Review of Angela Liu, “Fernie,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 32-43 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
With time travel, dinosaurs, and sentient plants, this fun little story didn’t bother taking itself too seriously.
REVIEW: “Madam Strzyga’s Pagan Pest Control” by Katharine Tyndall
Review of Katharine Tyndall, “Madam Strzyga’s Pagan Pest Control,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 27-31 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
“Catholic solutions won’t work for pagan problems,” Madam Strzyga tells an anxious client (p. 29), in this funny little story that’s almost noteworthy for how mundane it is considering how fantastical it is. Pests are pests, whether they are natural or supernatural, I guess!
REVIEW: “The Place of Oblation” by Deborah L. Davitt
Review of Deborah L. Davitt, “The Place of Oblation,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 146-150 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a lovely little story, recommended for anyone who likes stories about aliens or stories about archaeology, or, even better, stories about both.
REVIEW: “Raze My Brain, Open My Eyes” by Faith Allington
Review of Faith Allington, “Raze My Brain, Open My Eyes,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 135-136 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
If this story hadn’t been so short, it could perhaps have been more than simply a “bad-break-up-story,” but as an example of this genre, it at least involves someone choosing to turn their wallowing pain into a positive outcome.
REVIEW: “Seastrand Beyond” by Anna Clark
Review of Anna Clark, “Seastrand Beyond,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (July 2026): 24-27 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Parental death.
This was an absolutely beautiful story of grief and loss and the memory of abiding love.
REVIEW: “What Any Dead Thing Wants” by Aimee Ogden
Review of Aimee Ogden, “What Any Dead Thing Wants,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 72-109 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was exceptionally long, meaning I kept putting it off whenever I’d sit down to read and review a story because I didn’t have the time.
I finally did today, and the story completely repaid what I spent on it. At the end, I find it hard to know what to say about it, other than echo Hob when he says that “he would have known what to do, if there were obvious bad guys” (p. 103). It’s a story where there’s no good moves, even when there are moves that are right, and it ends up being really, really sad.
(First published on psychopomp.com, 2024)
REVIEW: “The Right Hand of Justice” by Annie ZH Sun
Review of Annie ZH Sun, “The Right Hand of Justice,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (June 2026): 14-17 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was wildly fascinating. My only complaint is that it was too short. I want the epic version of this story, I want to know all about this world, I want to know how the main character got how they did, I want to know more about the woman who knows about the noodle shop.
I want to see the law get changed.
REVIEW: “Festival” by Christine Hanolsy
Review of Christine Hanolsy, “Festival,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (June 2026): 18-20 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a story of both regrets and hopes, and the fact that by the end, the hopes and dreams outweighed the regrets and sorrows made me very happy.
(First published in Small Wonders September 2023)
REVIEW: “An Obituary to Birdsong” by Tehnuka
Review of Tehnuka, “An Obituary to Birdsong,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (June 2026): 11-12 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The ecology of this story may be unfamiliar, but watching its collapse is not. The obvious sadness of the story is the loss of the birdsong and all it entailed, but the smaller grief of how Sangeetha died I found more poignant.
(First published in If There’s Anyone Left, 2023.)
REVIEW: “What a Name Does is Let You Leave” by Meagan Kane
Review of Meagan Kane, “What a Name Does is Let You Leave,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 55-69 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m very deeply not a fan of 2nd person POV; unfortunately, that dislike is compounded when the POV is that of someone who is so obviously not me that the cognitive incongruence of being continually told that it is me overwhelms everything else.
Which is a shame, because I think told in a different perspective, I might have really enjoyed this story. Instead, I enjoyed it more in spite of itself, rather than because of it. There was a beautiful depth of longing threading through all of it which kept me reading on.
