REVIEW: “The Caged Budgerigars” by Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar

Review of Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar, “The Caged Budgerigars,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 8-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Miscarriage, stillbirth, and infertility.

This was a well-put-together story but upon reading it I knew I’d have difficulty reviewing it because it’s not really speculative in any way (FFO has the occasional non-spec story). But I was curious about what the issue’s theme was, to see if understanding how it fit into the theme would reveal something more than what was in the story itself. The theme for this issue is “eco-futures,” and knowing that didn’t actually clue me in any more; this story is very much rooted in the present. So I delved into the editorial to see if I could understand why the editors chose this particular story for this particular theme, and Halsey’s comment piqued my interest: “I went with this portrayal of a woman struggling with her inability to have children because it mirrors the intimacy of another mother’s story within this issue” (p. 6). Guess I’ll have to read that one next!

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REVIEW: “Little Bird” by Aggie Novak

Review of Aggie Novak, “Little Bird,” Flash Fiction Online 134 (November 2024): 22-25 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Hunger drives Adnela to thievery, and in doing so she encounters a spirit. In the course of this tight, quiet little story, Adnela and Živinica move from enemies to friends, not in any sort of trope-y way, but in the real, believable way of women who are outcast and scorned banding together to support each other.

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REVIEW: “An Acre a Year” by Gregory Marlow

Review of Gregory Marlow, “An Acre a Year,” Flash Fiction Online 134 (November 2024): 18-20 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This almost could have been a tale out of Grimm; it had all the classic fairy tale elements — a sad and desperate young woman, a magical resolution, a fae-bargain gone wrong — but with an added layer of modernity that deepened and enriched it all. What a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon, reading this story.

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REVIEW: “To Curse with Needle and Thread” by Vijayalaxmi Samal

Review of Vijayalaxmi Samal, “To Curse With Needle and Thread,” Flash Fiction Online 134 (November 2024): 8-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The stories in this issue of FFO are all bundled together under the header of “rural fantasy”, but don’t be deceived: These are not quiet pastoral stories. Samal’s story opens the issue, and in the very first lines it is visceral, it is angry, it is full of power. It is sharp and blunt when it comes to criticizing colonialism, and the forced conversion that comes with it. A strong and powerful opener!

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REVIEW: “To Serve the Emperor” by Damián Neri

Review of Damián Neri, “To Serve the Emperor,” Flash Fiction Online 133 (October 2024): 31-34 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Child harm, flesh eating.

Neri’s story is the sort that rests on the border of gross horror and psychological horror which sits very uncomfortably with me — I like the latter but not so much the former, but here it is the former that makes it the latter. It was entirely compelling and even if I wasn’t entirely happy reading it, I couldn’t look away.

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REVIEW: “Vinegar-Gurgle” by Andrew K Hoe

Review of Andrew K Hoe, “Vinegar-Gurgle,” Flash Fiction Online 133 (October 2024): 23-26 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Torture, racism.

Now this was horror: A gruesome glimpse into depravity. I struggled to find anything in any of the characters to approve of or sympathize with. The author’s note at the end of story was therefore quite important for me, to understand its purpose and inclusion in the issue: “The story
‘Vinegar-Gurgle’ was written as a way of dealing with two real-life Asian hate incidents.”

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