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!

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REVIEW: “This is Why Magical Realism and Family Tree School Projects Shouldn’t Mix” by Abigail Guerrero

Review of Abigail Guerrero, “This is Why Magical Realism
and Family Tree School Projects Shouldn’t Mix,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 19-25 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I’m not sure if this was a ghost story, a fantasy story, a slipstream story, a magical realism story, or something else altogether, but I am sure it was A LOT of fun to read! And I loved the thread of something deeper and more serious that ran through it all: That we are not bound by our pasts and we are free to decide what our futures will be.

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REVIEW: “A Húlíjīng Always Keeps One Tail Hidden” by Melissa Ren

Review of Melissa Ren, “A Húlíjīng Always Keeps One Tail Hidden,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 51-54 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a sibling.

I adore stories that introduce me to the mythos of another culture, and that’s what I got from Ren’s story, which was rich and sumptuous and felt like it contained far more than its mere 4 pages. It was marvelous and unexpected.

(First published in Triangulation: Hospitium 2024.)

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REVIEW: “Remembering Dodem Ansibar” by Sam E. Sutin

Review of Sam E. Sutin, “Remembering Dodem Ansibar,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 13-16 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I adored reading Ansibar’s obituary — and then reading it again, and then again for the third time! This was delightfully fun.

(P.S. SM, if you’re reading this, I’m a logic professor who ALSO enjoys the Axiom of Choice, and would be happy to chat about the job market.)

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REVIEW: “You Are Invited to Our SPRING CELEBRATION” by Thoraiya Dyer

Review of Thoraiya Dyer, “You Are Invited to Our SPRING CELEBRATION”, Clarkesworld Issue 234, March (2026): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

A story that’s beautifully wild and familiar at the same time. 

One of those stories where you know the worldbuilding has been done so thoughtfully, yet the plot itself was not ignored in service of it. 

I really enjoyed the narrator’s voice and personality; in my opinion it was the cherry on top that made the story what it is.

Such a pleasure to read.

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REVIEW: “Private Cabin, Ocean View” by Jane Campbell

Review of Jane Campbell, “Private Cabin, Ocean View,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 55-76 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Infertility.

Stories often give off certain signs, usually signalling their genre, early on. Campbell’s story is long enough that she keeps her cards quite close to her chest for quite a while (comparatively, for a short story) — my first guess was that this was going to be a ghost story, then it took a turn that felt like it was heading towards horror. It took a further turn some time after that, while keeping the earlier elements, all woven together. It was intriguing and unsettling!

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