REVIEW: “The Plasticity of Youth” by Marissa Lingen

Review of Marissa Lingen, “The Plasticity of Youth”, Clarkesworld Issue 185, February (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Jess is pregnant, and going to her scheduled doctor visit. She is stopped because of a raven that decided to eat her tires. Her daughter, when born, seems to be a bit different, but healthy. Over time, we learn that it’s not just tires; it’s just not ravens. A lot has started to charge.

I really like this type of story, where the world sort of changes without it having been done by humans. The humans are simply trying to navigate this world, just like everyone and everything else does.

It was strongly emotional, and I say this in the best possible meaning of the phrase.

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REVIEW: “The Massage Lady at Munjeong Road Bathhouse” by Isabel J. Kim

Review of Isabel J. Kim, “The Massage Lady at Munjeong Road Bathhouse”, Clarkesworld Issue 185, February (2022): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

A well-structured story about Jinah, who works at the bathhouse. She has the ability to see and scrape off the scales on her clients’ bodies – scales that show the effect of choices.

These translucent scales turn opaque over time, at which point they cannot be scraped off, signifying the calcification of the choices they make.

At one point in the story, Jinah needs to make a choice. Does she think scraping off her own scales would be worth it?

An insightful, well written story. The characters have a lot of depth, too.

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REVIEW: “Visiting” by Avra Margariti

Review of Avra Margariti, “Visiting” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 19-23 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Calla and her mother, Lily, (both named by Lily’s mother), are on their way to visit their grandmother, in a story full of the complications of multi-generational relationships. Viewed from one angle, everything about this story is surreal, from the Chinese dragon airplane to the half-demon cat in the seat in from of Calla, but from another angle, it is as real and as ordinary as every day life. Margariti handled the juxtaposition deftly, making for a very satisfying read.

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REVIEW: “The Broken Princess” by K. R. Segriff

Review of K. R. Segriff, “The Broken Princess,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story combined a fairy-tale-like voice with a fairly-mundane setting (hard to imagine Polk County, Iowa, as a magical land, whatever the narrator says!). Unfortunately, the result was, for me, too jarring to be enjoyable, and instead felt almost condescending. But maybe if you’re a horse person — or an Iowa person — this will be a story for you.

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REVIEW: “Before the Unicorn Hunt” by Hesper Leveret

Review of Hesper Leveret, “Before the Unicorn Hunt,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Every year there is a unicorn hunt, where the prince can flaunt his skills to his courtiers. For the remainder of the year, Lariselle, its caretaker, lives with her family in the royal hunting lodge, keeping everything ready until the next year. And each year she has a special duty: To go to the hidden Boscan village and select the unicorn whose blood will go into the special cider the prince will drink, the one whom the prince will then go on to hunt and kill. It’s an awful duty, but one that Lariselle discharges, albeit unwillingly, and in the end she gets her reward.

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REVIEW: “The Tale of the Mother and the Hexed VCR” by Nika Murphy

Review of Nika Murphy, “The Tale of the Mother and the Hexed VCR,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Postnatal depression, consideration of suicide.

Two things I loved about this story:

(1) The way it shows how the ordinary, every day events of our lives are at exactly the same time the birth of myths and folk tales.

(2) The way it illustrates, clearly and without apology, the reality of postnatal depression, and how separate it is and distinct from a mother’s love.

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REVIEW: “We’re Sorry, This Number Has Been Disconnected” by E. A. Brenner

Review of E. A. Brenner, “We’re Sorry, This Number Has Been Disconnected,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Misogyny, harassment, attempted rape.

Indira Chant does no one favors and is friends with no one and I loved her from the very first paragraph. She’ll never live up to the magical powers of her sister (Jorie, who is off on her “labyrinth year”, a great alternative to the more prosaic gap year most students get), and now she needs her sister’s help — but Jorie hasn’t answered her phone in two weeks.

So instead, Indira, who is friends with no one, has to for the first time in her life make an alliance with someone other than her sister. Ella wants to learn magic, and wants to escape having to go to prom with Chris. Indira is ready to help her with both. It’s a good, fierce story of women supporting and uplifting women.

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