Review of Erin Stubbe, “Intent of Form and Function,” Luna Station Quarterly 61 (2025): 127-153 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Unwanted pregnancy, abortion.
As I started reading this story, something in its essence felt very much like it was a modern-day Rumpelstiltskin retelling, which I was enjoying very much — and when this was confirmed, I enjoyed it even more. But at the same time, it’s also so much more than that, it’s a story of redemption.
Review of Josh Pearce, “Buttons and Soap,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 68 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The structure of the poem meant I had to read it a couple of times in different orders — once straight through, once with just the parentheticals and once with just the non-parentheticals — to see if I could determine how it should be read, because the first read through just left me confused. The parentheticals alone do make sense, and have a nice rhythm and rhyme to them; but what is left behind when they are extracted didn’t feel to me like it held together.
The upshot is that I spent more time confused about this poem than I did reading it, which unfortunately means this one didn’t work for me.
Review of Veda Villiers, “Dawn, the Humor Bot,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 64-65 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I don’t know if this poem was written before or after Trump 2.0, but there’s a certain apocalyptic despair woven through it that makes it feel very timely and appropriate for early 2025. But the poem ends on a note of hope — something we very much need.
Review of Vincent Endwell, “The World Has Been This Way For a Long Time,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 44-47 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This title intrigued me, as there was a delightful ambiguity in what it is signalling — would this be a happy story or a sad one? It could be either!
And then it turned out to almost be neither, rather instead it was mostly a quiet story, “speculative” in the sense that the narrator spent a lot of time wondering what if, what if, what if. But at the end, there is definitely some solace that we as the reader can take away.
Review of Karen L. Kobylarz, “Talisman and Bone,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 157-183 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Set in ancient Tyre, this story was peppered with all the little historical details that I love to see when an author is recreating the essence of an ancient culture — appropriate names, the use of a few foreign vocabulary words and phrases for important items like precious gems and spells, attention to clothing, the gods. But it’s not a simple historical fiction; the twist towards fantasy is strong and vibrant, yet the blending in of magic isn’t jarring or unrealistic. All the pieces fit together well.
Review of Atalanti Evripidou, “We Are Island,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 127-145 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I love it when I read a story where one character’s love for another is so palpable, so shining, that you see it from the very first page and you get swooped up in it. This is one of those stories. Elias’s love for Ren is dazzling, and so is Ren’s for Elias.
And yet, as brightly as is shines, it doesn’t eclipse the background world that Evripidou has deftly constructed through the introduction of one simple change: It’s a world very much like ours except that there are chips available which when implanted allow people access to their familial memories. Evripidou works out the consequences of this one idea in ways that enhance her characters. It’s such a deftly-balanced story; I was super impressed. (And I desperately would love to see it turned into an 8- or 12-episode TV series, if one can do that with such a short story!)
Review of Marlaina Cockcroft, “The Dream of Home,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 275-282 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Abuse and harassment (but only obliquely).
What a lovely, unusual, haunting little story this was! The choice of narrator is unexpected and charming and turns this story into a unique little gem.
Review of Gemma Church, “Run Time,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 223-269 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Miscarriage; domestic abuse.
The pagination may make this story seem like on the long side for LSQ, but in fact it’s quite a short story, just elaborately formatted, typeset as a back-and-forth text-based conversation — no scene-setting, no description, just dialogue, so that it is in fact quite a quick read. Moreover, the quick pace of it means that there is very little advance warning for when things suddenly turn dark and more than a little bit ugly. There’s a viciousness to one of the characters being discussed that makes the ending so very much more satisfying, when that awful abuser gets his come-uppance.
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.
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.
SFF Reviews