REVIEW: “Second Film” by Christopher St. Prince

Review of Christopher St. Prince, “Second Film,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 33-36 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Drug and other substance use and abuse.

I’ve learned to become leery of the stories the FFO editors tag as “literary” as opposed to something more overtly speculative. These stories always end up feeling more sordid, less imaginative, more disappointing than the speculative stories they publish — which I’m sure is more a reflection on me and my tastes as a reader than it is on the stories themselves. Given all that, this was nevertheless a tight, well-put together story with just enough of an undertone of horror to make it feel like it fits the scope of this blog.

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REVIEW: “Moonmouse” by S.L. Harris

Review of S.L. Harris, “Moonmouse,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 29-32 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

“People carry their ruin with them wherever they go” (p. 31) is the repeated moral of this story — and yet, despite this grim conclusion about humanity, the story itself is hopeful, almost joyful, a real contrast to the rest of the stories in this issue.

(First published in Short Édition January 2026.)

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REVIEW: “The Sacrificials” by Andrew Kozma

Review of Andrew Kozma, “The Sacrificials,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This is capital H Horror of the sort that I find really, really unsettling. It’s vivid and destructive and horrible merely for the sake of horrifying. Beautifully constructed, but deeply unpleasant to read!

And I don’t know if this was intended to be read as a metaphor for gun control (or the lack thereof) in the US, but read as such, it’s also a pretty powerful story.

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REVIEW: “The Oil King” by Bree Wernicke

Review of Bree Wernicke, “The Oil King,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 25-28 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Ellalee is a dried up, dried out little old woman in a dried up, dried out little old town, whose only business is waiting for her son Malcolm to return — nothing else, not even the horrors coming in from the desert, is anything she needs to worry about. The “horrors” in this story are easily readable as a metaphor for environmental pollution; but somehow, it is Ellalee herself who becomes the most horrifying thing in the entire story, because she has completely abrogated any responsibility for anything, content to let the horrors take over her town and do nothing.

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REVIEW: “Moss Senses” by Beth Goder

Review of Beth Goder, “Moss Senses,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 11-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The FFO editors described this story as “science fiction,” but in my opinion it leans much more to the “horror” side of spec fic than the “SF” side — partly because there is very little science involved, and partly because of its inherent creepiness, which leaves the reader feeling displaced. The fact that the story could have been rewritten with pretty much anything other than moss and it would still work only enhances how odd and strange and unsettling it is.

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REVIEW: “In Brightness and in Darkness, We Sit” by Christopher Blake

Review of Christopher Blake, “In Brightness and in Darkness, We Sit,” Flash Fiction Online 149 (February 2026): 27-29 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death.

I love it when authors play with language, but love it less so when I can’t tell if they are, or if there’s just been poor proofreading. The lack of definite articles in this story is definitely evidence for the former; the first occurrence of “peerson” made me wonder if it was the former, until “peeple” turned up as well; however, the occurrence of “discretely” where one would normally expect to see “discreetly” seems much more plausibly a typo or editorial error than a deliberate choice.

Setting this matters aside, there was a wistful sadness to this story that I found quite endearing.

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REVIEW: “A Lesson on Learning Your Place in the Universe” by Thomas Price

Review of Thomas Price, “A Lesson On Learning Your Place in the Universe,” Flash Fiction Online 149 (February 2026): 23-26 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There were so many layers to this story, so many routes it could’ve got that it didn’t, all resulting in a lesson that felt more like a reward than a punishment. What a well put together, enjoyable read!

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REVIEW: “Everyone Hates It When the Alien Shows Up At the Club” by Elijah J. Mears

Review of Elijah J. Mears, “Everyone Hates It When the Alien Shows Up At the Club,” Flash Fiction Online 149 (February 2026): 19-22 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I loved the narrative POV of this story. It was self-described “the collective hivemind of the club’s patrons” (p. 19), full of spiraling conversations and overlapping trains of thought, but it also reads exactly the way it sounds in my own head, just me. I know many people would find the endless tangents annoying and frustrating, but to me, this story just felt comforting. Highly recommended reading for other neurodivergents out there.

Three words to describe the story? Hilarious, bitchy, romantic. And three more: So much fun.

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REVIEW: “This Blue World” by Samantha Murray

Review of Samantha Murray, “This Blue World,” Flash Fiction Online 149 (February 2026): 11-13 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story immediately presented me with two hurdles to get over: One, it’s 2nd person POV; two, it’s about ghosts. Neither of these narrative choices are my particular favorites, and I wasn’t sure that I’d get over both (or even either) of them. But Murray managed to pull it off, even if she waited until the penultimate two sentences!

(First printed in Fantasy Magazine September 2022)

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