REVIEW: “Spaghettification” by Lauren Ferebee

Review of Lauren Ferebee, “Spaghettification,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 195-205 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a parent.

As a story of negotiating grief and memory of a dead parent, I found this eerie and a bit creepy and full of sucker punch lines like: “This is about omission and lies and what is rightfully ours from our ancestors” (p. 200). It’s a story that demonstrates the power of fantasy fiction: It provides us with a way to navigate the unfathomable.

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REVIEW: “Time Surfing” by Isabel McKeough

Review of Isabel McKeough, “Time Surfing,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 135-140 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

While overall I enjoyed this meditative little story, I felt like it was a bit of a bait and switch: the opening paragraphs set up a promise of tapping into the temporal magic of books and libraries, but in the remainder, while there was definitely temporal magic, it was rooted in dreams, uncoupled from anything bookish. Still, I can’t criticize a story too much for not being the one I would’ve written from the same premise.

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REVIEW: “As Per My Last Email” by Eleanor Rasor

Review of Eleanor Rasor, “As Per My Last Email,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 47-80 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I loved every aspect of this story — from the recalled library books to the students moaning to each other about homework via text to the magical disaster — but mostly I loved the library romance (since my very own 20+ year marriage started as a library romance!). Want a wonderful pick-me-up? Read this story!!

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REVIEW: “The Last Birthday Cake” by KT Reed

Review of KT Reed, “The Last Birthday Cake,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 189-192 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

“Today, [Alex’s] only plan had been cake” (p. 190), which, objectively speaking, is an excellent plan, but not one that is likely to hold out well in the face of what the world has planned for instead. Still, cake is great motivation, and Alex’s triumph in the end is, like the cake itself, something to be savored.

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REVIEW: “The Unnamed City, As Seen at Three Points” by Adrian Ward

Review of Adrian Ward, “The Unnamed City, As Seen at Three Points,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 221-226 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There was something elusively beautiful about this story; it reminded me of the visceral feeling I got when I first visited Tiryns, in Greece. I’m not sure what really happened in it; I mostly just spent my reading time soaking it up. Which turn out, in the end, to be what the story itself was all about.

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