REVIEW: “The Tree of Life in Lisbon” by O. J. Cade

Review of O. J. Cade, “The Tree of Life in Lisbon,” Luna Station Quarterly 23 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Cade used a story structure that I hadn’t ever encountered before, each different scene/setting being prefaced with a parenthetical description. It was a bit odd in the first instance, but as soon as I hit the second one I was immediately “oooh, I want to see how the same characters and issues will unfold in each different setting,” so it proved to be effective. And so we see Eve, over and over again, in each of her different gardens, in Lisbon, in Jerusalem, in Alexandria, in Athens and elsewhere, as she continually plants “one creation at a time”. The result is an intriguing portrait of one of the most written-about women in history, and one that feels novel and fresh.

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REVIEW: “Brother, Unseen” by Sylvia Heike

Review of Sylvia Heike, “Brother, Unseen,” Luna Station Quarterly 23 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh, my goodness, this was a masterclass of a story. Short, effective, beautiful language, an amazing setting and scene. It left me hungering for me, I want to read a full novel set in this world, with these characters. Just about perfection — stories like this are what make reading through the archives so worthwhile.

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REVIEW: “His Soul” by Cathrin Hagey

Review of Cathrin Hagey, “His Soul,” Luna Station Quarterly 23 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There are a lot of lovely fairy tale elements in this story, as well as echoes of the myth of Narcissus, but also a lot of patriarchal stereotyping with an underlying misogyny.

I would love to have been able to enjoy this story, but it just failed to push the boundaries in the way it maybe could have.

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REVIEW: “Diamond Cuts” by Shaoni C. White

Review of Shaoni C. White, “Diamond Cuts”, Uncanny Magazine Issue 41 (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Isabel Hinchliff.

The first person protagonist of “Diamond Cuts” is magically forced to perform in a two-person play where they must act out real, physical harm. When their former partner dies, their new partner, a hasty replacement with more knowledge of the outside world, makes a plan to break the spell and leave the theater. But his plan might be more likely to kill them than save them, and even if they succeed, it will have far-reaching consequences…

The story begins with a sparkling, visceral paragraph about the narrator eating a star: plucking it from the sky, biting down, and spitting out “shards of glass coated in spittle and blood.” It is terribly beautiful and remains my favorite part of the piece. From that point on, I was a little disappointed in the main plotline of the story and particularly in its conclusion. I was getting ready for an expansive space opera narrated by some sentient heavenly body that could (masochistically) consume stars, but I was given a play about magic, a story trapped within the four walls of a theater house. This subversion of expectations feels deliberate: it brings the reader into the magic of the theater for a moment, since they assume the events of the play are a real part of the story. Still, that opening set up an expectation that I felt wasn’t quite fulfilled. While the physical pain and danger of our narrator’s acting comes up throughout the piece, I wanted more exploration of what it meant to them and why it had to exist in this world. 

Without giving away the exact events of the ending, it leaves many possibilities open and revolves around a theme that doesn’t have a lot of relevance to the rest of the story. It’s just classic; you’ve likely read some version of it before. I wanted more.

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REVIEW: “The Graveyard” by ​​Eleanor Arnason

Review of ​​Eleanor Arnason, “The Graveyard”, Uncanny Magazine Issue 41 (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Isabel Hinchliff.

When Magnus Thorvaldsson, a Lutheran Icelandic-American, profanes a pagan graveyard with a Christain cross, the angry ghosts come clamoring to haunt a nearby farmer, Atli. Will he be able to appease the ghosts? More importantly, will he be able to appease Magnus as well?

This contemplative and humorous ghost story was a nice light read after some of the more tear-jerking and action-packed stories in this issue. While it is a little formulaic, it holds hidden gems: sprinkles of Icelandic culture, history, and literature that support the story and weave in unique elements. Between Atli’s droll, practical comments and the slightly bratty ghosts, it put a smile on my face many times. 

The story is told from the perspective of an Icelandic-American narrator rediscovering stories about her ancestral homeland, yet it features a stereotypical wealthy, meddlesome Icelandic-American character. Indirectly, it asks interesting questions. How are people raised in privileged America perceived when they try to learn about their ancestral cultures? Is there a way to do this appropriately and respectfully? While the story only hints at answers to these questions, the judgemental voices of Atli’s distant ancestors provide a fascinating backdrop for this exploration.

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REVIEW: “The Wishing Pool” by Tananarive Due

Review of Tananarive Due, “The Wishing Pool”, Uncanny Magazine Issue 41 (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Isabel Hinchliff.

When Joy visits her ailing father in the family cabin that she lived in as a child, she is forced to confront her memories about a small puddle in the forest that seemed to grant wishes in unexpected and sometimes tragic ways. Now that she’s an adult, Joy knows that the pool doesn’t really have any power, but is she desperate enough to wish for something anyway?

This heart-wrenching story confronts the realities of ageing parents head-on. While it’s definitely not a lighthearted read, I would recommend it for those who would like a more gritty and realistic take on a classic fairy tale theme. If nothing else, the ending will hit you right in the gut.

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REVIEW: “The Sidhe” by Elizabeth Archer

Review of Elizabeth Archer, “The Sidhe,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I felt like this story rather confused sidhe with dryads. More precisely, I didn’t see what made the sidhe characteristically a sidhe — she could have been any type of woodland spirit. I would have liked to see something that was a bit more distinctive and fleshed out than what I got.

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REVIEW: “Southside Gods” by Sarah Grey

Review of Sarah Grey, “Southside Gods,” Flash Fiction Online 87 (2021): Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

These are the southside gods — gods of the slums, of the working class. This is Holloway, god of water, who fixes washing machines and “is every plumber in the directory”; but he doesn’t do air conditioners. He just might be able to recommend a colleague, though…

Fresh, humorous, and with just the right of pathos, this was a little gem of a story.

(First published in Intergalactic Medicine Show September 2013).

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REVIEW: “On Aerdwen Green” by Sandi Leibowitz

Review of Sandi Leibowitz, “On Aerdwen Green,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Great-King Donnil lost the Chalice of Plenty and now his great-grandson Great-King Bardo has commanded the Masters or Mistresses of every House to go on a quest to find it again. Most houses didn’t follow the command, but House Dilvan did, despite (or perhaps because…) its young Mistress Beldaria being only 16 years old. But Beldaria is not the focus of the story, rather, that’s Enzi, her maidservant.

Two things I really liked about this story: One was the sharp, deft way that Leibowitz depicted class distinctions, how one and the same quest could be experienced so differently by the gentry and by their servants. It’s easy to feel sympathy for Enzi and to disapprove of Beldaria and the other Masters and Mistresses. The other was what actually happened on Aerdwen Green, and the way in which the reader was held so long in ignorance of the significance of those events. It was magical.

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