'tended, tangled, and veined' by Kayla Whaley was beautifully intense and raw. It's a story in a poem and I love the imagery Whaley uses!

she practiced her girlhood with heat–stricken hair, sheared nails, scrubbed skin.
she baptized herself with fat wrung from beans and battered into butter.
she oiled her joints with poise,
scented her flesh with propriety,
and clothed herself in performance.
she practiced girlhood,
but she never quite perfected it.

I thoroughly recommend this poem and I can't wait to read the rest of this issue. Some seriously good writing here. Read it for yourself here. ( )

Such a beautiful, fascinating, achingly sad story. I enjoyed every word of it ( )

The Creeping Woman by Christopher Barzak ****
It's The Yellow Wallpaper but much creepier. Loved it.

The Max Gladstone essay on Star Wars and geek community was interesting. ( )

The Virgin Played Bass by Maria Dahvana Headley - Horror-surrealist Russian war fairy tale retellings, full of blood and miracles? I'm into it.
Lotus Face and the Fox by Nghi Vo - This was a beautifully atmospheric story with a very powerful piece of identity-magic that I'm honestly not sure how to describe. I liked it a lot, though.
The Creeping Women by Christopher Barzak - Oh, this is a delight -- The Yellow Wallpaper told from the sister-in-law's point of view, trying to save herself in a bad situation.
The Sincerity Game by Brit Mandelo - A damn sexy werewolf story (for once; I normally hate sexy werewolves) with a gender-ambiguous narrator, so neatly done I almost didn't notice. Nice.
The Desert Glassmaker and the Jeweler of Berevyar by Rose Lemberg - The exchange of letters between two distant magician-artisans; lovely and moving.
The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sara Rees Brennan - What if Peter Pan grew up just a tiny bit and became James Bond? A fun little piece of fanfiction.

Also essays on gatekeeping, Star Wars, creating a welcoming community, and unearthing our ancestors in the SFF world; some delightful poems ('tended, tangled, and veined' hit me where I live) and the usual excellent interviews. All in all a very good issue. ( )