REVIEW: “Crabs Don’t Scream” by H.H. Pak

Review of H.H. Pak, “Crabs Don’t Scream”, Clarkesworld Issue 229, October (2025): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Exceedingly well written; this novelette was an experience. One worth having.
The vast complexity of everything it covers, the perspectives, choices, feelings, being different in some sort of way. Love. All kinds of love. Simply love. Oh yeah, and science fiction.  

Everything about this piece is simply beautiful. The kind of stories that remind me why reading is such a rewarding hobby.

myra naikLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Price of Gold” by Sanya Dimova

Review of Sanya Dimova, “The Price of Gold,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 161-168 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a sweet little fairy tale, interestingly told. It is primarily the story of childhood sweethearts Lena and Zlatan, but telling the tale is a narrative “we” that we, the reader, are never introduced to, nor do we ever figure out their relationship to Lena and Zlatan. I found that stylistic choice almost more interesting than the story itself!

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Daisies for Going Out, Pansies to Return Home” by Amy Power Jansen

Review of Amy Power Jansen, “Dasies for Going Out, Pansies to Return Home,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 15-34 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There was a lot of anger and unhappiness in this story. There was childhood bullying and abuse. There was a forest full of hatred — that hates the little girl and the witch who wasn’t her grandmother only a little less than it hates others. There was prejudice, hanging the “witch” without any evidence.

There was only a little hint of light at the end, when the little girl finds a tower in a gap in the forest, and within the tower her grandmother’s last gift. It ended on a hopeful note, but it was quite a downer otherwise.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “A Spell for Summer” by Robin Cassini

Review of Robin Cassini, “A Spell for Summer,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 323-334 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

It’s not often I come across a story that really needed another hard pass of editing before it is released into the wild, but alas, this was one: The non-systematic switching between past and present tense really nagged at me and made it difficult to get properly stuck into the story.

I’m not sure, however, how easy I would’ve found that, even without the issues: It’s a story of a young girl who’s lost her heart to a boy who is a bit of a player, and maybe it’s just that it’s been a long time since I was a teenager, but these kinds of stories aren’t really for me.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Conveyance” by Isobel Mackenzie

Review of Isobel Mackenzie, “Conveyance,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 187-200 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

As a matter of constitution, I’m predisposed to like stories about lesbian ghost hunters. Alas, I’m also predisposed to wanting my stories to be historically accurate (in so far as “ghost stories” and “accuracy” belong in the same sentence), which meant that as soon as we were introduced to a Roman ghost who’s been haunting London since her death “a hundred years before the birth of Christ” (p. 189), I rather lost my faith in the author. Which was a shame, because this ghost turned out to be almost entirely irrelevant to the story, and the rest of the story was distinctive, not your usual sort of ghost story, and I would have liked to have enjoyed it more than I did.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Women of Nowhere” by Lyra Bird

Review of Lyra Bird, “Women of Nowhere,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 171-184 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

100% absolutely and utterly gripping — that’s what this story was. It has one of the most distinctive narrative voices that I’ve come across in a very long time, drawing me straight in so that by the third sentence I was enthralled, not so much by the story as I was by wondering what slant path Bird would take me down next.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Where the Wind Sleeps” by Emmie Christie

Review of Emmie Christie, “Where the Wind Sleeps,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 241-263 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

When Rya and Orley set off from Caverns to find the place where the Wind sleeps, there were many questions that I had. Some were answered as the story went along, but by the end of the story, one remained: Is it really okay to hunt down and kill something simply because it is dangerous to you? I’m not so sure — meaning Rya and Orley were perhaps not quite as sympathetic to me as I think author intended them to be, even if the ending brought a modicum of resolution.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Grandma and the Krampus” by Teresa Milbrodt

Review of Teresa Milbrodt, “Grandma and the Krampus,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 129-142 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Indirect references to elder abuse.

What better way to protect your grandmother than to hire her her own personal demon? That’s what the narrator of this story does, advertising for a krampus — “[not] much to do after the yuletide season”! (p. 132) — to watch over her grandmother.

For a folklore demon whose job is to punish wrongdoers and reward gooddoers, this krampus seemed remarkably happy to let grandma and her roommate (and the narrator!) go off on naughty adventures. The push and pull, back and forth between what makes someone good and what makes them bad was dealt with in this story first light-heartedly, and then heart-wrenchingly.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “To the Moon, Not Back” by Emma Francois

Review of Emma Francois, “To the Moon, Not Back,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 105-126 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a beautifully heart-wrenching story of deep love and betrayal. I felt sympathy for Beatrix, the narrator, every step of the way, even when I could tell, right from the start, that The Boy was never going to be The One for her. Didn’t make her pain any less real, didn’t make it hurt any less, didn’t make her anger any less righteous, or her desire for revenge any less justified.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Top Five Places to Worship Him, Most Terrible” by L. Fox

Review of L. Fox, “Top Five Places to Worship Him, Most Terrible,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 89-102 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There’s nothing like religious fervour to lay the foundation for something insidiously creepy (and at times really gruesome). If you want to feel vaguely disconcerted and unsettled, this is definitely the story for you.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment