REVIEW: “Gifts From On High” by V. H. Chen

Review of V. H. Chen, “Gifts From On High,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 36-43 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

It’s amazing how effectively a series of text messages can convey the fraught relationship between a parent and a grandparent with respect to a child. It’s also amazing how effectively a series of text messages can convey, alternatingly: annoyance, overinvolvement, smugness, concern, humor, and panic. I laughed and laughed by the end of this delightful little sweet story.

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REVIEW: “Loxley is One Thousand Bats” by Camsyn Clair

Review of Camsyn Clair, “Loxley is One Thousand Bats,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 33-35 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Self-harm.

The thousand bats are a metaphor, and at the start of the story I worried that it might end up being a too-heavy-handed one. That worry was not founded; the story developed to focus on the story, rather than the metaphor, and so ultimately the entire thing worked for me.

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REVIEW: “The Tao of Thorsten Codbiter” by Kate Horsley

Review of Kate Horsley, “The Tao of Thorsten Codbiter,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 29-31 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

…plus the back has a cut-out coupon for ten free Vikings with the purchase of every genuine Ox-horn drinking vessel (p. 29).

I love it when within the first five sentences of a story, I already know I will love it.

As Tom tries to bring his mom around to the idea of sharing her house with Agmundr, Gorm, Frode, Thorstein, Bodil, and five other Vikings, I laughed and laughed and laughed. As the ten of them surround Tom with support as his mother faces her final dies, I wanted to cry along with them, while Horsley’s final line is exactly the right way to end this story. A delightful morsel of a masterpiece. More stories like this, please.

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REVIEW: “Unfinished Conversations Package” by Chris Baker

Review of Chris Baker, “Unfinished Conversations Package,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 20-28 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

As Dan Kalder tries to find closure with the death of his father, we as the reader get taken on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster — laughter, annoyance, tears, and a bit of shock. On the one hand, I appreciated the dexterity with which this story was constructed. On the other hand, the central conceit of that construction rests upon technology whose use in any form I struggle to get behind, so as a story that uses it uncritically, it ended up not sitting very well with me. (This isn’t to say that I think Baker used genAI to write the story, not the least; just that its use in the story meant the story didn’t work for me.)

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REVIEW: “A Proper Mother, Unhexed” by Ashlee Lhamon

Review of Ashlee Lhamon, “A Proper Mother, Unhexed,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 16-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh my goodness, this was absolutely adorable. Also, when I first glanced at the title I read it as “A Proper Mother, Perplexed,” (and my smug response was “ah, I must be a proper mother, because I’m almost always perplexed”) — which turns out would also have been a suitable title for this story!

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REVIEW: “Ursula” by E. M. Linden

Review of E. M. Linden, “Ursula,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story is heavily, and sometimes heavy-handedly, metaphoric. It’s about parenting, and choices, and who gets to decide what is “best” when parents say they only want what’s best for their child. It’s mostly sad, but there is a breath left at the end which gives space for hope that good choices will be made this time, that a better “best” is found.

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REVIEW: “Terra” by Laura Stone

Review of Laura Stone, “Terra,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 265-285 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a long, reflective story, centered around the musings of a single, solitary character — Cass’s shipmate Simms died before we, the reader, ever met her — which is a narrative structure that I think is difficult to pull off: It’s hard to keep the pace from dragging. It took more than half the story for events to begin, and even then, they seemed to take forever. As a consequence, when the horror elements kicked in, I ended up more bored than scared. This one just wasn’t for me.

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REVIEW: “The Visitor” by Frances Koziar

Review of Frances Koziar, “The Visitor,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 337-361 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Once I got past the rather info-dump-y first few pages, this story really drew me in. I’m a sucker for university scholars off doing research, no matter what arcane subject, and I enjoyed the easy naturalness that lay between Annaz, the scholar, and Kiava, the local who became his guide. For a comparatively long story, the pages slipped away quickly beneath my eyes, especially as I reached the excessively sweet and excessively satisfying resolution.

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REVIEW: “HeartsEase” by Brittany Hague

Review of Brittany Hague, “HeartsEase,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 203-221 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There was a lot of info-dumping in order to get us up to speed on all the necessary background, which rather dragged the pace of the story down. On the other hand, it’s fun to see a ghost story which is closer to the SF family than the F family.

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