REVIEW: “Lost and Found; Retreat and Return” by Emma Schmid

Review of Emma Schmid, “Lost and Found; Retreat and Return,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story made me explicitly realise something I’d noticed implicitly over the last year or two: There seems to be an increasing number of fantasy stories which revolve around a single character, alone, and reflective of her (almost always her!) circumstances. I wonder whether the isolation of the pandemic has contributed to the rise in both the writing and the publishing of this sort story, if we’ve sort of collectively forgotten what it is like to live in a bustling world with many people overlapping.

Told well, these stories can be incredibly enjoyable and rewarding — but they do tend to blur together, and feel all of a same piece. The beginning of Schmid’s story was just that: Well crafted, but very similar to some of the others in this same issue of LSQ. However, when the second character finally showed up, then things started getting interesting and by the end I was well sucked in.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Of Wood and Flame” by Anna Madden

Review of Anna Madden, “Of Wood and Flame,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There’s plenty of stories out there about foundling children raised by animals, but much fewer about foundling children raised by trees. I would have liked to know a bit more about how Holly ended up abandoned in the forest, and how Fossil knew about her past; but these are minor quibbles about an otherwise enjoyable story. Plus: a bonus dragon!

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Linden’s Legends” by ZQ Taylor

Review of ZQ Taylor, “Linden’s Legends,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a slow, meandering story, a series of excerpts told from the point of view of a linden tree. I think I would have liked it more if the narrator had felt more tree-like, more foreign, less just an ordinary character. But there were bits in it that I really loved, such as the love between the tree and two lovers who courted within its branches. It felt so very joyous and pure.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Break Fresh Ground” by Callie S. Blackstone

Review of Callie S. Blackstone, “Break Fresh Ground,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The narrator’s grandmother has died, and bequeathed to her house, her two apple trees, and her store of herbs in the pantry. We the reader get to explore all three of these along with the narrator in this beautiful story of love and loss and memory, and the entwining of ancient Irish myth with modern Catholic ritual.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Beginning” by Katrina Carruth

Review of Katrina Carruth, “The Beginning,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There’s a nice mythological feel to this story, which is set “before the earth was your Earth and the heavens were your heavens,” and tells of a tree, born from a seed that fell from the stars and grew to be the mother of all life. It had the potential to be a neat story, but it was told in a rather heavy-handed and didactic way, which wasn’t entirely to my taste, and ended rather abruptly. It felt like a strong first draft, not quite honed to its best form.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Trimming of the Branches” by Ali Miller

Review of Ali Miller, “The Trimming of the Branches,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story was deftly written in order to allow two readings, one where it’s a straight-up dryadic sort of fantasy, and the other (which is how I preferred to take it) as a metaphor of the love between men and women and the land, a love that crosses and shifts and mutates over generations. It was a really lovely read.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Mother Tree” by Elana Gomel

Review of Elana Gomel, “The Mother Tree,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Non-consensual sex, non-consensual pregnancy.

This was definitely not the sort of story I was expecting, veering off from fantasy to flirt with horror — the horror of pregnancy as your child takes over your body and then your life; the horror of losing a mother; the horror of being trapped in one place, unable to speak, unable to escape.

I loved it.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment