Review of Avra Margariti, “Robot, Changeling, Ghost,” Flash Fiction Online 140 (May 2025): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a child; child abuse.
I’m always excited when I see an Avra Margariti byline, as I know I’m in for something satisfying and probably unusual. This story is particularly dark, bordering on horror, full of hurt and loss and longing. It’s also disconcerting enough that I’d like to say: Read with care.
Review of Avra Margariti, “All the Dead Girls, Singing,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 31-33 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Violence against women.
The story of Fairview, whose dead girls congregate by the edge of the lake, is raw and harsh and rough. On the one hand, it’s superficially a ghost story. On the other hand, it’s definitely not that, it’s a story of violence against women, and about the men who perpetrate it.
Read with care/caution.
(First published in Coppice and Brake 2020.)
Review of Avra Margariti, “Visiting” Tree and Stone 1 (2022): 19-23 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Calla and her mother, Lily, (both named by Lily’s mother), are on their way to visit their grandmother, in a story full of the complications of multi-generational relationships. Viewed from one angle, everything about this story is surreal, from the Chinese dragon airplane to the half-demon cat in the seat in from of Calla, but from another angle, it is as real and as ordinary as every day life. Margariti handled the juxtaposition deftly, making for a very satisfying read.
Review of Avra Margariti, “When I’m Thirty I Receive a Box Full of Your Steel Bones,” Radon Journal 3 (January 2023): 54 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The title is itself almost a flash fic story, and it sets up a lot of pressure on the rest of the poem to rise to the occasion. We don’t find out who “you” is until the end of the first stanza, and the reveal makes sense of the title. I almost think the poem would’ve been stronger ending there; the second stanza felt a little unnecessary, to me.
(First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction
Review of Avra Margariti, “Eight Dwarfs on Planet X,” Radon Journal 3 (January 2023): 52-53 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I’m never quite sure if I like SF poetry, but if all SF poetry were like this poem by Margariti, then I definitely would. It struck the perfect balance of poetry and story, and was very definitely SF without needing to rely on spaceships or stars. The fact that it’s a retelling of a classic fairy tale is just an added bonus.
Review of Avra Margariti, “The Lotus Wife”, Luna Station Quarterly 43 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This ethereal little tale reminded me quite a bit of the traditional Japanese fairy tale “The Crane Wife”.
SFF Reviews