Review of Camden Rose, “Lost in Target,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 46-54 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Child loss.
“Target is magical,” the narrator tells us, and she means it literally, as the nexus for her exploration of grief after miscarriage. Throughout the story, we feel the intensity of her grief, as well as the palpable lack — or apparent lack — of her husband’s grief. It’s a raw, tough story, finely crafted and satisfying to read.
Review of Anna-Claire McGrath, “Regarding Your Application to This Year’s Orpheus Fellowship,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 34-44 Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a parent.
Any academic who has ever written a grant application will resonate with this story — but I’m pretty sure that even if you haven’t gone through that specific circle of hell, you’ll still enjoy this clever and touching tale!
Review of Allister Nelson, “And Lilith Sewed the Seam,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 22-32 Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I really love it when SFF stories take religion seriously, and my experience in recent years is that this most often happens in Jewish SFF. Nelson’s story is a great example of this, as her characters weave together magic, Russian mythology, and Jewish beliefs. Add in a bunch of queer romance, and there was a lot in this story I liked. There were also parts that weren’t for me — I’m not really into graphic descriptions of nudity — but they weren’t enough for me to not want to read it all.
Review of Esther Alter, “Sojourner,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Everyone who has ever followed the escapades of the Mars rovers and other extra-terrestrial sojourners via twitter or other newsfeeds will understand the draw that humans have to stories of plucky machines exploring worlds we ourselves will never visit (though maybe our great-grandchildren will).
This is a story of such machines. It’s got rocks. And robot jokes. And, oh my goodness, it made me cry. I loved it.
Review of P. H. Low, “The Flock is Your Blood,” Flash Fiction Online 110 (November 2022): 19-22 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story does what many stories failed to do: Overcame my dislike of 2nd person POV with the sheer raw force of its power. I think the story could’ve ended half-way in and I would still have loved it.
(First published in If There’s Anyone Left, November 2020).
Review of Jennifer Popa, “Make an X, Then Another,” Flash Fiction Online 110 (November 2022): 16-18 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
It’s always a bit curious coming across a non-speculative story in Flash Fiction Online, because I’m never sure which rule to follow, namely, the rule that we review spec fic here, or the rule that we review every single story in an issue here; I’ve opted to follow the latter rule here. What I love about spec flash fic is the craft of fitting in an entire world into a single story; literary fic doesn’t need to build a world before a story can be told, it can simply rely on the reader’s knowledge of their own world. Because of this, Popa’s story felt as if it were much longer than it actually was — you can just tell a lot more story when it’s not speculative. As a result, even though this was one of the shorter pieces in the issue, it was still a satisfying, if non-speculative, read.
Review of Susan Taitel, “Can Someone Tell Me What Kind of Moth This Is?,” Flash Fiction Online 110 (November 2022): 12-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was billed as horror, but it mostly made me laugh (especially the ending, brilliantly constructed). However, if you have a fear of moths, maybe avoid this one!
Review of Dafydd McKimm, “The Flamingo Maximizer,” Flash Fiction Online 110 (November 2022): 8-11 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Someone must have fucked up at the zoo,
is a great opening line, and also a clear and succinct description of the premise of the story. Someone has fucked up, and now there are flamingos, bright and pink, across the grey backdrop of Wales.
Equal parts funny and sweet, just a little bit terrifying and a little bit thought-provoking, this was a bright gem of a story in a doldrum day.
Review of Jennifer Hudak, “The Weight of It All,” Fantasy Magazine 83 (September 2022): 10-18 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Disordered eating.
Maybe this is a ghost story; I don’t know. Maybe it’s a story about someone who only wants to be other than they are — I don’t know that either. But there was something peculiarly longing in this story that caught hold of me right in the initial lines, and kept me wanting more.
[And considering that I’d left this story towards the end of the issue to read and review because of its length, getting close on to 5k when I’ve been struggling, struggling to read fiction lately, this really is a testament to the power and quality of this story.]
This story is an absolute triumph.
Review of K. S. Walker, “How to Join a Colony of Sea-Folk, or Other Ways of Knowing,” Fantasy Magazine 83 (September 2022): 21-25 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Sometimes I read a story and it just isn’t for me. That’s what Walker’s story — of waiting for lost love to return from the sea, of seeking a route to the sea to find them — was, unfortunately. This was, I think, primarily because the structural and narrative choices made prevented me, rather than helped me, connect to the characters. So it felt more like a chore to read than a story.
Others who don’t share my structural and narrative preferences may enjoy this more.
SFF Reviews