Review of Caitlin Devlin, “Milk,” Flash Fiction Online 153 (August 2026): 23-25 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was absolutely gruesome.
REVIEW: “Eyeballs of My Eyes” by Abigail Guerrero
Review of Abigail Guerrero, “Eyeballs of My Eyes,” Flash Fiction Online 153 (August 2026): 11-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Three words to sum up this story: Creepy body horror.
If things to do with eyes squick you out, don’t read this story. (I struggled to get through it for precisely that reason).
REVIEW: “Fractal House” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Review of Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, “Fractal House,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 110-133 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I found this story somewhat annoying to start off with, but the moment at which it stopped from being annoying to being horror was the moment at which I realized we were supposed to find the story annoying up to that point.
Horror, yes, but also: kinda hilarious. I was properly amused by this story by the end.
REVIEW: “End of the World” by Nick Ekkizogloy
Review of Nick Ekkizogloy, “End of the World,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (July 2026): 29-31 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was this close to being a horror story, and yet somehow just fell short. Instead, it was merely a bad-break-up story, and not one that made me lean particularly sympathetically to the MC.
REVIEW: “Fragments Recovered From the Wreck of the Seaglass” by E. M. Linden
Review of E. M. Linden, “Fragments Recovered From the Wreck of the Seaglass,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (July 2026): 17-23 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Speculative historical botany! Who wouldn’t love a story about speculative historical botany — I definitely did. And this story nailed the ending: the final sentence was an absolute chiller.
REVIEW: “A Perfect Light” by Laura Duerr
Review of Laura Duerr, “A Perfect Light,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (July 2026): 12-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
It’s amazing how claustrophobic the deep sea can seem — which is why it makes such a great setting for insidious, unsettling horror. I found that part of this story perfectly tuned, just right to send a shiver down my spine. The ending, I found, didn’t quite match up to the rest of the story, taking this from potentially excellent to merely “a good read”.
REVIEW: “The Screaming Garden” by Em Starr
Review of Em Starr, “The Screaming Garden,” Flash Fiction Online 152 (May 2026): 20-22 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was an absolutely delicious piece of horror. I don’t normally expect to enjoy horror pieces because of their humor, but I absolutely enjoyed this one because of that.
(First published in Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter 74, 2025.)
REVIEW: “A Bone Deep Ache” by Francesco Levato
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: “Private Cabin, Ocean View” by Jane Campbell
Review of Jane Campbell, “Private Cabin, Ocean View,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 55-76 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Infertility.
Stories often give off certain signs, usually signalling their genre, early on. Campbell’s story is long enough that she keeps her cards quite close to her chest for quite a while (comparatively, for a short story) — my first guess was that this was going to be a ghost story, then it took a turn that felt like it was heading towards horror. It took a further turn some time after that, while keeping the earlier elements, all woven together. It was intriguing and unsettling!
REVIEW: “Second Film” by Christopher St. Prince
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 