REVIEW: “From a Damsel to a Dragon” by Hannah Birss

Review of Hannah Birss, “From a Damsel to a Dragon,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 217-220 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was quite a straightforward story: A princess, betrothed to a prince in an arranged marriage that neither of them wants, undergoes transformation from a damsel to the titular dragon. There’s no explanation or understanding of why/how this happens, it is just presented to the reader as a straightforward thing. There’s little left to the reader to grapple with, nothing really to figure out, no deeper moral or allegory. It’s just a story of a girl who doesn’t want to marry a prince, and becomes a dragon instead. Still, it was a fun little piece, even if it’s not very deep.

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REVIEW: “The House Guest” by Archita Mittra

Review of Archita Mittra, “The House Guest,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 147-155 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There’s something really sweet and gentle about this story, about a woman and her daughter and the abusive husband who finally left to never come back — and the houseguest that her daughter brings home, who brightens up their world even though he is only temporary.

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REVIEW: “A Throne Fit for Two Kings” by K. J. Chien

Review of K. J. Chien, “A Throne Fit for Two Kings,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 57-68 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Sun Wukong is 15, so he is small and therefore suited for the most dangerous jobs on the railway, usually those involving tight spaces and dynamite. One day a job goes awry and he ends up trapped — only to meet the most curious little character, whose sole purpose at first seems to be to tease and taunt him, but who eventually makes him an offer he can’t refuse.

This is a queer little story (in the sense of strange rather than straight). I’m not entirely sure what to make of it.

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REVIEW: “Seven Days of Bleeding” by Chloe-Lynn Russo

Review of Chloe-Lynn Russo, “Seven Days of Bleeding,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 270-273 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story traces one woman’s week of bleeding, and the effect of her blood upon the world each day. It’s quite short, and quite remote, in the sense that we only ever see the woman and her actions, never anything else. And yet, we never learn anything about the woman, who she is, where her power comes from, why she is doing all of this. So in the end, I felt I was wanting rather more than I got.

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REVIEW: “A Year in the Life of the Drowned Wastewater Plant East of Bellmarsh Village” by D. A. Straith

Review of D. A. Straith, “A Year in the Life of the Drowned Wastewater Plant East of Bellmarsh Village,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 27-29 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

For a story set in a post-apocalyptic setting, this was surprisingly peaceful and serene, and even almost hopeful. A lovely little gem in this issue!

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REVIEW: “Why I Quit Teaching at the Villain Academy” by Tina S. Zhu

Review of Tina S. Zhu, “Why I Quit Teaching at the Villain Academy,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 17-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Maybe it’s just because I’m an academic at the end of term, but you can totally read the first page of this story replacing “villain academy” with “university” and “villain” with “academic” and it is so, so, depressingly true. Doesn’t get much better on the second page, even if the substitutions no longer really work, because it’s full on climate depression.

Basically, don’t read unless you’re in a mood to get really bummed out!

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REVIEW: “Bone Birds Fly” by Malda Marlys

Review of Malda Marlys, “Bone Birds Fly,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 20-22 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This is a story about living after the end of the world, when everything else is dead and dry and gone, and yet just because we’ve killed the world doesn’t mean that we ourselves aren’t still struggling along in the aftermath. Pretty bleak.

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REVIEW: “The Caged Budgerigars” by Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar

Review of Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar, “The Caged Budgerigars,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 8-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Miscarriage, stillbirth, and infertility.

This was a well-put-together story but upon reading it I knew I’d have difficulty reviewing it because it’s not really speculative in any way (FFO has the occasional non-spec story). But I was curious about what the issue’s theme was, to see if understanding how it fit into the theme would reveal something more than what was in the story itself. The theme for this issue is “eco-futures,” and knowing that didn’t actually clue me in any more; this story is very much rooted in the present. So I delved into the editorial to see if I could understand why the editors chose this particular story for this particular theme, and Halsey’s comment piqued my interest: “I went with this portrayal of a woman struggling with her inability to have children because it mirrors the intimacy of another mother’s story within this issue” (p. 6). Guess I’ll have to read that one next!

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REVIEW: “Five Easy Hairstyles for Snake-Haired Girls” by Jelena Dunato

Review of Jelena Dunato, “Five Easy Hairstyles for Snake-Haired Girls,” Small Wonders no. 4 (October 2023): 10-11 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This poem was a twist on the standard Medusa story, from her despoilment to her eventual escape and ascension. It had a couple of good lines in it, including: “If you wanted criticism, you’d call your mother,” which is a banger.

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