REVIEW: “The Last Wake” by Kathryn Keane

Review of Kathryn Keane, “The Last Wake,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a parent.

Paul’s mother has died and he has returned to the house that now belongs to his sister Margaret, and every intimate scene that the reader sees is one filled with all the love and dysfunctionality of a small-town Irish family — right up until the point that Paul gets talking with a self-described “bit of a blow-in” and the bit of me that always reads stories waiting for the speculative twist perks up. And I was right: Bridie McCafferty is everything this story needs to turn it from mundane to fantastical. It was a slow, subtle twist, but fine and bittersweet and just a little bit happy.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “External Processors” by Sherry Yuan

Review of Sherry Yuan, “External Processors,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I really enjoyed this particular take on the notion of the “extended mind” — the idea that we think with more than just our brain, but also with parts of our environment. Not many people in Nolan’s class are lucky enough to get an ExP — an external processor. After getting one for his 12th birthday, he’s the envy of all his classmates. But the other side of his good fortune is a much darker one. I’m not sure whether this story is SF or horror, but whatever the genre: It’s one of those stories that feels all too real, and hence was very good.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Misrule” by Fiona Moore

Review of Fiona Moore, “Misrule,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Misrule is a multifaceted entity in this story — both the time of year when the Lord of Misrule holds court, but also the court itself, and the chaos that results from it. When Mary faces Misrule, it’s in the form of the wanton destruction of her mother’s livelihood, and it’s an enemy that she cannot fight. For as the Vicar says, “There’s always Misrule. It’s a way of letting go of the pain of the other fifty weeks of the year.”

This was a timely and thought-provoking story. Reading it, I couldn’t help but think of the recent protests in the UK, arising out of the myriad crises facing the ordinary people. They’re protests now, but how many tomorrows will it be before they are riots? Before we have our own form of Misrule? Maybe the Vicar is right: set aside twelve days each year for destruction, and maybe we can survive the rest of the year. Or maybe Mary is right, and rather than trying to endure it we must undo the very foundations on which Misrule is built. I’m not sure I’m convinced Mary’s solution is one that can be applied more generally, but it was certainly interesting to read it play out.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “There is a Cottage by the Woods” by Rebecca Burton

Review of Rebecca Burton, “There is a Cottage by the Woods,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story started off with a long enough pre-amble in italics that I actually quit reading and scrolled down because I wondered if the formatting in the story had gone wrong and an <i> tag hadn’t gotten closed. But, nope: There’s just a really long info-dump pre-amble in italics at the very beginning.

What came after that info-dump was a lovely pleasant read, though; it makes me wish an editor had suggested just getting rid of it altogether and starting the story at the point where it really started.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Witch and the Water” by Ashley Libey

Review of Ashley Libey, “The Witch and the Water,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Bee once visited the witch in the water and came back with a spell that didn’t work; now she’s come back to beg for a second chance: It’s a quick summary for what is at times a rather stretched-out, sometimes plodding, story. I felt like I would have enjoyed this better if it had been about half the length — and if it weren’t quite so moralizing.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Fishbone” by CL Glanzing

Review of CL Glanzing, “Fishbone,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a parent.

Hannah and her family — two brothers, a mother, (maybe a father but we never hear about him) — lived on a poisoned island, a place no one ever visited and people only left never to come back. She was there to witness the final airplane that left, taking away the last people who would ever escape. Her story is bloody, visceral, and sad, in ways I did not expect, and threaded through and through with a horrible, malicious religion. A chilling but very good read.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Anwen’s Song, Efa’s Shoes, and the Halls in the Hills” by Rebecca Harrison

Review of Rebecca Harrison, “Anwen’s Song, Efa’s Shoes, and the Halls in the Hills,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This rather overburdened title accompanied a rather verbose and somewhat lyrical story, kicking off in a chanting sort of rhythm instructing me to do all sorts of things — the sort of opening that always puts me on edge. But if you don’t mind this style of writing, then here’s a little tale with a whole load of Welsh-fairy-tale influences for you.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Redbean” by Dixon March

Review of Dixon March, “Redbean,” Luna Station Quarterly 51 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Larron is pregnant and on probation, her movements, her choices, her life restricted. When her story opens, it is entirely ordinary — up until the moment she finds a package of redbeans, tucked away forgotten on a grocery store shelf. Immediately things shift into the realm of the speculative, in a way that made me anxious with anticipation to find out what’s so special about these redbeans, and how they will change her life (because of course they will. That’s how stories work). I thought I’d get a fairy tale ending; instead I got a horror story!

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment