Short Reviews of Short SFF
Review of Rebecca Schwarz, “The Gyre,” Luna Station Quarterly 21 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Part mermaid fairy tale, part commentary on the crisis of pollution in our seas, part “first-contact”, Schwarz’s story effectively wove togethre many different threads, and executed an unusual view-point shift. So many things to love about this story and how it was told.
Review of A.E. Ash, “Daughter of the Sun,” Luna Station Quarterly 21 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Dr. Lian Leandros is the only one left alive on the crippled space ship Aldebaran. Once she has sent out a distress signal, there is nothing left for her to do but wait.
It’s a premise that sets a story up for nothing happening: And yet, even though very little does happen in it, the way Ash brings the reader into Leandros’s world, helps us to understand her mind, is compelling and enjoyable, and in the end extremely beautiful.
Review of Leonid Kaganov, “I’m Feeling Lucky”, Clarkesworld Issue 178, July (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
What a fantastic story! I read it twice. Once really quickly because the story was super engaging, and the second time to just enjoy the details and savor the story. I’m usually a slow reader of short stories because I feel the medium deserves full attention to detail, but stories like this one come along where I just can’t help myself.
Time jumps through temporal clips form the basis of our protagonist’s story. He comes from a world where people started to take advantage of this fact, and rushed headlong into the future in order to arrive at a better world. A world that would be ready for them to enjoy, not really considering that there might be a not-so-great world waiting, not considering that maybe all the time jumps are making things worse.
It’s interesting to see where our protagonist ends up and the journey he takes to get there. A lovely little story.
Review of Sam Butler, “Sweet,” Luna Station Quarterly 21 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
If ever there were a “good” mood-altering drug, it would be Sweet: Non-addictive, no harmful side effects, no psychosis, no hallucinations, just: a feeling of happiness, of content, a sweet feeling. But of course, no such substance is ever going to be as good as it seems, and Sweet is no exception, as Charlie is about to find out after her childhood friend Charity takes the pill.
The strongest thread in this story is that of friendship, but it’s also a story that is reflective of a deeply unhappy society.
Review of Erin Kennemer, “Another Young Girl,” Luna Station Quarterly 21 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Top rate Baba Yaga story here, it kept me on my toes, never guessing what might happen next. And Mila is more than just “another young girl,” she manages to be a fairy tale heroine without being a trope.
Review of Kim Mary Trotto, “The Gold Fish,” Luna Station Quarterly 21 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There aren’t enough mermaids stories where the mermaids are in fact hideous sirens. Top marks to this one for being one! Well done, full of delicious creepiness and a tinge of horror.
Review of Tina Shelton, “Bits & Pieces,” Luna Station Quarterly 22 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Systemic misogyny; racial stereotypes.
Heelee is a member of the Chiaxxa Bia, the one all-woman warrior caste that devotes its life to the defense of the people against smugglers and other raiders. Despite a life bend on killing and destruction, she one day saves the life of an innocent baby, and in return is exiled by the Chiaxxa Bia. In the end, a man comes in and rescues her, and takes her away to a new life.
I was a bit disappointed in this story, mostly because it reinforced the trope of a “strong woman character” being one who fights, who kicks and bites, who is feared. There is a place for women like that, but if that’s the only notion of “strong woman” that a story contains, I always come away a bit sad. It also felt weighed down by all the worldbuilding, which had to be established before the story itself could even begin. It just didn’t work for me.
Review of Ashley M. Hill, “Her Data Like Fingerprints,” Luna Station Quarterly 22 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I was intrigued by this story right from its very excellent title. In this story, Mary Morales has been called in to see if she can help repair the arX AI that her parents created when she was a child. It’s a very simple, spare story: a conversation between Mary and arX. But in the span of that conversation Hill gives us a glimpse into Mary’s familial bonds, her childhood, her complicated relationship with the arX, as well as forces us to grapple with the question of the boundaries of AI. Really enjoyable (even if a bit sad, too)!
Review of Jayne Moore Waldrop, “Tidings,” Luna Station Quarterly 22 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Infertility; racism.
This was a sensitive, delicately written story revolving around Ruthie, and her struggle to conceive with her husband Joe, and her great-aunt Astrid, who too had faced barrenness all her life. When Ruthie receives a phone call that Astrid has died, aged 92, neither she nor the reader expect what follows afterwards at all. I spent much of the story anxiously awaiting the resolution, utterly unable to predict it, and if I didn’t quite get what I was waiting for, I got a very sweet happy ending.
Review of Samantha Murray, “Preserved in Amber”, Clarkesworld Issue 178, July (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Spaceships are always a great way to start a story, but this ship is a bit different. It looks different, it’s goal is different, and it communicates differently.
We switch between two points of view – one is of a scientist trying to decipher the message coming from the spaceship, the other is another scientist farther in the future who has a different task at hand.
Memory is a strong part of this story, seeping into feelings, thoughts and conversations for both women. Another tale from this Clarkesworld issue about the transient nature of time, with the emphasis here being on the transient nature of humans in time. Longing, memory, and feelings collide to make this a powerful novelette.
SFF Reviews