Review of Akmay, “The Doula,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Childbirth.
What a creepy, bloody, gory story! If you are squeamish about innards and organs, I’d recommend avoiding.
REVIEW: “Silk” by Alyssa C. Greene
Review of Alyssa C. Greene, “Silk,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Considering the subject of this story was weaving, it feels appropriate to describe it as “intricately woven,” threads being fed to the reader a bit at a time so that we don’t get the whole pattern at once, but have to wait for it to be built, all the while, horror deepening in the background.
REVIEW: “Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism” by Andrea Kriz
Review of Andrea Kriz, “Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism”, Clarkesworld Issue 184, January (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
The narrator’s friend made a virtugame that featured their relationship. It also included a slightly fictionalized version of the narrator, a hurtful one at that.
You know that moment when you discover that someone you thought of as a friend just thought of you as a means to an end, a joke, or perhaps both?
That’s what our narrator faces, and then makes a choice. An insightful story into interpersonal relationships, especially with people who think of you in a much different way than you think of them.
REVIEW: “No One at the Wild Dock” by Gu Shi
Review of Gu Shi, “No One at the Wild Dock”, Clarkesworld Issue 184, January (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A timely, beautiful story. It was exceedingly well written. It’s stories like these that keep drawing me back to translated fiction.
The progression of AI from childlike curiosity and learning difficulties, to slowly gaining knowledge, skills and eventually sentience is lovely, with a perspective that I’ve rarely seen.
The depth of emotion, and subtle changes in interaction as the AI develops and grows are part of what made this story magical for me.
The story is truly poignant due to the commentary on the present state of humanity and our technological dependence inter-weaved with the staggering growth of AI’s abilities.
REVIEW: “Mother of the Sea” by Alyson Tait
Review of Alyson Tait, “Mother of the Sea” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 16-17 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This brief, sparse story relies on the reader being familiar with selkie mythology. I like how the ambiguous ending leaves me uncertain whom I’m supposed to be happy for and whom I’m supposed to mourn.
REVIEW: “Bishop’s Opening” by R. S. A. Garcia
Review of R. S. A. Garcia, “Bishop’s Opening”, Clarkesworld Issue 184, January (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A 2022 Nebula Finalist novella with detailed world building and many characters – not an easy read, but an engaging one if you manage to get into the action. It took me a while to get invested in the story, but once I did it was a much quicker read.
I liked the parts with the starship crew more, probably because the Valencians seemed like a much greater, detailed world that we only got glimpses of. I still don’t fully understand the rules and technology of the world, which is probably just as well – it was part of the plot, but not the sole focus.
The characters were well defined and interesting. I also appreciated the diversity and queer representation. More than all that, I really enjoyed the prose. The author has a way of conveying emotion in just a few words, and I found myself re-reading particularly striking sentences and passages.
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