Review of Angela Liu, “Fernie,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 32-43 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
With time travel, dinosaurs, and sentient plants, this fun little story didn’t bother taking itself too seriously.
REVIEW: “Madam Strzyga’s Pagan Pest Control” by Katharine Tyndall
Review of Katharine Tyndall, “Madam Strzyga’s Pagan Pest Control,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 27-31 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
“Catholic solutions won’t work for pagan problems,” Madam Strzyga tells an anxious client (p. 29), in this funny little story that’s almost noteworthy for how mundane it is considering how fantastical it is. Pests are pests, whether they are natural or supernatural, I guess!
REVIEW: “The Place of Oblation” by Deborah L. Davitt
Review of Deborah L. Davitt, “The Place of Oblation,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 146-150 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a lovely little story, recommended for anyone who likes stories about aliens or stories about archaeology, or, even better, stories about both.
REVIEW: “Raze My Brain, Open My Eyes” by Faith Allington
Review of Faith Allington, “Raze My Brain, Open My Eyes,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 135-136 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
If this story hadn’t been so short, it could perhaps have been more than simply a “bad-break-up-story,” but as an example of this genre, it at least involves someone choosing to turn their wallowing pain into a positive outcome.
REVIEW: “What Any Dead Thing Wants” by Aimee Ogden
Review of Aimee Ogden, “What Any Dead Thing Wants,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 72-109 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was exceptionally long, meaning I kept putting it off whenever I’d sit down to read and review a story because I didn’t have the time.
I finally did today, and the story completely repaid what I spent on it. At the end, I find it hard to know what to say about it, other than echo Hob when he says that “he would have known what to do, if there were obvious bad guys” (p. 103). It’s a story where there’s no good moves, even when there are moves that are right, and it ends up being really, really sad.
(First published on psychopomp.com, 2024)
REVIEW: “What a Name Does is Let You Leave” by Meagan Kane
Review of Meagan Kane, “What a Name Does is Let You Leave,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 55-69 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m very deeply not a fan of 2nd person POV; unfortunately, that dislike is compounded when the POV is that of someone who is so obviously not me that the cognitive incongruence of being continually told that it is me overwhelms everything else.
Which is a shame, because I think told in a different perspective, I might have really enjoyed this story. Instead, I enjoyed it more in spite of itself, rather than because of it. There was a beautiful depth of longing threading through all of it which kept me reading on.
REVIEW: “Hunter Mother Sailor Wife” by Catherine Taveres
Review of Catherine Taveres, “Hunter Mother Sailor Wife,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 114-119. — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
As a fellow mother who flat-out refused to give up her pre-motherhood identity upon having a child (and who strongly feels she’s a better mother because of that refusal…), my heart went out to Cara in the opening pages of this story. I was so pleased by the outcome, and the way it was facilitated by the people around her.
Honestly one of the best stories I’ve read in ages. Gold stars all around, for Cara, for Jothi, for Taveres, for every lucky reader who gets to read this story.
REVIEW: “A Place to Grow” by Sarah Grace Tuttle
Review of Sarah Grace Tuttle, “A Place to Grow,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 121. — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Short and sweet and strangely hopeful, this story was a perfect little dose of a pick-me-up!
REVIEW: “To Devour Your Own Name” by Katlina Sommerberg
Review of Katlina Sommerberg, “To Devour Your Own Name,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 110-113 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I found the central metaphor in this story a bit too strong, a bit too overt. But there are probably other people out there, still struggling to come to terms with how their identity clashes with what people say their identity should be, who would appreciate the power of the message of this story.
REVIEW: “The Soundtrack of My Afterlife” by P. A. Cornell
Review of P. A. Cornell, “The Soundtrack of My Afterlife,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 26-47 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: attempted rape.
“Then I died and became a car” (p. 26).
Sometimes, all it takes is one sentence in the opening page to make me know I’m going to love a story. That was this sentence for this story!
And I did love it. I’m of an age where the soundtrack of the narrator’s afterlife was also the soundtrack of my childhood, and of the songs I’m sharing with my own kid. Nothing like a good dose of nostalgia! But I also loved Cornell’s delicate touch in this coming-of-age story, and how realistic it felt. Honestly, this should be a movie!
SFF Reviews 