Review of Nikki Blakely, “Blackbird,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a child.
This was another unexpected horror story from LSQ! A slow-burn horror, if that’s something you can say, starting off ordinary enough but slowly increasingly becoming more and more disturbing, until it reach a perfectly pitched ending.
Review of Andrea Goyan, “A Feather’s Weight,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Josie is a care worker who has been tending Mrs. Cooke for the last two years; when Mrs. Cooke dies, she leaves Josie a single feather, and the weight of many memories.
I really loved the friendship and connection between Josie and Mrs. Cooke in this story, how real and fully-fledged both characters felt, and how intimate the story was without any of the usual trappings of intimacy.
Review of Jennifer Lyn Parsons, “Blessing,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Kira is a member of Clan Thrush, a nomadic clan that serves the local communities as monster hunters. But after the death of her friend Thom in a monster-hunt gone bad, she leaves the Clan and strikes off on her own. But no matter how long she wanders, she cannot escape her grief for her friends and family who have died: Only the lady of death can remove that grief for her, and only Grannie’s songbirds can help her find the lady.
There was a lot of meandering in this story, a lot of retrospective references to isolated events, that never quite came together. The pace was very slow, with very little happening, and when things did happen, it was to characters who felt rather flat. This story didn’t really work for me.
Review of Elizabeth Hinckley, “Ornithomancy,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Tirza has won a lottery place in the next emigration to Sumeria and is unhappy about leaving her father behind, so she goes to an ornithomancer for advice (Ornithomancy is sort of like tarot, but with birds instead of just cards — but unlike ancient Greek divination, doesn’t involve any entrails.) The advice she gets forces her to confront her relationship with her father, in a way which I found extremely personal and touching and very real. Not every person is cut out to be a parent; not every person is very good at being a child. And yet, Tirza and her father find, in the end, a way to make it work. I liked the raw edges of this story, and its hopeful ending.
Review of Rebecca Burton, “The Prince & the Raven,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I would have liked this fairy tale-esque story better if it hadn’t taken all the frustrating bits of fairy tales instead of the good ones: The woman who sees a prince from the distance and falls hopelessly in love; the prince who has to marry or lose his lands, but cannot find a woman interesting enough. I love fairy tales, both traditional and modern, but cis-normative patriarchy-enforcing ones always end up disappointing me. This one tried to subvert those stereotypes, in the end, but not soon enough for it to be convincing.
But there was one very beautiful line in it, when the Moon tells the Raven-Maid: “Don’t lose your self as well as your heart.”
Good advice.
Review of Laney Gaughan, “Syrup-Tapping Season,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
When I think of tapping maple trees for syrup, the last thing I think is: “Ah, yes, horror.” And yet, Gaughan’s story is deliciously horrific, full of creepy uncertainty and spreading terror. Totally incongruous, the setting and the genre, and thoroughly satisfying.
Review of Meghan Louise Wagner, “The Groupies (1974),” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Animal death, drug use, violence.
Didi and her friend Bella are the titular groupies, hanging out with the band Die Obscure whenever they can. This story exudes all the hormones, angst, and uncertainties of teenagers in the 70s, with an added layer of entirely unexpected magic. It’s part glorious, part sordid, and I loved it.
Review of Alyssa Villaire, “Keep Your Eyes on the Horizon,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Nell is the keeper of the lighthouse, charged with watching vigilantly for the day the enemy will come to destroy her home of Greyisle. Her mother trained her and helped her prepare for her destiny, before she died. Now the day — and the enemy — has come, and he is nothing like what Nell has trained to defeat.
I really loved this story and the way the characters force the reader to question who is the hero and who is the villain, and how the stories we are told and tell ourselves about our destinies are not always true.
Review of Kristina T. Saccone, “The Hawk and the Wren,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Two little girls, growing up playing pretend, one the hawk, the other the wren. One grows up to fly planes in WW2, the other grows up to be a witch. This was a lovely fantasy adaptation of the Night Witches, playing neatly on the name and bringing to life the magic of flying.
Review of Jen Mierisch, “Jane and the Crows,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
For twelve months after the death of her sailor husband John, crows plagued Jane, until she is driven into the woods to seek the answer to the mystery of his final voyage.
This story was quite short, and felt very sparse. I’m not sure that was necessarily to the story’s benefit.
SFF Reviews