Review of John K. Peck, “Soon It Would See Eyelessly, Turn Corners On Its Own,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (May 2026): 11-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The FFO editors categorized this story as horror, but while it definitely had a delicious Gothic feel to it, I found it too serene to be truly horrific.
Review of Joelle Killian, “After Enlightenment, the Sewage,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (May 2026): 7-9 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Addiction and rehab.
I had expected the title to be somewhat more metaphorical than it turned out to actually be. I think I would preferred it to be a little less literal.
Review of Liz Levin, “She Said Yes and a City Died,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (May 2026): 16-18 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a strong little piece, with a lot of beauty and strangeness in it.
(First published in MetaStellar July 2024)
Review of Meagan Kane, “Europan Culture (Seven Theses),” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 28-31 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I’m really not sure what I think about this story. Perhaps my cognitive dissonance comes from the title, which led me to think the story was going to be very different from how it was. But I also wonder if I would’ve liked the story even if it had a different title; there was just something unsettling about the way Conamara’s very being and existence was handle, by the unnamed narrator, or maybe by the author.
Review of Francesco Levato, “A Bone Deep Ache,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 24-27 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
An apocalypse, monsters, religion gone wrong…all of these could have provided a foundation for a horror story on their own, but Levato combined them all into something truly gruesome.
Review of Myna Chang, “Ten and Out,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 20-23 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was both perfectly formed in its flash fic form, and something where I would happily read the 300-page version of the same story. The characters could have been put into pretty much any genre or context, and I would have loved them just as much.
Review of Kid Casey, “For Solomon Fishkowski Who Carved Chess Sets in Siberia,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 17-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a curious little piece, not intended to be speculative even though it felt like it was, deep in its bones. I would have enjoyed it more had it not been in my least favorite POV, 2nd person.
Review of Sam E. Sutin, “Remembering Dodem Ansibar,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 13-16 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I adored reading Ansibar’s obituary — and then reading it again, and then again for the third time! This was delightfully fun.
(P.S. SM, if you’re reading this, I’m a logic professor who ALSO enjoys the Axiom of Choice, and would be happy to chat about the job market.)
Review of David Farrow, “The Last Eleven Seconds,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (April 2026): 8-12 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: War.
These eleven seconds last an eternity, and every second I took reading it, I wanted them to last even longer.
Review of Christopher St. Prince, “Second Film,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 33-36 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Drug and other substance use and abuse.
I’ve learned to become leery of the stories the FFO editors tag as “literary” as opposed to something more overtly speculative. These stories always end up feeling more sordid, less imaginative, more disappointing than the speculative stories they publish — which I’m sure is more a reflection on me and my tastes as a reader than it is on the stories themselves. Given all that, this was nevertheless a tight, well-put together story with just enough of an undertone of horror to make it feel like it fits the scope of this blog.
SFF Reviews