Review of Emily Yu, “The Angelus Machine,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 212-221 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
If you’re looking for a slightly uncomfortable story about love between a human and an AI, this is a story for you.
REVIEW: “A Pound of Flesh” by K R Samp
Review of K R Samp, “A Pound of Flesh,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 246-257 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Oooh, this was a good story. First, the basic premise: Sometimes the witch is the one who is cursed rather than the one who curses — amusing and clever, right? It starts off with all the basic haunted-house tropes, but not too many that the reader gets bored or irritated. And then there are a hint or two dropped so that there’s a point where I suddenly sucked in my breath and went “OH, I know what kind of story this is!”, and then gulped in the rest avidly to see if I was right or not.
AND I WAS. If you want a joyful, glorious, witchy, trans-positive story, read this.
REVIEW: “Lost Souls” by Rae Maybee
Review of Rae Maybee, “Lost Souls,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 240-245 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was something about this story that really took me, sucked me in and made me love it, even though a lot of its external trappings are things I don’t ordinarily like. Maybe it was the combination of 2nd person with the subjunctive — instead of the narrator telling me how I do feel, they told me how I might feel — if only I did the right things, went the right places, asked the right questions. So this story allowed me to inhabit a “what if,” which is, honestly, what we want our stories to do.
It was short, it offered me a few minutes escapism, and it delivered on that — equal parts fairy tale and a tale of how we’d want people to respond in the actual world. All in all, it was really good stuff.
REVIEW: “Souls on the Open Plane” by Remy Welch
Review of Remy Welch, “Souls on the Open Plane,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 176-195 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story, told through alternating diary entries, introduces us to Lyre, a human scientist on an expedition space ship, and Bob, a Ragak who works in her lab. The entries are distinctive in voice in a way that conveys Bob’s alien-ness very effectively, and there is a rich sense of development. This was a strong debut publication for Welch — I look forward to reading more by her!
REVIEW: “The Fish Who Dreamt of Dragons” by Lilia Zhang
Review of Lilia Zhang, “The Fish Who Dreamt of Dragons,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 156-175 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Xinyue is the last member of the Crescent Moon sect — more than that, she is the Crescent Moon sect — and while other warriors discount her at first, her prowess earns her fame as she travels the world. When a fisher village is beset by a deadly spirit, Xinyue meets Wanyue and takes on her first disciple. Xinyue and Wanyue then travel together, until Xinyue’s fame catches the attention of the emperor and fate catches up with her — a fate that only Wanyue can rescue her from.
I don’t get to read much Wuxia in English — so I really enjoyed this!
REVIEW: “Open Your Eyes” by Allie Marini
Review of Allie Marini, “Open Your Eyes,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 124-139 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: miscarriage, death of a parent.
This is a two-part story, switching viewpoint half-way through. The first half I felt dragged a bit; there was a lot of prose at times, which I’ll admit I ended up skimming because it seemed primarily to just spend time, rather than push the story forward or tell me more about the character. But things picked up in the second half, and it ended strongly.
REVIEW: “Grief in C Minor” by Erin Keating
Review of Erin Keating, “Grief in C Minor,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 110-123 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a quiet story exploring grief, and guilt, with nothing hugely unexpected, nothing earth-shattering, just following one woman and the death of her grandmother — and the house she inherited as a result.
REVIEW: “Bedtime Story” by Rhonda Parrish
Review of Rhonda Parrish, “Bedtime Story,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 102-109 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a story of a story, a horror story told by Laura, an old doll, to Clara, the daughter of her previous owner. Clara was the one who asked Laura to tell the story, but during Laura’s telling I kept wondering what the purpose of the story was — would there be a moral? Was it just to scare Clara? I kept waiting for some signal, why did Clara ask Laura to tell her a story, or this story in particular? I never quite got any of the answers I hoped for.
REVIEW: “How to Carry a Millstone” by Katie McIvor
Review of Katie McIvor, “How to Carry a Millstone,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 56-68 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This fairy-tale retelling was every bit as gruesome as an original Grimms’ tale, and just a little bit more unsettling because of its modern setting.
REVIEW: “Lost in Target” by Camden Rose
Review of Camden Rose, “Lost in Target,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 46-54 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Child loss.
“Target is magical,” the narrator tells us, and she means it literally, as the nexus for her exploration of grief after miscarriage. Throughout the story, we feel the intensity of her grief, as well as the palpable lack — or apparent lack — of her husband’s grief. It’s a raw, tough story, finely crafted and satisfying to read.
