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As someone who reviewed at Tangent and tried my hardest to do good, my honest advice for anyone reviewing there is to not. Start your own blog or join a better one. Tangent takes huge advantage of the enthusiasm and goodwill of its reviewers https://twitter.com/diabolicalplots/status/1299062852960112646
It is a missing stair in reviewing, especially because it leans on an older reputation in the field it no longer has. I understand why people would end up reviewing there. As compassionately as possible, though, I urge people to walk away from it.
If there's a few of you, start your own review blog. it can be small. it's still awesome. If you want access to review copies, solicit directly or HIT ME UP I WILL MAKE INTROS as much as I can to help anyone wanting to review more short fiction.
Or just review what you have access to/can afford. super legit! but Tangent is not a good source of reviews. there are plenty who will not link to it. if you don't know why, it's because Tangent has explicitly been a shit. Go read past editorials at Tangent. Learn yourself.
from my own experiences reviewing there, the opinions that are encouraged follow a line of thinking that views non-dominant identities as invasive, unwanted, and unspeculative.
I was occasionally told my reviews WOULD NOT be run as is because I didn't make it clear enough how this or that story wasn't really speculative. I remember clearly having to defend my review of a story that featured A DINOSAUR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES bc I called it sci fi
like, this dinosaur was brought back via SCIENCE. maybe not HARD THROBBING SCIENCE but no less science than Jurassic Park. Seriously.
I was told a different time my review wouldn't run as is bc i had summarized a story about religion and the pledge of allegiance too positively. just the summary wasn't judgmental enough.
when WDSF came out I was incredibly pressured to write about how it wasn't fair that women were being given more than other people. I did end up writing something I regret there, but wow did i have to fight to make it no worse.
I bet almost every reviewer whose opinions were too positive about the state of short sff who has worked with Tangent has similar stories of being pushed to adhere (informally, of course, non-punitively of course) to an ideological editorial vision. to "fixes" & "clarifications"
Here is the thing. No one needs to review at Tanget. I wish people would stop. Bc it chews up good reviewers, and it emboldens ones eager to tear down the progress the field of short SFF has made in being inclusive.
progress that still has a LOOOOOOOONG way to go.
And just to underline the point the editor(s) at Tangent did not publish that review ignorant of what it was saying. They'll come back claiming the review was positive (it's not). They know exactly what they're doing.
and they USE the people reviewing for them in good faith to obscure their intent to harm. To be a toxic influence on the genre. Again, if you review there, just stop.
if you need help figuring out what to do next, email me at quicksipreviews@blogspot.com with any questions. I can point you to other places to review, I can advise on how reviewing can work.
Unless something has changed, Tangent doesn't pay, so all you have to lose is being associated with a widely reviled institution. So. Yeah.
