REVIEW: “Technical Magic” by Samantha Carr

Review of Samantha Carr, “Technical Magic,” Luna Station Quarterly 55 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Cheyanne’s mother is ill, and her sister Tricia wants to put her into a care home; after all, the two sisters have been caring for her for five years, and there’s a limit to how long Cheyanne can be expected to put her life on hold.

But Cheyanne doesn’t want her mother in a home, and is willing to go to extreme measures to prevent this. Unfortunately, technical magic only works when you follow all the details and instructions properly. This not particularly happy story had a not particularly happy ending, but there was never any reason to think it would.

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REVIEW: “The Direction of Clocks” by Jess Levine

Review of Jess Levine, “The Direction of Clocks”, Clarkesworld Issue 185, February (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Time-related stories strongly appeal to me, irrespective of actual plot. In this story, the protagonist travels in a starship solo, through time dilation. This means that she spent three years on the starship, while almost a century has passed in earth years. She left her friends, family, and relationship to escape through time.

**Spoiler:**
Once she reaches a space station, a stop on the way to continuing her journey rimward, she learns that relativistic journeys are no longer allowed, and she would have to spend the rest of her days on the space station.
**Spoiler ends**

Her journey of growth and self awareness make up a large part of the story, but I would have really liked it if the story explored more of her “why”, or how she grows through different situations. Or showcase her maturity. Not all characters need to be likable, so I’m not going to count that against this story.

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REVIEW: “Fittonia” by Libby Feltis

Review of Libby Feltis, “Fittonia,” Luna Station Quarterly 55 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There were so many little bits and pieces in this story that are things I love — an emphasis on the importance of names, throwbacks to classic literature, sass, innuendo, writers writing stories as a means of currency, and happy endings. It was such a fun read. It was always an extremely realistic and believable account of the life of a highly sensitive and empathetic person.

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REVIEW: “Hedwig Eva” by Victory Witherkeigh

Review of Victory Witherkeigh, “Hedwig Eva,” Tree and Stone 2 (2022): 43-47 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a particularly odd time travel story — I’m not entirely sure what the motivation was for this specific combination of fictional character and
historical person, or what I was supposed to get from it. It was, nevertheless, compellingly told with beautiful details.

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