Review of Rich Larson, “To Rise, to Set,” Flash Fiction Online (June 2023): 10-13 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Rich Larson is one of those authors where whenever I see him in a journal line up, I get excited. His stories never fail to deliver — though what they deliver is different every time! This one gave me a strong character willing to speak up for her beliefs and for the protection of others. I will never not want to read stories that give me this.
Review of Marc A. Criley, “The Paleoneirologist’s Dreams,” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 29-31 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
If you don’t know what a paleoneirologist is (and are frustrated that no dictionary seems to know either), that’s okay, because Criley deftly tells you everything you need to know in this weird, waspish, biting little story. I really enjoyed it!
Review of Ai Jiang, “Behind the Tree,” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 35-37 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a very simple story — mostly dialogue, a little bit of characterization. It left me feeling like there was something I was missing, that I didn’t quite catch its purpose or point.
Review of Léon Othenin-Girard, “Dark Night by the Sea” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 33 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: contemplation of suicide.
This story illustrates the best of what flash fic can be — incredibly compact and yet bursting with character and history.
Review of Sarah Little, “welcome, caller” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 25-28 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story opens with two things I dislike: 2nd person POV, and phone calls where you’re put on hold with hold music. Despite these two things, the story was weirdly compelling, and definitely strange.
Review of Avra Margariti, “Visiting” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 19-23 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Calla and her mother, Lily, (both named by Lily’s mother), are on their way to visit their grandmother, in a story full of the complications of multi-generational relationships. Viewed from one angle, everything about this story is surreal, from the Chinese dragon airplane to the half-demon cat in the seat in from of Calla, but from another angle, it is as real and as ordinary as every day life. Margariti handled the juxtaposition deftly, making for a very satisfying read.
Review of Devon Borkowski, “Home for the Rising Sun,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a strange, intensely beautiful at times, haunting story that I found incredibly hard to characterise or categorise.
Review of K. R. Segriff, “The Broken Princess,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story combined a fairy-tale-like voice with a fairly-mundane setting (hard to imagine Polk County, Iowa, as a magical land, whatever the narrator says!). Unfortunately, the result was, for me, too jarring to be enjoyable, and instead felt almost condescending. But maybe if you’re a horse person — or an Iowa person — this will be a story for you.
Review of Hesper Leveret, “Before the Unicorn Hunt,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Every year there is a unicorn hunt, where the prince can flaunt his skills to his courtiers. For the remainder of the year, Lariselle, its caretaker, lives with her family in the royal hunting lodge, keeping everything ready until the next year. And each year she has a special duty: To go to the hidden Boscan village and select the unicorn whose blood will go into the special cider the prince will drink, the one whom the prince will then go on to hunt and kill. It’s an awful duty, but one that Lariselle discharges, albeit unwillingly, and in the end she gets her reward.
Review of Nika Murphy, “The Tale of the Mother and the Hexed VCR,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Postnatal depression, consideration of suicide.
Two things I loved about this story:
(1) The way it shows how the ordinary, every day events of our lives are at exactly the same time the birth of myths and folk tales.
(2) The way it illustrates, clearly and without apology, the reality of postnatal depression, and how separate it is and distinct from a mother’s love.
SFF Reviews