Review of Kate Horsley, “The Tao of Thorsten Codbiter,” Flash Fiction Online 146 (November 2025): 29-31 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
…plus the back has a cut-out coupon for ten free Vikings with the purchase of every genuine Ox-horn drinking vessel (p. 29).
I love it when within the first five sentences of a story, I already know I will love it.
As Tom tries to bring his mom around to the idea of sharing her house with Agmundr, Gorm, Frode, Thorstein, Bodil, and five other Vikings, I laughed and laughed and laughed. As the ten of them surround Tom with support as his mother faces her final dies, I wanted to cry along with them, while Horsley’s final line is exactly the right way to end this story. A delightful morsel of a masterpiece. More stories like this, please.