REVIEW: “Retriever” by MK Sauer

Review of MK Sauer, “Retriever,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Cannibalism, mention of rape.

Borr is a Bio-Organic Retrieval Robot, part-flesh, part-metal, but wholly able to withstand the ravages of the Oxidation — well, at least better than humans can, by a long shot. She’s been sent out from base camp to retrieve any fuel, water, books, or survivors that she can find. But not all survivors want to be retrieved.

The most remarkable thing about this story was the slang that Sauer developed. It was familiar enough to be (mostly) intelligible, but foreign enough to feel realistically future. The use (or non use) of this slang give the characters each distinctive voices, and made this story something just a little out of the ordinary.

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REVIEW: “On Aerdwen Green” by Sandi Leibowitz

Review of Sandi Leibowitz, “On Aerdwen Green,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Great-King Donnil lost the Chalice of Plenty and now his great-grandson Great-King Bardo has commanded the Masters or Mistresses of every House to go on a quest to find it again. Most houses didn’t follow the command, but House Dilvan did, despite (or perhaps because…) its young Mistress Beldaria being only 16 years old. But Beldaria is not the focus of the story, rather, that’s Enzi, her maidservant.

Two things I really liked about this story: One was the sharp, deft way that Leibowitz depicted class distinctions, how one and the same quest could be experienced so differently by the gentry and by their servants. It’s easy to feel sympathy for Enzi and to disapprove of Beldaria and the other Masters and Mistresses. The other was what actually happened on Aerdwen Green, and the way in which the reader was held so long in ignorance of the significance of those events. It was magical.

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REVIEW: “The Five Snowflakes” by Rebecca Harrison

Review of Rebecca Harrison, “The Five Snowflakes”, Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

What an excellent, novel fairy tale this was, told in beautiful and imaginative language.

Katla, the daughter of the Snow King and Snow Queen, grew up in a life of magic and luxury, learning the stories of her past and dreaming up stories of her future when she would inherit the Arctic kingdom.

Until her little brother is born and displaces her as heir, and she is married off to the ruler of a southern kingdom. When heartbroken she leaves her frozen realm, she brings with her five snowflakes. As you’d expect with a proper fairy tale, these snowflakes contain within them all the power necessary for Katla to bring about her happy ending.

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REVIEW: “Cold Flame” by Sheryl Normandeau

Review of Sheryl Normandeau, “Cold Flame”, Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Cecelia works in the Arctic seed-bank vault, a quiet, easy job until the day that a seed is stolen from the vault. It’s no ordinary seed — it’s the vault’s most precious one — and it’s no ordinary thief either, on two counts: 1. both Cecelia and the thief have had bio-enhancements done; 2. he’s her ex-boyfriend.

This isn’t the sort of story that’ll necessarily thrill you or wow you or awe you, but it is good for a bit of light entertainment.

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REVIEW: “The Silent Decades” by Olga Kolesnikova

Review of Olga Kolesnikova, “The Silent Decades,” Luna Station Quarterly 47 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

One of my favorite genres of speculative fiction is what we might call speculative nonfiction, that is, a fictional nonfiction/research paper or book. Kolesnikova’s story is set around a century and a half in the future, and is series of tootnotes to a historical/analytical report of the “the silent decades” in the middle of the 21st century, complete with numerous references to secondary reading. It’s really hard to make up plausible non-fiction — especially when you need to make up the sources you’re citing! — and I thought Kolesnikova did a marvelous job.

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REVIEW: “Your Brother’s Touchstone” by Isabel Lee

Review of Isabel Lee, “Your Brother’s Touchestone,” Luna Station Quarterly 47 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

It’s never a good sign when I start reading a story going “ugh, 2nd person POV. I hope it’s not too awful…” While it was by no means awful — LSQ doesn’t publish awful stories! — it was not, in my opinion, a story that was improved by the use of the 2nd person POV. I would have loved to have read a version of this story told in a more traditional format. Because the basic premise — Hana’s little brother Phillip has a tendency to disappear, literally, leaving her to pick up the pieces — was cool, and there were some very sweet and touching moments in it, and a twist near the end that I didn’t expect.

So, if you’re not like me and don’t mind 2nd person POV stories, definitely read this: I think you’ll like it.

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REVIEW: “The Backwards Princess of Unusual Parentage” by Allison Mulder

Review of Allison Mulder, “The Backwards Princess of Unusual Parentage”, Luna Station Quarterly 47 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

One of my favorite genres of speculative fiction is “pick a minor character in a fairy tale and turn them into a major character”, and Mulder’s story fits squarely in that category. The minor character in this case is the mirror from Snow White — who is he? How did he get in the mirror? Why does he do the bidding of the one who looks inside him? These are all questions you’ve probably never thought of before but Mulder faces them head on in this delightful, intriguing, and unexpected fairy tale. I loved it.

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REVIEW: “The Keeper” by Susan E. Rogers

Review of Susan E. Rogers, “The Keeper”, Luna Station Quarterly 47 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death.

This was a lovely little story about the passing down of collective memory from one generation to the next — every family needs to have someone who is the Keeper of their memories. There was very little truly speculative about the story, but I didn’t mind; sometimes it’s okay to just have a good yarn, without overburdening it with fantastical elements.

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REVIEW: “Gentle Ways to Kill a Dragon” by Kit Harding

Review of Kit Harding, “Gentle Ways to Kill a Dragon”, Luna Station Quarterly 47 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

One of the reasons why I like reading modern SFF is the way it interrogates the sexist and patriarchal structures that are embedded in so much of the fiction I grew up on. You read enough of it, and you tend to think the way they depict their worlds are is the only way the world can be. But what’s brilliant about stories like Harding’s is the way they don’t just subvert problematic tropes, but also point out that the tropes are problematic. It’s empowering to read Ella explicitly go through the thought process from “I should be complimented that the dragon hunter thinks I’m pretty enough to be his ‘reward'” all the way to “fuck that, Imma kill that dragon myself”. Want a great story that teaches the importance of consent? This is it.

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