REVIEW: “Lord Mortedart’s Revenge” by Katie Kotulak

Review of Katie Kotulak, “Lord Mortedart’s Revenge,” Flash Fiction Online 128 (May 2024): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

A deity, or a demon (it’s not clear which, though he’s clearly something supernatural), comes to the end of their 100 year imprisonment and returns to earth — only to find that no one knows who they are, and no one cares. It’s a hilarious premise, humoristically and also thoughtfully rendered. This was a good little fun story, full of piercing moments of brief heart-wrenching tugs.

This was Kotulak’s debut publication, and let me tell you: I sincerely hope it isn’t the last!

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REVIEW: “Toby on Third” by Jim Kourlas

Review of Jim Kourlas, “Toby on Third,” Flash Fiction Online 127 (April 2024): 8-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story gets reviewed on the blog here purely because of our commitment to review every story in an issue; there isn’t anything particularly speculative about it. Perhaps if there were, I would’ve enjoyed it more: A litfic story about baseball just isn’t my cup of tea. But even so, I was impressed at how Kourlas was able to construct such a complex and compelling father-son relationship in so little space.

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REVIEW: “Like Blood For Ink” by Aimee Ogden

Review of Aimee Ogden, “Like Blood for Ink,” Flash Fiction Online 127 (April 2024): 18-20 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Ogden is a master of a particular type of flash fiction craft: Take an ordinary situation, change one thing to be out of the ordinary, and use the result to say something about our daily lives (in this case, every parents’ worry of passing the worst of themselves on to their children). The more I read her stories, the more I admire her skill.

(First published in Daily Science Fiction, 2021).

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REVIEW: “Just a Greedy Ifriti” by Damyanti Biswas

Review of Damyanti Biswas, “Just a Greedy Ifriti,” Flash Fiction Online 127 (April 2024): 15-16 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

An ifriti that’s greedy will promise anything in order to get what it wants. In this story, it only takes two pages for the greedy ifriti to smooth-talk its way to freedom. It was nevertheless two pages of work — I had to reread the opening half page or so a number of times before I felt like I understood what was going on.

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REVIEW: “Please Click” by Lettie Prell

Review of Lettie Prell, “Please Click,” Flash Fiction Online 127 (April 2024): 11-13 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story was a thoughtful take on human-robot symbiosis, mostly hopeful, rather than depressing. It also had an element of humor that particularly tickled me; pretty sure anyone who has spent enough time on the internet will know what part I meant once they get to it (I’d rather not spoil in the review, as it’s intrinsic to the story!).

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REVIEW: “What You Sow” by Holly Schofield

Review of Holly Schofield, “What You Sow,” Small Wonders no. 11 (May 2024): 14-16 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I liked the conceit of the story — growing flowers and other plants from your head instead of hair — as there’s a lot of imaginative scope in it. (I spent quite a bit of time, while reading, idly wondering what flowers I’d grow.) And I loved the way an entire lifetime was traced in a scant few pages.

I just wish (personal opinion here!) that it weren’t told in second person.

(First publishing in Navigating Ruins 2022).

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REVIEW: “Up From Out of Clay” by Eris Young

Review of Eris Young, “Up From Out of Clay,” Small Wonders no. 11 (May 2024): 24-27 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I’m not quite sure what I make of this story. It’s about a girl and a golem, about a master and his apprentice, and I feel like there is more to it than this, but two readings through didn’t quite reveal what that more is.

Perhaps other readers will resonate more with the story than I did.

(First published in Gwylion 3, 2021).

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REVIEW: “Swan’s Song” by Colleen Anderson

Review of Colleen Anderson, “Swan’s Song,” Small Wonders no. 11 (May 2024): 32-33 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

“What is love?” this poem’s opening line asks us, and if there’s an answer in the lines that following, it’s what love isn’t. While not quite as gruesome as the original fairy tale that serves as this poem’s inspiration, the undertones of violence and pain remain.

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