REVIEW: “The Tao of Thorsten Codbiter” by Kate Horsley

Review of Kate Horsley, “The Tao of Thorsten Codbiter,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 29-31 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

…plus the back has a cut-out coupon for ten free Vikings with the purchase of every genuine Ox-horn drinking vessel (p. 29).

I love it when within the first five sentences of a story, I already know I will love it.

As Tom tries to bring his mom around to the idea of sharing her house with Agmundr, Gorm, Frode, Thorstein, Bodil, and five other Vikings, I laughed and laughed and laughed. As the ten of them surround Tom with support as his mother faces her final dies, I wanted to cry along with them, while Horsley’s final line is exactly the right way to end this story. A delightful morsel of a masterpiece. More stories like this, please.

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REVIEW: “Unfinished Conversations Package” by Chris Baker

Review of Chris Baker, “Unfinished Conversations Package,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 20-28 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

As Dan Kalder tries to find closure with the death of his father, we as the reader get taken on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster — laughter, annoyance, tears, and a bit of shock. On the one hand, I appreciated the dexterity with which this story was constructed. On the other hand, the central conceit of that construction rests upon technology whose use in any form I struggle to get behind, so as a story that uses it uncritically, it ended up not sitting very well with me. (This isn’t to say that I think Baker used genAI to write the story, not the least; just that its use in the story meant the story didn’t work for me.)

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REVIEW: “A Proper Mother, Unhexed” by Ashlee Lhamon

Review of Ashlee Lhamon, “A Proper Mother, Unhexed,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 16-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh my goodness, this was absolutely adorable. Also, when I first glanced at the title I read it as “A Proper Mother, Perplexed,” (and my smug response was “ah, I must be a proper mother, because I’m almost always perplexed”) — which turns out would also have been a suitable title for this story!

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REVIEW: “Ursula” by E. M. Linden

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.

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REVIEW: “Terra” by Laura Stone

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.

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REVIEW: “The Visitor” by Frances Koziar

Review of Frances Koziar, “The Visitor,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 337-361 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Once I got past the rather info-dump-y first few pages, this story really drew me in. I’m a sucker for university scholars off doing research, no matter what arcane subject, and I enjoyed the easy naturalness that lay between Annaz, the scholar, and Kiava, the local who became his guide. For a comparatively long story, the pages slipped away quickly beneath my eyes, especially as I reached the excessively sweet and excessively satisfying resolution.

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REVIEW: “HeartsEase” by Brittany Hague

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.

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REVIEW: “The Three Songs” by Gio Clairval

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.

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REVIEW: “The Penitent” by M.J. Klimmek

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.

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