Review of Wailana Kalama, “Dissection of a Mermaid,” Flash Fiction Online 133 (October 2024): 16-18 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Assault.
This is a step by step how-to guide for what it says in the title. The steps begin detailed and complicated and full of tips and tricks. In the end, the short, sharp staccato sentences are sparse and bare, their structure like a knife driving into your flesh.
It is very, very dark.
Review of L. M. Guay, “The Clockwork Sisters,” Flash Fiction Online 133 (October 2024): 12-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story illustrates how the relationship of sisterhood is always fraught, whether the sisters in question are flesh or clockwork.
Given that this story is in the “weird horror” issue of FFO, I’m assuming that’s what it’s intended to be. It’s definitely weird, but I’m not sure how horror it is. So if you tend to avoid horror, you might still enjoy this one.
Review of Spencer Nitkey, “Within the Dead Whale,” Flash Fiction Online 133 (October 2024): 8-11 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was perfectly, utterly, viscerally strange. I’m not usually a huge fan of horror, but this story captivated me.
Review of L. L. Madrid, “The Ruby Level,” Flash Fiction Online 132 (September 2024): 25-28 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Five short snippets comprise this story, all slightly disjointed from each other and yet still managing to depict a dark and rather horrific narrative. Deliciously unsettling.
Review of Rich Larson, “To Harvest a Cloud,” Flash Fiction Online 132 (September 2024): 21-24 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Tso arrived in town on the driest day of a very dry year, bringing his own cloud in tow. On one reading, this starts off as a gentle story of how he brought his cloud to those who needed it within the town, in exchange for the town’s welcome and hospitality; but while I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite song lyrics (Genesis, “Mad Man Moon”): “Within the valley of shadowless death, they pray for thunderclouds and rain. But to the multitude who live in the rain, heaven is where the sun shines.” What must it like to be Tso, to always live in the shade, to never rejoice in the warm embrace of the sun? That felt rather sad to me. And then the entire story turned much darker, and the lyrics became even more apt.
Review of Marilyn Hope, “Nosebleed Weather,” Flash Fiction Online 132 (September 2024): 17-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a horror story but with a very weird bent. If you’re in it for the wild and unusual, this will be a story you’ll enjoy. Death, murder, poison, botany, this story’s got it all.
(First published in X-R-A-Y October 2021.)
Review of H. A. Eugene, “The Hanging of Billy Crabtree,” Flash Fiction Online 132 (September 2024): 13-16 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The story starts off with an execution and immediately turns surreal. I love it when I read a story and think, “I could never have thought of that,” and that’s definitely the case for this story. So weird.
Review of Stefan Alcalá Slater, “Tornado Breakers Don’t Cry,” Flash Fiction Online 132 (September 2024): 8-11 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
On the one hand, this is a story about a tornado breaker whose role is to protect her town from the dangerous twisters. On the other hand, it’s equally a story about how we fail our parents, and how our parents fail us. The metaphor rests upon the story overtly but lightly, never bogging the story down but instead helping it to shine.
Review of Jennifer Hudak, “Sturgeon Moon Jam,” Flash Fiction Online 130 (July 2024): 20-23 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The “folk tale” subgenre is one that isn’t as often seen in speculative fiction, but that’s what I’d classify this story as — not a retelling of an old story, but a genuinely new folk tale. It’s a sweet little story, perfect for summer time.
(First published in Fantasy Magazine December 2022).
Review of Vivian Chou, “Perfect Vaca, No Filter,” Flash Fiction Online 130 (July 2024): 15-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
We all have read stupid online hotel reviews, so the genre that Chou chose for this story is perfectly familiar. However, I think we can all agree: Hotels that experience alien invasions maybe deserve at least one 1-star review!
Full of humor and wickedly realistic, this was a fun little story to read while traveling.
SFF Reviews