Review of Trevor Cunnington, “The Rag Pickers of Asteroid 482,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 57-58 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This poem felt very much like a flash fic story that had been reformatted to become a poem, which is a bit unfortunate — because as a poem it was a bit underwhelming, but a story, I think it would’ve really intriguing and engaging!
Review of Vincent Endwell, “The World Has Been This Way For a Long Time,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 44-47 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This title intrigued me, as there was a delightful ambiguity in what it is signalling — would this be a happy story or a sad one? It could be either!
And then it turned out to almost be neither, rather instead it was mostly a quiet story, “speculative” in the sense that the narrator spent a lot of time wondering what if, what if, what if. But at the end, there is definitely some solace that we as the reader can take away.
Review of David Lee Zweifler, “Dad Jokes,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 35 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
At one page, Zweifler set expectations high before I even started reading it: You’ve really got to nail it, in such a short space. Between the title, and the opening lines that are filled with grief and uncertainty, I wasn’t sure if I was going to end up wholly let down by the end.
And I so wasn’t. That finally line brought a slightly anxious, slightly sad story into something flooded with hope.
Review of Aeryn Rudel, “Thicker Than Water,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 26-28 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a gruesome little gem of a story, set in a apocalyptic world; or perhaps our own world, in just a few decades’ time — you decide how soon you think global warming will suck us all dry and leave humans competing not only with animals for water, but also with the trees!
Review of Eleanor Lennox, “The Fish in the Garden,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 13-19 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death, and the aftermath of death.
I love stories that focus on the day-to-day, the mundane, the almost-humdrum; there’s enough high-stakes terror in the real world nowadays that I don’t need that in my fiction, too. This story was a perfect example of the former, a quiet meander through the details of life during the 11-year trip to Titan, full of exquisite little snapshots and so sad. What a beautifully put together story this was.
SFF Reviews