Review of Mary Jo Rabe, “Rodney’s Request,” Luna Station Quarterly 56 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story about a Scottish unicorn visiting Iowa (a state I know well through my husband, also an Iowa State alumni!) made me laugh, which was exactly the tonic I needed amidst some dark times. Sometimes, I am incredibly grateful that short fiction is a thing, and that places like LSQ and authors like Rabe make it so easy for us to have.
Review of Maria Paige Brekke, “Merry Go,” Luna Station Quarterly 56 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I’m not sure if this story was intended to be horror or humor, but I will say this: I’ll certainly think twice the next time I get on a carousel horse!
Review of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Aysel K. Basci (trans.), “Of Tales and Dreams,” Flash Fiction Online (August 2023): 19-21 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a parent.
This is a meandering story, starting here and moving to there, and then to elsewhere, with no underlying sense of narrative, just the reflections of someone who grew up beside the Tigris and both cannot imagine ever leaving and yet yearns to be free. There’s a lot of lush imagery in it, and I felt I got to know the narrator quite well even in such a short excerpt.
(Original published in Hikayeler (Short Stories / Evin Sahibi), Dergah Yayinlari, Istanbul 1983.)
Review of Phoenix Alexander, “Nancy Shreds the Clouds,” Flash Fiction Online (August 2023): 11-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Domestic abuse.
This was a strange little story. Starting off as it did, the story of a lonesome, friendless child who quickly learned that being good meant being alone, it ended up not in some righteous justification of taking the high road, but in a raw, sordid triumph.
Review of M. C. Benner Dixon, “Let the Field Burn,” Flash Fiction Online (August 2023): 7-9 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a parent.
There was something really beautiful in this story about just how ordinary it was. Clearing out a house after the death of a parent. The teen who’d been co-opted into mowing the lawn. The minutiae of life and death. But one of the best thing about fiction, about telling stories, is how the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Dixon nailed that, in this lovely little tale.
Review of Davida Kilgore, “My Dear, My Love,” Fantasy Magazine 94 (August 2023): 10-20 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a frank, intimate story of queer Black love. The fantastical element is simultaneous slight and integral.
Review of Hana Lee, “Bari and the Resurrection Flower,” Fantasy Magazine 94 (August 2023): 25-33 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is exactly the sort of story I want to read — steeped in a culture and mythos that I am not so familiar with (Korean) combined with overt and explicit nonbinary characters. I’d love to see this turned into a movie, or a TV series.
Review of David Goodman, “Such Is My Idea Of Happiness”, Clarkesworld Issue 205, October (2023): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A very timely story about wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few. Actually, there are very few instances where such a story would not be timely!
When you’re too tired, you have no energy to think. Without original thought, you cannot uplift yourself.
This is true for oppressed and exploited people across the globe, across time. This particular story is set in a future London, with the city and the world being so different from what it is today, and heartbreakingly similar in a few terrible ways.
Stepping out of your comfort zone may bring you peace and contentment, but it’s so hard to step out. Even if your current situation is not ideal, it’s still better than an unknown future, right? There is fear and the people with power exploit that fear. It’s an age old game, and the powerful players keep winning.
But sometimes, there’s a revolution. And sometimes, the good guys might just win.
Review of Lavie Tidhar, “The Blaumilch”, Clarkesworld Issue 205, October (2023): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A lovely story of self discovery and finding joy. Or is it a science fiction story about future generations living on Mars, and how humans adjusted to life there? Or maybe it’s about how things change so much, but still remain the same in so many ways?
This story is about all those things. It is also about a canal and a man who digs it. Whatever perspective you choose to read this story from, it’s going to be enjoyable.
If you let it just unfold in all it’s glory, you’re in for a treat. Such depth and heart in this one.
Review of Rachael K. Jones, “How My Sister Talked Me Into Necromancy During Quarantine,” Small Wonders no. 3 (September 2023): 22-23 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Everyone has at least one pandemic bad decision in their closet, whether it’s sourdough starter gone green or ordering jellybeans by the kilo from amazon. This is the perfect story for anyone who wants to feel a bit better about their own bad decision, which probably pales in comparison’s to Becca’s decision to let her sister Lila live with her during lockdown. Short, sweet, funny — a great antidote to plague blues.
SFF Reviews