REVIEW: “Particular Poisons” by Fiona West

Review of Fiona West, “Particular Poisons”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 111-123 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Summary in a sentence: The Warlord-in-Chief of Gartha’s apprentice Frieda is in need of an illusion potion to entrap her erstwhile coworker Jax into thinking she is Violet, whom he is about to marry.

There was a moment when I thought this story was intended to be a love story, but if it was, then it was a very problematic one. When the Warlord-in-Chief reflects,

It is said, really…the lengths she is willing to go to for love (p. 114),

it is really hard to see how this is love, and not obsession. But despite the Warlord-in-Chief’s thoughts here, he clearly does not approve of Frieda’s desires, and he’s going to teach her a lesson. But Frieda has a lesson to teach him in return…

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Sounding Light” by John C. Mannone

Review of John C. Mannone, “Sounding Light”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 125-127 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

This was a really gorgeous poem, telling the story of how the poet-narrator, self-described as d/Deaf, makes first contact with an alien species and discovers how to hear the light. I loved how personal the story felt, and appreciated the clear disability representation.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “The Space Traveler’s Tense” and “The Space-Traveler’s Husband” by Benjamin S. Grossberg

Review of Benjamin S. Grossberg, “The Space-Traveler’s Tense” and “The Space-Traveler’s Husband”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 145-148 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

I’m not sure if these two back-to-back poems were meant to be read as a set, but given their titles and proximity I decided to read them as such.

As an amateur linguist, I loved the premise of the first poem — a new tense for “nouns in the process of passing”, a tense to speak of dying friends, of dinners being eaten, of “a planet you no longer stand on // but which still exerts on you its // considerable tug” (p. 145). It is also the tense that the space-traveler uses to talk of a planet dweller they once shared their couch, and their years, with.

Nothing more detailed is said of this planet dweller, other than his gender, but I prefer to think that he is the husband that the second poem refers to. This poem was not as evocative as the first one, but the two complement each other well — I would be interested in reading the entire story of the space-traveler and their husband, told through such poems.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Boxes” by Lauren Barker

Review of Lauren Barker, “Boxes”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 107-110 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

I found this minimalistic story utterly entrancing. It is a deft example of how a rich and deep world can be built through only a few brief remarks and casual references. I was torn between wanting to know more about the titular boxes and feeling that any more would have ruined the delicate balance Barker managed. Gold star to this story.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “As Long As You Remember” by Marla Cantrell

Review of Marla Cantrell, “As Long As You Remember”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 81-87 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

This is the story of Chick, an itinerant car-thief who never stays in town more than a few days. It isn’t clear where he is going or why — if he is running from something, or two something. The story is told at an arm’s length remove, being a factual recounting of his actions. It is only when we get brief glimpses of the person who is doing the recounting that any sort of story develops, that we get to see a side of Chick that isn’t quite as unsympathetic as the facts present. Things veer off in a strange direction at the end, leaving the reader (well, me) with an uncertain resolution. I’m still not sure why Chick’s story is one that I should care about.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Nothing Lasts” by David Estringel

Review of David Estringel, “Nothing Lasts”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 79-80 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

If the hope of this anthology is to engage the wider public with science through the media of fiction and poetry, then the lesson we are to apparently learn from this poem is that “Nothing lasts”, which is both the title and the refrain at the end of each verse. It is a depressing and hopeless message.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “We Feel Autumn in Our Bones” by Joe Butler

Review of Joe Butler, “We Feel Autumn in Our Bones”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 73-78 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Content warning: Contemplation of abortion.

To my taste, the story was slightly overwritten — I kept feeling like a just a few fewer words in each sentence would’ve tightened and sharpened everything up — but it was premised upon such an intriguing idea that by the end of it, I forgave the overwriting. There are many different ways that authors can contemplate solutions to the every growing population on Earth; Butler’s was a take I’d not seen before, and I enjoyed that.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Dark Constellations Beneath Electron Microscope” by Carla Durbach

Review of Carla Durbach, “Dark Constellations Beneath Elecron Microscope”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 59-60- — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Lately I’ve been struggling about what makes a poem a good SF poem. Durbach’s poem is just that: It tells an undeniably and intrinsically science fiction story, but in a way that enhances the beauty of the poem rather than distracts.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Another Heart” by Bryan Arneson

Review of Bryan Arneson, “Another Heart”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 61-71 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

This is the kind of SF that I really like — the science is subtle and in the background, but it emphasizes our most basic questions: What makes us human? What are emotions? These and others were brought to the fore through the lense of the character Rosco, whose own status (robot? enhanced human?) remains uncertain right until the very end.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Carry On” by Shelby Van Pelt

Review of Shelby Van Pelt, “Carry On”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 49-58 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

This was a story full of paradoxes. It was full of sharp, fine details that made the setting feel intimate and real, and yet I couldn’t tell you where or when it was set. The first-person narrator continually addresses an unnamed “you”, but that “you” is not me, the reader. Instead, it feels like we’re inside the narrator’s head, overhearing her internal monologue, as she recites her history and how she and her friend ended up stranded in a desert when almost everyone else has moved on, made the long trek to the south.

Even in the ending is shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. I think I know what happened — but I won’t spoil the surprise by telling it here.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment