Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Sylvie Althoff, “Please Don’t Talk ABout Me When I’m Gone,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 131-152 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Those who really like jazz will appreciate Althoff’s ability to pull more than twenty pages out of one improv session at a small bar on a far-flung planet. For those who could take jazz or leave it, this story is rather…long.
Review of Ashley Burnett, “Eva,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 185-203 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Enslavement, prison, forced adoption, forced pregnancy.
I find that I am beginning to tire to stories where misogyny is baked into the core of the narrative — even if the narrative is one of release, and freedom, and vengeance, and retribution, of escape for the woman/women involved, I am increasingly longing for stories that imagine an entirely different way of existence.
Still, I understand the value in ones that take our world as it is, and show that we can resist, so I don’t want to speak too negatively of Burnett’s story; it’s just not the story for me, I guess.
Review of Tiffany Tang, “The Sleeper in the Crypt,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 213-238 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was something wretchedly beautiful about this story.
Review of Emmie Christie, “The Disparity of Confidence,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 155-159 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Sometimes experiences give people confidence; sometimes it stifles them. Robin has the ability to see the disparity between the two for each person — and also knows what to do to fix it. This was a short, sweet, beautifully empowering story!
Review of Sadie Leewood, “Dance It Trippingly,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 271-280 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Drug use.
For the right audience, this could be a fun story. For me, though, it was a drug-dealing/drug-use story — whether it’s fae drugs or human drugs, I’m not seeing much of a difference.
Review of J. Nathan, “Brighton,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 241-245 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Who doesn’t love a story about enchanted books? Nathan’s tiny little gem delivers a beautiful dollop of happiness.
Review of Marissa Lingen, “Person, Place, Thing”, Clarkesworld Issue 234, March (2026): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A story about a colony, with many subcolonies. One of those, the translator subcolony, interacts with the first humans they’ve ever come across.
They are all one, and they are all united. This story explores how these two very vastly different kinds of creatures interact.
It’s way more beautiful than that, I’m definitely not doing justice.
Such a pleasure to read.
Review of Amantia Menalla, “Laisha,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 79-100 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a fascinating, haunting, beautiful story — full of rich, complex characters and threads that I wasn’t entirely sure how they all woven together until the denouement came. The story was on the longer side, yet I never got bored and it never dragged, if anything, it became increasingly more interesting the longer I read. I’d love to read a novella or even a novel by Menalla, if she can replicate this kind of taut story-telling!
Review of Pauline Barmby, “Warp and Weft Rising,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 265-268 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Barmby manages quite a lot in a very short amount of space. Imprisonment, magic, vengeance, escape, all neatly encapsulated in a well-craft story with not a word too many or missing.
Review of Allison Mulder, “Are We There Yet?” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 205-210 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
In our fast-paced, modern society, there is always too much work and not enough people to do it, meaning corners get cut, in every occupation and industry — including the grim reaping industry, where it’s easy to not notice a left-behind soul.
At first I thought this ghost story was going to be sweet and sad, but in the end I actually found it funny, in a sort of ironic way — but definitely very sweet!
SFF Reviews