REVIEW: “Seedpod” by Ellen Parent

Review of Ellen Parent, “Seedpod,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 135-153 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Lena has chosen the seedpod of a space plant to make a dangerous, unprecedented trip across space, tucked inside as a passenger-cum-parasite. How could she have ever expected that she wouldn’t be the only one with such an idea — or that the other potential passenger would select her seedpod as the one for their journey? And how is she supposed to document this and turn her encounter into bite-sized Web videos that will increase her follower count?

I really enjoyed this story, full of humor and pathos.

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REVIEW: “The Museum of Lost Sound” by Vikki Stea

Review of Vikki Stea, “The Museum of Lost Sound,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 127-133 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There was something about this story that I found particularly magical, something about the way it was told as a fantasy story even if its bones were fundamentally SF. I loved the way that Stea was able to evoke a potential future with just a few phrases and carefully selected words, building a framework that I as the reader could paint in the details. Part of me wants to live in New Shanghai; part of me rebelled against the whole idea with the very core of my being. That slightly insidious feeling of “this is not right” was a delicious undercurrent.

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REVIEW: “Bumblecat” by Johanna Ivy Levene

Review of Johanna Ivy Levene, “Bumblecat,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 275-280 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

As the owner of a cat whose nickname is “Bumblefoot,” I had to read this story. However, my Bumblefoot is named so because of his tendency to fall over his feet as he rushes down the stairs to see What’s Up, whereas this Bumblecat is more literal — a cross between a cat and a bumblebee.

What I really loved about this story was the dialogue between the mother and the daughter, the way that this drove the story forward. It reminded me of conversations with my own daughter, and — dare I make the comparison — with a story of my own that resulted from one such conversation (“Metamorphosis”). I love it when I can see the author’s life lurking behind a story they’ve written. What made me sad was seeing the bright spark of an idea completely swallowed up by capitalism, an outcome that was as inevitable as it was expected. But the ending was a hopeful one, that I loved, loved, loved.

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REVIEW: “Sunk Cost Fallacy” by M.J. Jones

Review of M.J. Jones, “Sunk Cost Fallacy,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 55-71 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The opening paragraphs of this story were immediately gripping — taut, unsure, full of more questions than answers, but not so vague as to be annoying.

When the scene shifted and I found out this was a selkie story, I was immediately cautious (I’ve read far more ordinary, boring, common selkie stories than I have distinctive and interesting ones). The fact that it was a “selkie life in the time of copycat selkie-wannabe TicToc influencers” story went some way towards reassuring me, as this is definitely not a take I’ve read before.

In the end, this story was nothing like any selkie story I’ve read before, except, perhaps, that in its bones its a story of loss. There are, on the face of it, two relationships lost in this story; the one that hurt me the most, as a reader, is perhaps not the one you might expect.

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REVIEW: “”Secrets of the Goblin Market” by Valerie Hunter

Review of Valerie Hunter, “Secrets of the Goblin Market,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 39-52 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I do enjoy a goblin market story, but something struck me when reading this one, which is that all too often “goblin market” is all we are told about the setting, never anything about who the goblins are, or where they came from, why they run markets, or even whether the people shopping there are goblins themselves, or not. Too often, goblin market stories seem to just rely on the phrase evoking a setting by stirring up in the reader hazy memories of Rossetti’s poem.

Not so Hunter’s: A goblin market was specifically, carefully chosen as the appropriate setting for the story of Min, and her grandmother, and how Min decided to break all her grandmother’s rules. A sweet, satisfying story.

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REVIEW: “Terra” by Laura Stone

Review of Laura Stone, “Terra,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 265-285 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a long, reflective story, centered around the musings of a single, solitary character — Cass’s shipmate Simms died before we, the reader, ever met her — which is a narrative structure that I think is difficult to pull off: It’s hard to keep the pace from dragging. It took more than half the story for events to begin, and even then, they seemed to take forever. As a consequence, when the horror elements kicked in, I ended up more bored than scared. This one just wasn’t for me.

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REVIEW: “The Visitor” by Frances Koziar

Review of Frances Koziar, “The Visitor,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 337-361 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Once I got past the rather info-dump-y first few pages, this story really drew me in. I’m a sucker for university scholars off doing research, no matter what arcane subject, and I enjoyed the easy naturalness that lay between Annaz, the scholar, and Kiava, the local who became his guide. For a comparatively long story, the pages slipped away quickly beneath my eyes, especially as I reached the excessively sweet and excessively satisfying resolution.

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REVIEW: “HeartsEase” by Brittany Hague

Review of Brittany Hague, “HeartsEase,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 203-221 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There was a lot of info-dumping in order to get us up to speed on all the necessary background, which rather dragged the pace of the story down. On the other hand, it’s fun to see a ghost story which is closer to the SF family than the F family.

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REVIEW: “The Three Songs” by Gio Clairval

Review of Gio Clairval, “The Three Songs,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 223-239 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

“It’s always been this way” or this is simply “the natural order of things” (p. 223) are excuses that have always been given to “explain” the oppression of women. In this story, Clairval takes women’s silence and silencing and makes it the centerpiece. Stories like this show the power of fiction: Taking a phenomenon and reifying it into something tangible, that cannot be ignored, must be entangled with. The result is Mandarinella, a heroine every reader will joyfully fight for. What I loved most about this story was that when the women finally won their voices back, there were many men that welcomed this, and celebrated, and benefited. That’s the kind of reality we want to strive for, expertly portrayed in fiction.

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REVIEW: “The Penitent” by M.J. Klimmek

Review of M.J. Klimmek, “The Penitent,” Luna Station Quarterly 63 (September 2025): 293-321 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The nameless narrator has been in exile on her island for more than four years, punishment for having killed fellow members of her Order. With a Guardian patrolling the island and a mark on her forehead shutting her away from her magic and telling anyone she met — not that there’s anyone else on the island — that she’s a traitor, there is no escape. But there is penitence, and watching the way it manifests in this story was intriguing. I’m not quite sure I agree with all the decisions the penitent made, but I can see how they could make sense.

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