Review of Morgan Lockhart, “All Creatures,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 15-24 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The thing about being a vet is that you have to treat all creatures — and the thing about being a druid is that these creatures might not always be animals. This is a story I’ll definitely be recommending to my veterinary friends!
Review of M.J. Jones, “Sunk Cost Fallacy,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 55-71 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The opening paragraphs of this story were immediately gripping — taut, unsure, full of more questions than answers, but not so vague as to be annoying.
When the scene shifted and I found out this was a selkie story, I was immediately cautious (I’ve read far more ordinary, boring, common selkie stories than I have distinctive and interesting ones). The fact that it was a “selkie life in the time of copycat selkie-wannabe TicToc influencers” story went some way towards reassuring me, as this is definitely not a take I’ve read before.
In the end, this story was nothing like any selkie story I’ve read before, except, perhaps, that in its bones its a story of loss. There are, on the face of it, two relationships lost in this story; the one that hurt me the most, as a reader, is perhaps not the one you might expect.
Review of Valerie Hunter, “Secrets of the Goblin Market,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 39-52 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I do enjoy a goblin market story, but something struck me when reading this one, which is that all too often “goblin market” is all we are told about the setting, never anything about who the goblins are, or where they came from, why they run markets, or even whether the people shopping there are goblins themselves, or not. Too often, goblin market stories seem to just rely on the phrase evoking a setting by stirring up in the reader hazy memories of Rossetti’s poem.
Not so Hunter’s: A goblin market was specifically, carefully chosen as the appropriate setting for the story of Min, and her grandmother, and how Min decided to break all her grandmother’s rules. A sweet, satisfying story.
Review of Kate Francia, “Small Prayers for the God of Sow Thistle Hill,” Flash Fiction Online 147 (December 2025): 26-28 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The theme of this story felt eerily similar to that of Matt Dovey’s in the same issue, but instead of feeling repetitious, it felt like the two stories reinforced and supported each other. The lesson in both of them — told here in a sweet, sorrowful, almost wistful way — is one that often needs to be said over and over and over again before people will listen, so I’m pleased that FFO’s editors opted for including both of these.
Review of M. R. Robinson, “Ornithogonia, or Five Featherings,” Flash Fiction Online 147 (December 2025): 11-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a story of petty vengeance wrecked on someone just because they dared to fall in love. While I can sort of understand and see what the author was trying to do, the entire premise just sort of rankled with me.
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.
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.
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!
Review of Mizuki Yamagen, “The Last Ofuton in Orbit,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 11-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Love something long enough, and it will develop a soul — that’s the crux of this sweet, and sometimes sad, little story. I thought it was really beautiful.
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.
SFF Reviews