Review of Pauline Barmby, “Warp and Weft Rising,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 265-268 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Barmby manages quite a lot in a very short amount of space. Imprisonment, magic, vengeance, escape, all neatly encapsulated in a well-craft story with not a word too many or missing.
Review of M. McNamara, “Squilla of the Flower Moon,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 35-52 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Violence against women, sex work.
Bordello Bot Jenny was programmed with Level 14 curiosity, which left her unsatisfied with her intended purpose and longing for adventure. But the adventure she embarked upon wasn’t anything like what was advertised, which is how she ended up as a Bordello Bot.
This story was predicated on the violence and oppression of women and so of course the only solution available was also violent. I’m sure there are audiences for stories like this, but I’m not one.
Review of Feby Idrus, “Ghost Story,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 25-32 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was a first for me — my first Muslim ghost story!
There are two ways it can be read, sequentially and chronologically, and while I started off reading it the former half-way through I was confused enough to switch to reading it the latter, which certainly helped.
Review of David D. Levine, “Bend Like the Palm”, Clarkesworld Issue 234, March (2026): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
This story is about a lot of things, and many of those are quite timely.
The worldbuilding was great. I find that a lot of times when the worldbuilding is good and you can tell the writer has spent quite some time on it, the plot suffers for it. As a reader, it makes me appreciate the world, but not the plot progression or the storyline. This story does not have these issues.
A thoughtful story with many good elements – a human story in a sci-fi setting, as good sci-fi stories tend to be.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
Review of Christine Hanolsy, “A Thimbleful of Need,” Flash Fiction Online 149 (February 2026): 15-18 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Addiction.
This story of unequal desire and unmet needs left an unhappy taste in my mouth at the end.
SFF Reviews