The Dark Magazine, January and February 2023

The Dark, Issue 92, Sean Wallace/Clara Madrigano, eds. January 2023.

Four stories, and only four -- but they’re subtle, lovingly-polished and carefully curated. Another excellent entry from this slim, accomplished magazine. “Sweat, Rice” by Shari Paul explores the unexpected places where power lives in an an otherwise exploitative relationship: the road to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but the exit is through the fridge. “Lap Record” by Nelson Stanley explores the deadly consequences when junkyard man “Mad Derek” takes a beater out from an unusual junkyard for a quick and very final spin. “Love Sharp Enough to Rend” by Leah Ning shows that while there’s great power hidden beneath the sea, the ocean’s no match for a vengeful mother. “We All Fall Down” by Ai Jiang looks at the life-giving and life-ended powers of some very special rain. Imagine life in a place where life comes with a tremendous gift -- but you must, at all costs, stay dry. Forever.

Smirk factor: All clear: 2.0 pts (No smirking.)

Immersion factor: Chest-high: 1.5 pts

Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts

Character/plot development: Average: 1 pt

Innovative/interesting: Above-average: 1.5 pts

Total: 7.5/10 (3.75 stars, rounded up to 4)

The Dark, Issue 93, Sean Wallace/Clara Madrigano, eds. February 2023.

Another slim issue of this accomplished ‘zine brings four more strong morsels of darkness and horror. James Bennett’s Of Gentle Wolves explores the dynamics of a seduction, and the moral destruction which follows. The Names of the Drowned are These, by Angela Slatter brings us through a grim and brutal homecoming of sorts, in which some things refuse to stay hidden. The most unusual point of view of any story I’ve read recently certainly belongs to Silk-Wrapped Love Story, in which Phoenix Alexander describes a tumultuous relationship coming to a head. The most remarkable of a strong lot, though, was H. Pueyo’s The Memory Eater. This is a -- I don’t want to say ‘haunting’ -- tale of the creature who removes memories from the dead, helping move them towards greater peace. But who helps the helper?

Smirk factor: All clear: 2.0 pts (No smirking.)

Immersion factor: Chest-high: 1.5 pts

Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts

Character/plot development: Average: 1 pt

Innovative/interesting: Above-average: 1.5 pts

Total: 7.5/10 (3.75 stars, rounded up to 4)

May 31, 2021

Are We Biased Against Hard Work?

The naturalness bias may push us away from fairly evaluating people who have had to work hard for success and towards people who seem like “natural” successes — even when we say we value the things the strivers are living.

August 4, 2020

What Business Are You In?

Change is a given in life and work, but we frequently anchor our identity in the past or to things we cannot control. There is a huge difference between being attached to a durable, lasting sense of mission (“what” and “why” we do things) rather than our business models (“how” and “where”). Getting the two confused can have a terrible price.

July 30, 2020

Pace Yourself

Ever been told “it’s a marathon, not a sprint?” Most people intuitively understand the suggestion that we should start slow and conserve our energy. Even if you’re someone who only runs when being chased, we can still learn from this.

July 28, 2020

Falling Off The Path

All of us have ambitions, and all of those come with a list of things that need to be done to see them through. But there are always temptations to do things which don’t help advance our cause. We unpack advice on dealing with the real source of our issues.

Advanced Leadership: Trust and Responsibility

High-performing organizations choose to empower and trust their employees to do the right thing. They also enforce accountability for those standards. The alternative is to try to micro-manage each individual, which creates oppressive organizational cultures and environments, and eventually saps the employees and the organization of vitality.

July 27, 2020

Do We Crawl, Walk or Run?

There is plenty of glittering advice that promises to catapult us and our work into the next realm of performance. Before we embrace this advice, we should be sure that we and our organizations are ready for it.

July 15, 2020

Don't Forget Context When Offering Advice

The Harvard Business Review article, “Look to Military History for Lessons in Crisis Leadership” offers Covid-era leaders advice drawn from throughout military history. Much of the advice, though, needs more nuance and context to be fully applicable to modern leaders.

June 29, 2020

And Then What?

Slogans capture and channel our dreams. Iteration, adaptation, and the hard work of implementation make them real. Pausing to ask “And then what?” isn’t an admission of defeat. It’s a sign of wisdom and maturity, a willingness to at least start trying to think more deeply about complex and troubling problems.

June 23, 2020

Are You Sabotaging Your Own Strategy?

Change is in the air. As we enter mid-2020, organizations and populations everywhere are grappling with a series of powerful social, economic and political shocks. There has never been safety in clinging to the status quo, but it is even less of an option now.

May 21, 2020

When Is It Okay to Quit?

It’s said that quitters never win and winners never quit, but is this true? For highly motivated people, the drive to achieve can be a direct line to accomplishment or into a dead end. The key is the ability to discern when our goals no longer suit us. Ironically, this can be hardest for the best-motivated.