Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Emlyn Meredith Dorneman, “To Ashes,” Flash Fiction Online 142 (July 2025): 16-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I loved the way that Dorneman’s use of language felt like an assault on the senses, replicating in my reading the story the same experiences of the characters within the story. It all felt a bit overwhelming, and strange, and increasingly horrifying.
Review of Jason Pearce, “A Concise History of the Goldfish Trade,” Flash Fiction Online 142 (July 2025): 12-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There’s something about this story that feels very much like the type of fairy tale where a gullible young boy trades away his wealth for a myth. Two things made it more than that — Pearce’s setting amonst his ancestral Mi’kmaw, and the fact that the gullible young boy turns the tables at the end.
Review of Jacob Baugher, “Recitations,” Flash Fiction Online 142 (July 2025): 8-11 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Sometimes all an author has to do to win me over is provide me with one great phrase. As soon as I read “as if thoughts and prayers were an actual sacrifice” (p. 9), I knew that Baugher could do practically nothing to ruin his story for me. But even without this masterful piece of wordcraft, I’d’ve still enjoyed this beautifully imagined story.
Review of L Chan, “And The Planet Loved Him”, Clarkesworld Issue 227, August (2025): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
So lovely; so heartbreaking.
There are many different kinds of family and relationships, but feelings of love and yearning are a universal experience.
Whether you’re human or not.
Review of Zeke Jarvis, “Skinfluencer,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 27-29 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Body modification / possible body horror.
Sometimes speculative fiction is incredibly realistic: This story certainly couldn’t happen today, but reading it I feel like this could easily happen in 5-10 years’ time.
(First published in Backchannels 2023.)
Review of Madeline White, “The Seal Wife,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 23-25 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I sometimes shy away from selkie stories because the myth is so narrowly defined that it is hard for an author to do something new and different. One aspect I really enjoyed about White’s take was that the titular seal wife while nevertheless always longing for the sea simultaneously refuses to give up her humanity and the chance to linger in the sunshine. That’s an angle I rarely see, and I liked it. More than that, I liked how the would-be husband to the narrator’s wife steadfastedly refused to satisfy the normal tropes, and instead doggedly insisted on consent and respect.
It wasn’t quite a happy story, but it was close.
Review of Julia Lafond, “The Aftertaste,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 19-21 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Disordered eating.
The last thing Mom needed was my worries on top of hers (p. 20).
This is a story of accommodation, of swallowing all the distress, fear, anger, unhappiness, tamping it down, keeping it down, so that everyone else can be happy.
It’s beautiful and toxic and Lafond’s words make the tastes tingle on my own tongue.
(First published in Twenty-Two Twenty-Eight, October 2023.)
Review of Marissa Lingen, “A Shaky Bridge”, Clarkesworld Issue 227, August (2025): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A bright yet emotional story, from the point of view of a daughter trying to find what’s best for her family. It’s a story about where we’re going with capitalism; it’s also a story about a family growing together.
A quick, surprisingly poignant read.
Review of Elou Carroll, “It’s Become a Bit of a Habit,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 16-17 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
What an absolutely peculiar little story.
I honestly have no idea what else to say about it.
Review of Tia Tashiro, “Missing Helen”, Clarkesworld Issue 226, July (2025): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
If you had a clone, would you wonder about them? If you were a clone, would you want to know more about your origin?
Both sides of the story seem interesting, and I’m happy this story gave us all that and more.
A tightly woven tale of these two people, so similar and so different. The prose added a lot to the story; this is something I always appreciate about Clarkesworld stories. They’ve got a beautiful way with words.
SFF Reviews