REVIEW: “We’re Sorry, This Number Has Been Disconnected” by E. A. Brenner

Review of E. A. Brenner, “We’re Sorry, This Number Has Been Disconnected,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Misogyny, harassment, attempted rape.

Indira Chant does no one favors and is friends with no one and I loved her from the very first paragraph. She’ll never live up to the magical powers of her sister (Jorie, who is off on her “labyrinth year”, a great alternative to the more prosaic gap year most students get), and now she needs her sister’s help — but Jorie hasn’t answered her phone in two weeks.

So instead, Indira, who is friends with no one, has to for the first time in her life make an alliance with someone other than her sister. Ella wants to learn magic, and wants to escape having to go to prom with Chris. Indira is ready to help her with both. It’s a good, fierce story of women supporting and uplifting women.

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REVIEW: “For Whom the Psychopomp Calls” by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko

Review of Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko, “For Whom the Psychopomp Calls”, Clarkesworld Issue 184, January (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

This story can be described by one of the few words that comes up in the story via the psychopomp: melancholy.

A story that keeps you on edge in a variety of ways. My only (minor) issue is that the human sometimes reacts in a heightened manner to things. A tad unrealistic, but then again, nobody’s perfect and maybe this particular human is like that? So, not really an issue with the story, just that aspect of the characters personality.

The writing style itself was on point for the kind of story it was. The great pacing added a lot, too.

Highly recommended. The ending is particularly heartbreaking.

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REVIEW: “Left at the Altar” by Lindsey Duncan

Review of Lindsey Duncan, “Left at the Altar,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh, my, but I loved this absolutely delicious story. It has a classic set-up: A princess with the power of magic engaged to a foreign prince in order to end a war, her devoted bodyguard, a prince who doesn’t want to be married, a magic spell interrupted — from the start you know that princess Viatrese is going to end up with her bodyguard Berran, so it’s just a matter of figuring out how, and the unrolling of this just a pleasure to read. If you want a queer love story with a fiercely happy ending, read this!

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REVIEW: “The Soundtrack of Your Life” by Lesley Morrison

Review of Lesley Morrison, “The Soundtrack of Your Life,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Alcoholism.

The science in this SF story is the sort of boring, everyday, run-of-the-mill science that I really enjoy reading stories about. No rockets or robots or deadly weapons, just various mods that sound exactly like things people would actually try to build in reality, such as “a mod that curated a personal musical soundtrack,” the project that Janice, the narrator, works on — basically, Spotify but more personal, and more sophisticated. It’s a great premise — I’m sure we’ve ALL crafted (or tried to craft!) the soundtrack of our own lives — and the story is just good fun to read.

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REVIEW: “Friendshop” by Zoe Marzo

Review of Zoe Marzo, “Friendshop,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Leah has recently moved to L.A. and is struggling adjust to her new life — if only she had a friend who could help ease the hard corners of not fitting in. Conveniently, this is when Leah encounters the Friendshop — open 24 hours only — just the right place for her to find her perfect, bosom friend.

Daisy comes along, everything Leah needs, and there’s a lovely uncertainty to this story, whether it’s going to be a cheerful one with a happily-every-after ending, or whether the initial set-up, that one can buy friendship, is the premise of something horrific.

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REVIEW: “Birds Are Not the Village” by Merri Andrew

Review of Merri Andrew, “Birds Are Not the Village,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Consideration of infant death.

This story plays on the adage “It takes a village to raise a child.” The narrator has a baby daughter, Thea, but instead of a village all she has to support her is a flock of birds. And, as the title says, “birds are not the village” — this is but a prelude for a harrowing story that will be deeply scary for any sleep-deprived parent.

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REVIEW: “All Our Whiskered Idols” by Kahlo Smith

Review of Kahlo Smith, “All Our Whiskered Idols,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Ruminations on death.

Smith’s story is an exploration of the complications and complexities of family, and death, and religion, and grief. The first part of it was almost aggressively ordinary — good and satisfyingly told, but leaving me wondering what was going to be speculative about it — which made the contrast of the second, weird and wildy speculative, part all the more sharp.

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REVIEW: “Last Letter First” by Kristina Ten

Review of Kristina Ten, “Last Letter First,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Pregnancy, abortion.

What started off as a fun little story about the intimacy of acquaintance — the way in which two strangers thrown together through coincidence can suddenly become friends, only to just as suddenly separate, to go their own way and never see each other again — segued neatly into unexpected depths. In a sense, the reader and the story are themselves like Duri and Margosha, thrown together by accident, revealing something of each other, and then passing on.

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REVIEW: “Mother Mangue” by Lis Vilas Boas

Review of Lis Vilas Boas, “Mother Mangue,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Childbirth, references to infertility.

Mother Mangue is “a mother ready to help” when people are in need of help, and “when they don’t need her, she is just the witch.” The help she offers is both to bring babies into the world that are refusing to come; and to prevent others from coming when they are not wanted. Her story, a quiet one of longing and despair, takes shape when she seeks out for herself that which she has only ever given to others.

This is a long story full of many unexpected twists. It kept me curious all the way to the end.

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