Review of Glenna Turnbull, “Clouds in Her Eyes,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story reads like a fever-dream, so blurred are the lines between fantasy and reality, a taut narration of a woman imprisoned by her life for one moment becoming free. This is the sort of story I’d love to see fanart for!
Review of Clare Diston, “Dinner with Jupiter,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Another food-themed story from this issue of LSQ! This one was a story of the loneliness that many people felt during the Covid lockdowns, especially those who lived alone and felt their worlds contract around a single collection of rooms. In the midst of such isolation, the narrator reaches out and invites the planets to dinner, and finds a grain of hope.
Review of Agniezska Hałas, “The Best Piergoi in Kocierba,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I picked this story as the first to read from the most recent LSQ issue because I was hungry and because getting periogi of any quality where I live is quite an achievement. Hałas’s story had everything I wanted (other than actual pierogi): It’s a wonderful mix of fact and fairy tale, and the sense of groundedness and comfort that comes from a bowlful of pierogi permeates the entire thing. Hałas has a real touch with words evoking brilliant mental images — not easy to do in a reader who is mild aphantasia! So I was all the more impressed.
Review of MJ Gardner, “Leaf,” Luna Station Quarterly 20 (2014): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is an absolutely delightful story for anyone who ever talked to trees as a child.
Review of D.A. Xiaolin Spires, “Xiaolongbao: Soup Dumplings”, Clarkesworld Issue 180, September (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A bittersweet story of love, loss, longing and hope. Lyrical prose that sets the tone for the feel of the story as a whole, not just in terms of language.
There’s some magic and some science fiction, combining to make this heart-warming tale. The story revolves around two women who make xiaolongbao, for tradition, memory and umami.
The timeline of this story is set in a modern world, but the lovely prose gives us a timeless sort of feel. Very enjoyable story.
Review of Damon Shaw, “Air Kisses,” Flash Fiction Online 93 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
A swimmer steals a kiss with terrible consequences in this sharp, taught, tightly-written story.
(First published in The Touch of the Sea, Lethe Press, 2012.)
Review of Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu, “The Serpentine Band”, Clarkesworld Issue 179, August (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Clocking in at 18,500 words, this is a novella, and one of the longest ‘short stories’ I’ve ever read. A bit different narrative style than I have come to expect from short works of fiction, but probably only natural since it’s a longer format.
With that luxury of length comes the opportunity to create something greater and brighter, and Gu has done just that. A lovely tale full of evocative metaphors and haunting language (props to the translator too!) that combines the nature of space-time with spirituality and mythology.
The titular serpentine band is about a never-ending loop, creating the illusion of infinity. The father decides to build a garden, a gateway of sorts that follows the same structural rules of existence as the serpentine band. Both father and daughter deal with the knowledge, inferences, and possibilities very differently. They’re also brilliantly written characters. Set in a China of centuries ago, the setting, myth, and history played quite a role in shaping this story.
Having said that, this story took me a long, long while to read. It is written in such a way that you will likely end up in a similar place. The story is full of vignettes, meandering happenings, and the metaphors and haunting language I mentioned earlier. Due to this, I sometimes found that it may benefit from some editing. I still really did enjoy this slipstream novella, and if you have the time for it, or want to experience a uniquely set story – and a translated one at that – try this fantastic tale.
Review of Sylvia Heike, “The Bones and Their Girl,” Flash Fiction Online 93 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
When a story opens with someone discovering someone else’s bone collection, I’m not quite sure if it’s going to turn out to be a horror story or not!
This one is not. It’s a beautiful, sweet story, of Camille who is struggling to understand the herself that she has become as illness slowly takes over her, and Simon, who sees nothing but beauty in bones.
(Originally published in Syntax & Salt, 2019.)
Review of Kristina Ten, “All the Arms We Need,” Flash Fiction Online 93 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The premise of this story is simple: Sometimes, all we need is to be held, and sometimes two arms is not enough. What is better than two arms? Eight, of course, and better than that a thousand. What we learn in this exceedingly sweet story is that if an octopus is a better hugger than a human, a millipede is even better than an octopus.
Review of Leila Martin, “The Soul Catcher” Cossmass Infinities 5 (2021): Read or purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
In this story, the narrator catches souls the way that fishermen catch fish. There’s a lot of net repair and boat repair and stories of the ones that got away. And like real-world fishermen who are watching the decline of the ocean’s stock due to human involvement and climate change, the soul catcher here is faced with the concern that every day she’s catching fewer souls.
Told in a series of log entries, the story felt intimate and personal and each entry made me want to read the next, to find out, even if obliquely, what would happen. Good pacing, beautiful language, a wonderful ending — a pleasure to read!
SFF Reviews