Review of E. M. Linden, “Ursula,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story is heavily, and sometimes heavy-handedly, metaphoric. It’s about parenting, and choices, and who gets to decide what is “best” when parents say they only want what’s best for their child. It’s mostly sad, but there is a breath left at the end which gives space for hope that good choices will be made this time, that a better “best” is found.
Review of Laura Stone, “Terra,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 265-285 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a long, reflective story, centered around the musings of a single, solitary character — Cass’s shipmate Simms died before we, the reader, ever met her — which is a narrative structure that I think is difficult to pull off: It’s hard to keep the pace from dragging. It took more than half the story for events to begin, and even then, they seemed to take forever. As a consequence, when the horror elements kicked in, I ended up more bored than scared. This one just wasn’t for me.
Review of Brittany Hague, “HeartsEase,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 203-221 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was a lot of info-dumping in order to get us up to speed on all the necessary background, which rather dragged the pace of the story down. On the other hand, it’s fun to see a ghost story which is closer to the SF family than the F family.
Review of Gio Clairval, “The Three Songs,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 223-239 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
“It’s always been this way” or this is simply “the natural order of things” (p. 223) are excuses that have always been given to “explain” the oppression of women. In this story, Clairval takes women’s silence and silencing and makes it the centerpiece. Stories like this show the power of fiction: Taking a phenomenon and reifying it into something tangible, that cannot be ignored, must be entangled with. The result is Mandarinella, a heroine every reader will joyfully fight for. What I loved most about this story was that when the women finally won their voices back, there were many men that welcomed this, and celebrated, and benefited. That’s the kind of reality we want to strive for, expertly portrayed in fiction.
Review of M.J. Klimmek, “The Penitent,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 293-321 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The nameless narrator has been in exile on her island for more than four years, punishment for having killed fellow members of her Order. With a Guardian patrolling the island and a mark on her forehead shutting her away from her magic and telling anyone she met — not that there’s anyone else on the island — that she’s a traitor, there is no escape. But there is penitence, and watching the way it manifests in this story was intriguing. I’m not quite sure I agree with all the decisions the penitent made, but I can see how they could make sense.
Review of H.H. Pak, “Crabs Don’t Scream”, Clarkesworld Issue 229, October (2025): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Exceedingly well written; this novelette was an experience. One worth having.
The vast complexity of everything it covers, the perspectives, choices, feelings, being different in some sort of way. Love. All kinds of love. Simply love. Oh yeah, and science fiction.
Everything about this piece is simply beautiful. The kind of stories that remind me why reading is such a rewarding hobby.
Review of Sanya Dimova, “The Price of Gold,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 161-168 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a sweet little fairy tale, interestingly told. It is primarily the story of childhood sweethearts Lena and Zlatan, but telling the tale is a narrative “we” that we, the reader, are never introduced to, nor do we ever figure out their relationship to Lena and Zlatan. I found that stylistic choice almost more interesting than the story itself!
Review of Amy Power Jansen, “Dasies for Going Out, Pansies to Return Home,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 15-34 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was a lot of anger and unhappiness in this story. There was childhood bullying and abuse. There was a forest full of hatred — that hates the little girl and the witch who wasn’t her grandmother only a little less than it hates others. There was prejudice, hanging the “witch” without any evidence.
There was only a little hint of light at the end, when the little girl finds a tower in a gap in the forest, and within the tower her grandmother’s last gift. It ended on a hopeful note, but it was quite a downer otherwise.
Review of Isobel Mackenzie, “Conveyance,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 187-200 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
As a matter of constitution, I’m predisposed to like stories about lesbian ghost hunters. Alas, I’m also predisposed to wanting my stories to be historically accurate (in so far as “ghost stories” and “accuracy” belong in the same sentence), which meant that as soon as we were introduced to a Roman ghost who’s been haunting London since her death “a hundred years before the birth of Christ” (p. 189), I rather lost my faith in the author. Which was a shame, because this ghost turned out to be almost entirely irrelevant to the story, and the rest of the story was distinctive, not your usual sort of ghost story, and I would have liked to have enjoyed it more than I did.
Review of Lyra Bird, “Women of Nowhere,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 171-184 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
100% absolutely and utterly gripping — that’s what this story was. It has one of the most distinctive narrative voices that I’ve come across in a very long time, drawing me straight in so that by the third sentence I was enthralled, not so much by the story as I was by wondering what slant path Bird would take me down next.
SFF Reviews