REVIEW: “The Great Circus Robbery” by David R. Grigg

Review of David R. Grigg, “The Great Circus Robbery,” Unfit Magazine 2 (2018): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Lizzie lives in a scrap yard with her father, eking out a living dealing in bits of metal and junk. When a circus full of mechanical animals comes to town, her father can’t help but hatch a plan to steal one of them. (And considering how skillfully Grigg depicts the clockwork elephant, I can’t blame Lizzie’s dad: I’d want one too.)

It’s not a fun, light-hearted story, though: The central tension comes from the rough way Lizzie’s father treats her, bordering on abusive. My heart ached for her and her loveless, joyless life as I read the story, and was thoroughly delighted by the happiest of endings that came up entirely unexpectedly.

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REVIEW: “Last Call on Lindisfarne” by J. B. Toner

Review of J.B. Toner, “Last Call on Lindisfarne,” Unfit Magazine 2 (2018): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

As someone who lives not that far from Lindisfarne but has as yet never managed to make it there to visit, I was excited to read a story set there! Except it turns out that this Lindisfarne is on a small asteroid in the Sagittarius cloud. Friar Clump is a monk at the Abbey of St. Francis there, spending his days extracting raw booze from the celestial clouds and extracting it into the finest whiskeys and ales. Everything runs peacefully and smoothly until two space pirates come along, and amusing hijinks ensue. A fun little yarn.

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REVIEW: “Toys, Going Home” by Eric Del Carlo

Review of Eric Del Carlo, “Toys, Going Home,” Unfit Magazine 2 (2018): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was an utterly delightful story about a motley assort of Story robears, programmed to make their way back to their holders whenever separated from them, so that they can tell the Story of their travels when they return.

In case any of you are like me and cannot stomach the idea of a story of toys trying to find their way hoome that doesn’t end up happily, well: No kittens were harmed in the making of this story.

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REVIEW: “An Algorithm for Fools” by Cat Rambo

Review of Cat Rambo, “An Algorithm for Fools,” Unfit Magazine 2 (2018): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The narrator of this story is doing pretty well for himself, after the alien apocalypse; there may not be many other people around, but that’s okay because he doesn’t really go in for that whole “human commerce, or interaction” sort of thing. It’s so lovely to read a story where I find myself resonating with the main character, and then a bit later on have it explicitly confirmed, by the character themself, that they’re on the spectrum. That frisson of fellow-feeling really helps endear a story to me! And I loved the narrator’s algorithms for coping.

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REVIEW: “Bread of Life” by Beth Cato

Review of Beth Cato, “Bread of Life,” Flash Fiction Online 93 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This cosy SF story centers is all about how bread is a tie to home. As someone who lived six years in the Netherlands with a bunch of German colleagues continuously complaining about how they just couldn’t get good bread in the Netherlands (and who’d bring large stocks back with them from trips back home to Germany), the premise was moving and enjoyable. The story should also appeal to any reader who attempted to navigate their Covid lockdown via sourdough starters.

(Originally published in Nature 520, 2015.)

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REVIEW: “The Bones and Their Girl” by Sylvia Heike

Review of Sylvia Heike, “The Bones and Their Girl,” Flash Fiction Online 93 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

When a story opens with someone discovering someone else’s bone collection, I’m not quite sure if it’s going to turn out to be a horror story or not!

This one is not. It’s a beautiful, sweet story, of Camille who is struggling to understand the herself that she has become as illness slowly takes over her, and Simon, who sees nothing but beauty in bones.

(Originally published in Syntax & Salt, 2019.)

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REVIEW: “All the Arms We Need” by Kristina Ten

Review of Kristina Ten, “All the Arms We Need,” Flash Fiction Online 93 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The premise of this story is simple: Sometimes, all we need is to be held, and sometimes two arms is not enough. What is better than two arms? Eight, of course, and better than that a thousand. What we learn in this exceedingly sweet story is that if an octopus is a better hugger than a human, a millipede is even better than an octopus.

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