Review of Robert Reed, “Poubelle”, Clarkesworld Issue 177, June (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
This was set in a very imaginative, aesthetic and detailed world, and for me the world building was the best part of the story.
Caste and class differences play an important role, as does the inherent greed and avarice of humanity. I especially liked Fret, and would definitely like to read something elaborating on the history of the Family.
Review of Jennifer Shelby, “The Voiceless of Shalott”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I didn’t dare tell them that I wanted to be more than my virginity or someone’s wife.
Tasilinn is taken by her parents to Shalott where she will be kept under guard for the seven years of her adolescence, to ensure her purity is maintained. She has no say in the matter — literally, for before they leave her on the island, they fill her throat with scriptures and burn them until her voice is burned away as well.
I really enjoyed Shelby’s story of which focuses on how silence is used to control women. It is a sharp, harsh commentary on modern misogyny, and well written.
Review of Gillian Parrish, “City Light”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Drug addiction/abuse; death.
I liked the second half of this story, but not the first; I think I was not the target audience for it.
Review of Maeghan Klinker, “Mother Haskell”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I feel like this story needs a warning, do not read if hungry! Mother Haskell tends an orchard that always bears, and bakes the best apple pies from the fruit; and after reading all the descriptions, now I want pie! Pies so good, you could almost bribe Death with them…and that’s exactly what Mother Haskell tries when her trees start to die.
A fun, yummy, sweet, story. (I was a bit surprised, though, by “the sweet maple syrup she’d collected herself when the maples were vibrant and blushing with fall” — I thought syrup was collected in early spring!)
Review of E. A. Fowler, “Swallows (Or How the Men Lost Their Magic)”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The parenthetical in the title sums up the gist of the story: But what’s distinctive about it is whose viewpoint Fowler has chosen to portray the events through. The result is raw and powerful and more than a little disturbing. Thumbs up!
Review of Nancy Kress, “Little Animals”, Clarkesworld Issue 177, June (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A beautiful, arresting story with lovely imagery. It expertly combines love, microbiology, clinical depression and quantum entanglement. Our researcher, Elena, is currently focusing on studying the life of Maria van Leeuwenhoek, and she finds startling similarities that she did not anticipate. She can empathize with Maria and wants better – for Maria and for herself. She handles both the past and present – not as well as she would like to in either case – and her quiet yet loyal personality shines through. A tale of empathy, longing and wanting better.
A lovely and powerful novelette.
Review of J. Byrd, “The Notary of No Republic”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
“Lucy Carvell had a degree-shaped hole in her heart” is a great opening line — it immediately makes Carvell someone I want to know more about. How do you go about filling such a hole? In Carvell’s case, it’s through forgery, and forging her own diploma was the first step into becoming the titular notary: When the government collapses and the state fails, “it turned out people still needed their milestones marked” — even the milestones that haven’t happened yet.
This was such a fun, hopeful, helpful story, which an ending that made me go “awww”. Loved it.
Review of Sheree Renée Thomas, “River, Clap Your Hands”, Uncanny Magazine Issue 40 (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Isabel Hinchliff.
Ava lives a life of waterborne mystery: she was abandoned on a riverbank as a child, her neck has gills, and she pines after her lost baby, birthed in the midst of a flood. Told in a series of striking vignettes, her story is heartbreaking and yet still offers glimmers of hope, like the play of sunlight over deeply ridged scales. It is an exquisite piece of craft, and a vivid picture of a life strung between two irreconcilable worlds.
This haunting and deeply poetic story has layers; I enjoyed luxuriously re-reading it and hunting out new strands of meaning. On my first read, I found myself fascinated by piecing together the vignettes in chronological order and discovering the true nature of Ava’s physical condition. On my second, with the entire premise already in mind, I discovered many instances of nuance and poetic meaning that I had originally missed. Ava’s rain- and grief-drenched world is deeply relatable at some moments and distantly beautiful in others. It is a delicious mix of craft, imagery, and catharsis; I highly recommend it.
Review of B. Zelkovich, “That Which Illuminates Heaven”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Are you looking for a very sweet, very cute queer romance set in space with a determined matchmaker AI? Then, oh, my goodness, is this the story for you! It was an utter delight from the first to the last, with just the right ending.
Review of Elizabeth McEntee, “Perihelia”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
It’s not often I read a human-meets-alien story that’s successfully told from the alien’s point of view. Too often, the aliens still feel all too familiar, too like-us. Not so with McEntee’s narrator, living alone on her comet, who is such that when a human arrives, the invader is so foreign, so different, that they are truly the alien. The ending was a bit trite, but the core of the story was solid.
SFF Reviews