Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Dorianne Emmerton, “Thistle and Spice,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 249-268 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Fatphobia, misogyny, domestic abuse.
In an attempt to escape an increasingly loveless marriage, Darlene ends up going to Wednesday night witchcraft classes, and I, as the reader, end up really, really hating her husband. Bring on the spells so that he gets his comeuppance!
Review of Wendy Nikel, “The Cierin-Croin,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 237-246 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Prefatory note: The title of the story in the journal is given as I’ve spelled it here; however, in the story itself, the term is spelled “Cirein-cr&oagrave;in”; I’m not sure which is correct.
I’m not sure what to make of the story itself: It’s pretty simple and straightforward: Ailsa and Hendry’s grandfather warns them against seeking the Cirein-cròin; Hendry doesn’t listen; bad things ensue. When a story has everything laid out bare in the way this one does, no layers, no moral, no twist, it leaves me quite perplexed.
Review of Neva Bryan, “Homoncula,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 271-278 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: drug use/overdose.
This was a rather terrifying and conceptually gross story about one woman’s revenge on her sister’s destroyer.
Review of Anna Madden, “Grown From an Alder Wolf’s Skull,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 175-187 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This rather fairy-tale like story comes with a rather fairy-tale like moral: Magic spells never do what you intend them to do, and some things must be accepted, not fought off.
Nothing earth-shattering: But not every story must change the world.
Review of Samara Auman, “The Texture of Memory, of Light”, Clarkesworld Issue 212, May (2024): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Much like the previous story in this issue, this is a poignant one that deals with memories of a late mother. There’s a great emphasis on working through conflicting feelings, while being caught up in tightly constructed and intricately layered human systems.
The protagonist has much to work through, coming out on the other side with greater understanding and healing. The character development was fantastic, and I loved seeing all the changes – and the decisions that grew from there.
Great background and secondary characters, too. I especially liked the world building and would definitely read more stories set here.
Review of Shikhandin, “Sue Dhingra’s Cat,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 159-173 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The line between “literature-influenced-by-folk-tales-and-myth” and “straight-up-fantasy” is quite blurred in this story, set in India and steeped with, to me, unfamiliar cultural references. The characters were sharply drawn and given that there was a cat involved, I was hooked from the start. The ending turned out a bit unexpectedly, for me; this was partly because I think I miscategorized the relationship between Sue and Radha during the early part of the story, due to my lack of knowledge of the various forms of address and titles being used. But it was still a fun story with a happy ending.
Review of Marie Croke, “Secrets Locked in Metal Scrap,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 137-157 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was not at all what I expected (even granted that I go into most stories with very few expectations). It started off with dinosaurs, and I was rather leery: I’m usually pretty good at suspending disbelief, but human/dinosaur stories are a type I struggle with. But Croke managed to build a story intriguing enough for me to want to keep reading, and then fed me a twist that I could never have predicted, and in the end made it easy for me to suspend that disbelief.
Review of Hesper Leveret, “Victory and Vanilla,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 107-125 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Ever wanted a combination of Great British Bake-Off and speculative fiction? If so, this is the story for you! It was clearly written by someone intimately familiar with British cooking competition shows (there was even a mention of a buttery biscuit base…), i.e., an author after my own heart.
Sometimes, all you want a story that’s just good fun. That’s exactly what this was.
Review of Emmie Christie, “To the Moon and Back,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 85-95 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
On the anniversary of her sister Candy’s transformation into a cloud to swim in the Sky-Sea, Niska sets off to find out what, eventually, happened to her. Is Candy still alive? Will Niska find her? Set against an elegant and unusual metaphysics, this story centers the bond of sisterhood and the lengths one will go for love. The ending may not have happened the way Niska imagined, but it definitely wasn’t a sad ending.
Review of Nicole Walsh, “Resurrecting Tessa,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 73-83 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story of death and resurrection defies clear classification; it’s setting feels like SF, but it is religion, rather than science or magic, that is the driving force. But it was religion distinct enough from any I’m familiar with to make me wish I got more details, more information, during the story itself. As it was, at the end, I wasn’t quite sure what the import of everything was.
SFF Reviews