Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Ana Wesley, “Who We Are,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 70-100 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a beautifully rich story (almost novelette/novella length, though I’m not sure of exact wordcount) — full of intriguing characters set against a well-constructed backdrop, the sort of story that feels like the prelude to a full-blown trilogy. And honestly, if Wesley is planning one, I’d read it.
Review of Kurt Pankau, “A Pin Drops,” Flash Fiction Online 129 (June 2024): 24-27 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Pankau nails the set-up of this story: An opening paragraph that has an easy, obvious interpretation, followed quickly on by a statement that makes you go “wait, WHAT?” and reread the first paragraph again in a totally new light. From then, I was hooked. The premise is one that superficially seems amusing, but in truth wrung a good deal of sympathy and emotional connection from me.
Review of Yelena Crane, “A Face Full of Nations,” Flash Fiction Online 129 (June 2024): 20-23 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
For such a strange premise — the new fashion fad is to sculpt a nationscape upon your face — this story felt like a weird mix of things I’d already read, sort of a cross between Horton Hears a Who and another story I recently reviewed here, Holly Schofield’s “What You Sow”. This one, though, is much more dark and tragic than the other two, no happy ending here.
Review of Lindz McLeod, “The Brides, The Hunted,” Flash Fiction Online 129 (June 2024): 16-18 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Domestic violence.
This story involved a flipped gender dynamic, which was interesting because of how weird it felt. Stories like this are good, because they remind us how unnatural and weird our current social structures are, no matter how used to them we may be.
Review of Justine Gardner, “Are They Cake?,” Flash Fiction Online 129 (June 2024): 12-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Nothing like the combination of “cake” in the title and “horror” as the genre to get you into a state of “I have no idea what this story is going to be about”. The opening paragraph thrusts you straight into a dystopian version of the Great British Bake-Off, and you know nothing is going to go well — whether “they” are cake or not.
It’s hilarious — the sort of story that keeps you laughing just so that you don’t have to acknowledge the horror beneath it all.
Review of Caroline Hung, “War Makes Flowers,” Flash Fiction Online 129 (June 2024): 8-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: body horror, gore, war.
Normally I’m happy to classify “horror” under the broad speculative fiction umbrella; but this story’s horror draws very much upon the horror of real life — what is most horrible about the story is how real it is. So while I think it’s effective horror, I think it’s also a rare example of a story that’s horror but not speculative.
Review of Vicki Wilson, “Jelly,” Flash Fiction Online 128 (May 2024): 22-24 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
When this story started off with measuring out sugar for making jam, my hope was that it would be a proper horror story.* Alas, this was a straight-up lit fic story — enjoyable enough in its own right, but definitely made more fun by imagining what it would look like with a speculative dress on.
(*I have wanted to try my hand at jam-making for years. But the processes are so complex and arcane that I’ve always been just a bit too scared to try.)
Review of Rachael K. Jones, “Midnight Burritos With Zozrozir,” Flash Fiction Online 128 (May 2024): 18-20 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Premise: Woman goes out for burritos with the demon who’s going to destroy her. Verdict: Oh my goodness, this was absolutely adorable and lovely. What a sweet little story! We all need a Zozrozir in our life.
(First published in Daily Science Fiction 2018).
Review of Brandon Case, “Darkness, Blanket of My Eyes,” Flash Fiction Online 128 (May 2024): 14-17 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was billed as a horror story, but it’s actually a love story. (Though, it’s definitely horror-y enough that if this isn’t the genre for you, don’t read this. Also don’t read if attempted tentacle sex isn’t your thing.)
Review of J. Autumn Needles, “The Chicken’s Just Fine,” Flash Fiction Online 128 (May 2024): 11-13 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
What a strange little story. The FFO editors classified this as science fiction, but the only SF element I could find is the setting — one oblique reference to the characters having “brought those ideas from another world” (p. 11). The speculative elements are loosely defined enough that one could interpret them as either science or magic, a pleasing ambiguity which definitely helps the story along.
SFF Reviews