REVIEW: “Passing Through” by Laurie Doyle

Review of Laurie Doyle, “Passing Through,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 45-49 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Sometimes a good story is one that can hint at a much broader world behind the brief snippet the story lets you see. Sometimes, a good story is one that gives no context, no background, no explanations, nothing to help you understand what is going on. Doyle’s story is one of the latter, and I loved it precisely for that reason.

(First published in Manawaker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast 2024.)

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REVIEW: “Madam Strzyga’s Pagan Pest Control” by Katharine Tyndall

Review of Katharine Tyndall, “Madam Strzyga’s Pagan Pest Control,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 27-31 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

“Catholic solutions won’t work for pagan problems,” Madam Strzyga tells an anxious client (p. 29), in this funny little story that’s almost noteworthy for how mundane it is considering how fantastical it is. Pests are pests, whether they are natural or supernatural, I guess!

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REVIEW: “What Any Dead Thing Wants” by Aimee Ogden

Review of Aimee Ogden, “What Any Dead Thing Wants,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 72-109 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was exceptionally long, meaning I kept putting it off whenever I’d sit down to read and review a story because I didn’t have the time.

I finally did today, and the story completely repaid what I spent on it. At the end, I find it hard to know what to say about it, other than echo Hob when he says that “he would have known what to do, if there were obvious bad guys” (p. 103). It’s a story where there’s no good moves, even when there are moves that are right, and it ends up being really, really sad.

(First published on psychopomp.com, 2024)

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REVIEW: “The Right Hand of Justice” by Annie ZH Sun

Review of Annie ZH Sun, “The Right Hand of Justice,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (June 2026): 14-17 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story was wildly fascinating. My only complaint is that it was too short. I want the epic version of this story, I want to know all about this world, I want to know how the main character got how they did, I want to know more about the woman who knows about the noodle shop.

I want to see the law get changed.

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REVIEW: “An Obituary to Birdsong” by Tehnuka

Review of Tehnuka, “An Obituary to Birdsong,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (June 2026): 11-12 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The ecology of this story may be unfamiliar, but watching its collapse is not. The obvious sadness of the story is the loss of the birdsong and all it entailed, but the smaller grief of how Sangeetha died I found more poignant.

(First published in If There’s Anyone Left, 2023.)

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