Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Jennifer Hudak, “Sturgeon Moon Jam,” Flash Fiction Online 130 (July 2024): 20-23 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The “folk tale” subgenre is one that isn’t as often seen in speculative fiction, but that’s what I’d classify this story as — not a retelling of an old story, but a genuinely new folk tale. It’s a sweet little story, perfect for summer time.
(First published in Fantasy Magazine December 2022).
Review of Vivian Chou, “Perfect Vaca, No Filter,” Flash Fiction Online 130 (July 2024): 15-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
We all have read stupid online hotel reviews, so the genre that Chou chose for this story is perfectly familiar. However, I think we can all agree: Hotels that experience alien invasions maybe deserve at least one 1-star review!
Full of humor and wickedly realistic, this was a fun little story to read while traveling.
Review of Tess Lloyd, “Salisbury Confederate Prison, North Carolina, 1864,” Flash Fiction Online 130 (July 2024): 12-13 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this story. It was more a vignette than a story: An artful depiction of a specific time and place, but without enough for me to sink my teeth into to really get in to it.
Review of Rich Larson, “Ascension’s Eve,” Flash Fiction Online 130 (July 2024): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
On Ascension’s Eve, 88 takes 99 on pilgrimage. What kind of pilgrimage would a digital identity need to make? Not only do I as the reader have this question, but it’s also clear as the story goes on that 99 doesn’t really understand this either. But 88 does, and through the story shows both me the reader and 99. It’s a weirdly mundane story, and also very sweet.
Review of Anna Dallara, “The Sibyl,” Flash Fiction Online 131 (August 2024): 22-24 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This, opened with a quote from the Aeneid to put the reader into an appropriate state of mind, was a lovely story of the limits of foretelling. There was a breath of love and a whisper of hope and an eternity of sadness, all packed into a neat, efficient little package.
Review of Sarah Jackson, “In the Path of the Giantess,” Flash Fiction Online 131 (August 2024): 19-21 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
So little happened in this story that it felt like the encounter between the narrator and the giantess was a metaphor for something — but what, I’m not really sure.
Review of Maya Dworsky-Rocha, “Godiva of the Broken Shell,” Flash Fiction Online 131 (August 2024): 16-18 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Inspired by the real-life Godiva and the events for which she is best known for, Dworsky-Rocha has created a weird SF story that trades shame for intimacy in a really effective and unexpected way.
Review of Faith Allington, “This Rapturous Blooming,” Flash Fiction Online 131 (August 2024): 12-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
ATTN: WorldCon readers who attended the “Fungi and SFF” panel — this is a story for you!
It’s a “mad scientist” story unlike the usual “mad scientist” story; the protagonist isn’t clinically insane because she’s actually right — it’s just that no one is willing to believe her. But isn’t what just what madness is, adhering to a reality that no one else sees?
Review of Rajeev Prasad, “The Blinding Light of Resurrection”, Clarkesworld Issue 212, May (2024): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Kept me hooked! An emotionally resonant story where I was genuinely invested in the characters and what happened to them. When someone is driven by obsession, rationality goes out the window, and that’s always a recipe for disaster.
This novelette provides a really, really good perspective on obsession and the cost of following through on it. Deftly written in a way that you can understand the protagonist’s motivations while also understanding how they’ve gone off track.
Again, I cannot overstate the emotional resonance in this one. Lovely writing.
Review of Carol Scheina, “Give a Smile at Ye Olde Photographie Shoppe,” Flash Fiction Online 131 (August 2024): 8-11 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Mal runs a photography shop, offering services no other shop does — a chance to get your photograph taken with a dragon! A real dragon — who happens to be Mal himself. He longs for a chance to be a real photographer and not just a gimmick, and this story offers him the chance to be so.
I loved the ending, which was sweet and happy, but something about the story also made me terribly sad, as it made me think of this story from a few months ago.
Humanity can be really awful sometimes. That’s why we need happy, sweet stories.
SFF Reviews