REVIEW: “Eclectibles” by K. Hartless

Review of K. Hartless, “Eclectibles,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

When the story started, I thought this was going to be something I’d really enjoy; but it ended up being a bit too moralising, about the virtues of reading vs. the vices of screens, which I found both irritating and a bit ironic considering that I was reading this story in an electronically published journal, on my screen! And then Hartless chose J.K. Rowling as an example of an author that should always be kept on hand — “So many everyday ailments can be solved with a dose of Potter.” In 2022, it’s no longer a neutral choice to pick a noteworthy transphobe. In the end, I was pretty profoundly disappointed to see such a story printed in LSQ, which normally is extremely reliable in the quality and satisfaction of its stories.

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REVIEW: “The Butterfly Eater” by Katherine Shats

Review of Katherine Shats, “The Butterfly Eater,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

What’s the best way to eat a butterfly? Well, “they have to be fresh or it’s so much harder to extract the hope.” Lines like this pepper this vaguely creepy little tale, always just close enough to normal for its weirdness to be unsettling. There’s something sacrilegious, the way the butterfly eater delights in her prey, and it’s wildly entrancing to read.

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REVIEW: “The Goddess of Fear” by Ivy Grimes

Review of Ivy Grimes, “The Goddess of Fear,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story had a typical generic-fantasy sort of feel to it, except for the choice of “fear” as the focal point for the titular goddess. I really enjoyed the way Grimes developed a liturgy and religion around fear, both receiving and destroying. So that was something a little bit different which made the rest of the story worth reading.

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REVIEW: “The Important Things” by Lisa Fox

Review of Lisa Fox, “The Important Things,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Melanie is back in her childhood home, grappling with grief at the death of her last parent, sorting out the remains into the memories, the useless, and the rest. But it isn’t just relicts of her parents that she fines, but of generations that have gone before, including one very particular memento of her grandmother’s, whose discovery changes the way she looks at her grief.

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REVIEW: “The Boy Who Cried Fish” by D. A. D’Amico

Review of D. A. D’Amico, “The Boy Who Cried Fish”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2022): 162–169 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Ijemma’s brother has discovered something astounding within the waters of Europa, but nobody in the expedition believes him. He is willing to risk his life to prove he is right.

D’Amico’s story suffers from prose that is a bit sloppy and redundant, though the action is narrated well enough to maintain the suspense. Indeed, the action is the centerpiece of the story, making the science fictional part – and the characters – feel a little like an afterthought. The story deserves credit for attempting to portray an autistic character in somewhat realistic fashion, though it’s not enough to make the characters likable or interesting.

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REVIEW: “Face” by Amy Mills Klipstine

Review of Amy Mills Klipstine, “Face,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

After intriguing opening paragraphs (which made me wonder if the story was intended to be a metaphor for plastic surgery), I found this story slow to get started and actually go anywhere. There was a lot of description and repetition; and overall, I think this just wasn’t the story for me.

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REVIEW: “Standard” by Thomas Webster

Review of Thomas Webster, “Standard”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2022): 153–156 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

A tech repairman helps a young woman maintain and enhance her artificial implants that enable her do her job. She keeps asking for more regardless of the dangers involved.

I always appreciate stories that are able to pack a lot of meaning in small amounts, and Webster’s story certainly fits into that category. The subjective narration has an unruly quality about it that helps get across the psychology of the narrator as he sees his younger self in his client and her inevitable demise. There’s an interesting contrast between a highly technological world and a simple life, and to what extend either path is a choice. Overall, an excellent and thought-provoking short story.

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REVIEW: “Philanderer” by Monica Joyce Evans

Review of Monica Joyce Evans, “Philanderer”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2022): 120–121 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

The main character explores one of the methane lakes of Titan using a powerful AI suit. Not everything goes as planned.

A very short story with a nice twist at the end, though everything is a bit too vague for my taste. The tight first person narration (along with the brevity of the story), while evocative, makes the prose somewhat hard to decipher. We’re never given a good explanation for what happens. Still, an enjoyable story.

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REVIEW: “Nirvana or Bust” by Michael Swanwick

Review of Michael Swanwick, “Nirvana or Bust”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2022): 49–53 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Huiling is a woman on the run wearing a sentient exoskeleton she calls Nirvana or Bust. One day she meets her old advisor, Catherine, who informs her that her assassin is on the way. Huiling must protect her revolutionary discovery from bother her human and AI pursuers.

In Nirvana or Bust, the author presents a highly automated world where the joining of natural and artificial intelligence is a massive leap forward – even though neither humans nor AI see it that way. This is by no means a new idea, and I’m not sure if the story adds anything new to it. Still, it is presented well and with immersive prose (particularly the dialogue), even if the ending is perhaps a bit too convenient.

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