Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Lesley Hart Gunn, “Track 19,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 83-87 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This piece felt more like a sermon than a story — a self-help piece chiding me and telling me all the ways I’m doing life wrong. Packed with metaphors, that are sometimes pushed a bit too far, it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
Review of Rowan Tate, “Backwash,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 15-17 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I found this story both intense and eerie: There’s something about the sea which is inherently fantastical, and it felt like Tate had to do very little to construct a setting that was equal parts familiar and foreign.
Review of Liam Hogan, “Bath Bomb,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 178-203 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a light-hearted little story which, in another guise (possibly rhyming?), could make a good illustrated children’s book.
Review of P.A. Cornell, “A Game of Go,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 12-43 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The main character in this story is Ava, the SmartHome who has been raising Christopher since his mothers both disappeared. As a sentient AI character, Ava has been programmed to abide by certain rules; while with the rapid growth of gen-AI, LLM-driven models we tend to think that rules are important for keeping AIs from doing the wrong thing, the crux of this story is how Ava’s constraints prevent her from doing the right thing, and how she fights back against this. It was a curiously optimistic view of AI agents.
Review of Adrian Ward, “The Unnamed City, As Seen at Three Points,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 221-226 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was something elusively beautiful about this story; it reminded me of the visceral feeling I got when I first visited Tiryns, in Greece. I’m not sure what really happened in it; I mostly just spent my reading time soaking it up. Which turn out, in the end, to be what the story itself was all about.
Review of Elijah J. Mears, “Saul & Noah’s Hot Bouleutophagy Summer,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 117-134 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
In case you’re like me and weren’t 100% sure what bouleutophagy, I’m not spoiling anything about this extremely hilarious — while simultaneously almost too real for comfort — story by glossing it as “eat the rich”. The word may not yet show up in my go-to dictionary, Wiktionary, but I certainly hope it will be there in years to come! (I also did a double-take, and enjoyed, seeing the city I lived in for the first 10 years of my life get name-checked — its one of those that usually only people who’ve been there know of it!)
Review of Hannya Kay, “All Aboard,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 214-220 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was something wildly, surprisingly creepy about this story.
Review of Jeanna Cammarano, “Hello,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 205-213 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
It’s hard to know what to make of a story like this, whether I should take it as it seems to be, or to read it as a metaphor for some contemporary events. Either way, it’s not a very happy story.
Review of Rio Lombana and Kaitlin Schmidt, “Life Imitates,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 82-104 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was an exceptionally creepy piece. The horror in this story is that even when Mari does everything right, it still isn’t enough to save Karley.
Review of Audrey Zhou, “Mother’s Mother’s Daughter,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 62-80 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Body harm, death of a parent.
Weird and a little bit creepy, and sad and fierce, but ultimately hopeful: This was a roller coaster of a witchy story!
(First appeared in Silk and Sinew 2025).
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