped me visualize the characters for who they really were.

five stars - Overall?

I was not disappointed by my first story of Bogi Takács. E is a wonderful, amazing author, and I cannot wait to read more of eir's work. Not only does e use neopronouns in eir's own story, but e also includes a multitude of other character with a variety of pronouns.

Would I Recommend?

If you're looking for diverse science fiction/fantasy, then read this one. It's short, it's captivating, and you can find it easily on Capricious's site. The world, the characters, and the writing are all so beautiful and riveting.

Trigger warning for brief misgendering and violence/gore (non-graphic).

[Kaa]

I primarily wanted to read Bogi Takács's story, and that ended up being the only one of the stories that really worked for me.

[Emma Lindhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great first issue of a promising new magazine. I particularly enjoyed the stories by A.J. Fitzwater and Bogi Takács.