REVIEW: “The Beginning” by Katrina Carruth

Review of Katrina Carruth, “The Beginning,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There’s a nice mythological feel to this story, which is set “before the earth was your Earth and the heavens were your heavens,” and tells of a tree, born from a seed that fell from the stars and grew to be the mother of all life. It had the potential to be a neat story, but it was told in a rather heavy-handed and didactic way, which wasn’t entirely to my taste, and ended rather abruptly. It felt like a strong first draft, not quite honed to its best form.

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REVIEW: “The Trimming of the Branches” by Ali Miller

Review of Ali Miller, “The Trimming of the Branches,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story was deftly written in order to allow two readings, one where it’s a straight-up dryadic sort of fantasy, and the other (which is how I preferred to take it) as a metaphor of the love between men and women and the land, a love that crosses and shifts and mutates over generations. It was a really lovely read.

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REVIEW: “Other Stories” by Wang Yuan

Review of Wang Yuan, “Other Stories”, Clarkesworld Issue 183, December (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

A fascinating novelette about fiction and time travel and how it comes together in lovely, strange ways. This is a story I read twice, simply because it had so much depth that I had to go back. After the first read, things are revealed, and I immediately started it again, knowing the plot and hence being able to connect the dots better, seeing phrases in a new light.

You can tell that this was quite intricately written, and it’s one of those stories you can keep revisiting. Highly recommend.

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REVIEW: “The Mother Tree” by Elana Gomel

Review of Elana Gomel, “The Mother Tree,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Non-consensual sex, non-consensual pregnancy.

This was definitely not the sort of story I was expecting, veering off from fantasy to flirt with horror — the horror of pregnancy as your child takes over your body and then your life; the horror of losing a mother; the horror of being trapped in one place, unable to speak, unable to escape.

I loved it.

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REVIEW: “Beech, Please” by Maria Paige Brekke

Review of Maria Paige Brekke, “Beech, Please,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

After a decade of running a body-carving shop for dryads (basically the tree equivalent of tattoos), Rhiannon comes to realise that she’s become…normal. ordinary. part of the establishment. the “safe” option. Better that than burning childish designs into their bark like her competitor Eric, or so she tells herself. Anything is better than leaving her customers to Eric’s services. So of course, we the readers are not surprised at all when Rhiannon and Eric get thrown into a fix that they can only solve together.

This story wins the “best title” award for this (tree-themed) issue of LSQ, so of course I had to start with it. I’m delighted to say the story itself lived up to the promise of its title — snappy, full of humor, putting a smile on my face in every paragraph.

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