Review of E. M. Gaucher, “Alone,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Parental abuse; death.
The bulk of this story is conversation between a woman and a girl. Mother and child? Sisters? Friends? As the reader I have to piece together their relationship through their words, and Gaucher does an excellent job at pacing things so that each exchange builds a picture of who they are and what they’re doing, and why.
Review of Anna Ziegelhof, “Artist in Residence,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I loved this piece, which was centered around the questions of who gets to do art, and who gets to value art, and how these decisions get made, all set within a deep and vivid SF setting. It’s full of power and recovery and healing — and then a sharp shift sideways into even bigger questions and issues. So much packed into one short story!
Review of V. J. Hamilton, “Lake Small,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Lake Small, like all the other lakes, rivers, puddles around, is beginning to dry up, until one day the swimmer who used to swim in Lake Small daily goes on a quest to find the Tomten who will tell her how to make it rain again.
This quiet little story is a quick, easy read.
Review of Koji A. Dae, “The Uncurling of Samsara”, Clarkesworld Issue 184, January (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A lovely story about grief and growth, set in a generation ship. A well structured story about dealing with the loss of a loved one, and how everyone processes grief in different ways.
For our protagonist Annessa, it takes the form of her Gram’s cherry pie, and how their attempt to perfect it has been mostly elusive. But losing her Gram teaches her something. About how the essence of something can take many different forms, but always, always towards growth.
A wrenchingly real portrayal.
Review of Amal Singh, “A Series of Endings”, Clarkesworld Issue 183, December (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
If you’re immortal for long enough, you realize that nothing really matters, and certainly doesn’t matter more than the present. Or at least Roopchand Rathore does. And he would know, having had many lives – maybe with different endings but always the same hazy sort of beginning.
A story where spaceships and aliens, backwater boat races and Ghalib, all feel right at home.
Review of Ann Wuehler, “The Swimmer,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Domestic abuse, murder.
This is a story about Gracie, now grown old, and her mother, and one special day they shared at the beach when Gracie was young. And yet, the most fascinating part of the story was the narrator, who is neither Gracie nor her mother and whom we never really quite get to know, but who is tremendously weird and entrancing to read.
Review of Libby Heily, “Detriment,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a brilliantly-done first-person narrative by someone (something?) that is not human, but still full of humanity. It’s a story full of emotion and character, and really gripping.
Review of Chelsea Catherine, “Collector of the Dead,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Minnie is haunted by ghosts only she can see. Most are there one moment, gone the next, but Sheila is different — she comes, she speaks to Minnie, and when she goes, she comes back again another day. Soon, the two have become friends, or perhaps more.
This is both a hopefully, happy story and a sad one, with an ending that is both exactly what it needs to be and exactly the one I didn’t want. Strongly written and enjoyable!
Review of Ruth Joffre, “A Girl (Five Angles),” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
What a short, effective story, told via an unusual story structure. This was an atypical piece for LSQ, for which reason I think I loved it all the more.
Review of Holly Schofield, “The Knells of Agassiz,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I love it when a story gives me cause to pause and look something up to see if it’s real or not. In this case, it was the Agassiz Ice Cap, and it’s real — but for who knows how long. Climate change and the quickly disappearing ice cap form the basis for Schofield’s story, in which Emma returns to the ice cap one last time to say good-bye. It could so easily be a sad and depressing story, but it is not: It has the tinge of realistic hope that all good climate SF should have.
SFF Reviews