Review of Sara Omer, “Burn, Balefire Heart,” Luna Station Quarterly 59 (2024): 35-53 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Dragons, slaves, enemies, a plot, freedom, and — eventually — love. This story had it all! I loved the depth of it, though at times I felt like I didn’t quite have all the back-story. I think this could have made a really excellent novella, and hope that Omer tries her hand at something longer form in the future.
Review of Phoebe Eliza Billups, “A Field Guide to the UFOs of the Keweenaw Peninsula,” Luna Station Quarterly 59 (2024): 15-32 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Often when I read a slow, protracted story, I put a lot of stake on the ending making itself worth the wait. Billups’s story left a different impression on me: I enjoyed the journey enough that I didn’t need to reach the destination, and the fact that when I did, I didn’t know where I was didn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Review of Angela Caravan, “Rainfall,” Luna Station Quarterly 59 (2024): 99-116 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a shy sweet story of first love, one that seamsters and seamstresses will enjoy because of all the stitching and smocking in it.
Review of Y. M. Resnik, “Sparking Joy,” Luna Station Quarterly 59 (2024): 89-96 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
After the death of her husband, Sharon is required to downsize the mass of her apartment in order to ensure that valuable resources are recycled and put back into national service — and she’s been sent an AI to help her deal with the process. It’s a solid premise for a story, but what I loved was that I had a good guess as to how it would unfold, and my guess was totally wrong. I loved the twist, resulting in a story that made me smile and also made me shiver.
Review of Dorianne Emmerton, “Thistle and Spice,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 249-268 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Fatphobia, misogyny, domestic abuse.
In an attempt to escape an increasingly loveless marriage, Darlene ends up going to Wednesday night witchcraft classes, and I, as the reader, end up really, really hating her husband. Bring on the spells so that he gets his comeuppance!
Review of Wendy Nikel, “The Cierin-Croin,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 237-246 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Prefatory note: The title of the story in the journal is given as I’ve spelled it here; however, in the story itself, the term is spelled “Cirein-cr&oagrave;in”; I’m not sure which is correct.
I’m not sure what to make of the story itself: It’s pretty simple and straightforward: Ailsa and Hendry’s grandfather warns them against seeking the Cirein-cròin; Hendry doesn’t listen; bad things ensue. When a story has everything laid out bare in the way this one does, no layers, no moral, no twist, it leaves me quite perplexed.
Review of Neva Bryan, “Homoncula,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 271-278 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: drug use/overdose.
This was a rather terrifying and conceptually gross story about one woman’s revenge on her sister’s destroyer.
Review of Anna Madden, “Grown From an Alder Wolf’s Skull,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 175-187 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This rather fairy-tale like story comes with a rather fairy-tale like moral: Magic spells never do what you intend them to do, and some things must be accepted, not fought off.
Nothing earth-shattering: But not every story must change the world.
Review of Shikhandin, “Sue Dhingra’s Cat,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 159-173 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The line between “literature-influenced-by-folk-tales-and-myth” and “straight-up-fantasy” is quite blurred in this story, set in India and steeped with, to me, unfamiliar cultural references. The characters were sharply drawn and given that there was a cat involved, I was hooked from the start. The ending turned out a bit unexpectedly, for me; this was partly because I think I miscategorized the relationship between Sue and Radha during the early part of the story, due to my lack of knowledge of the various forms of address and titles being used. But it was still a fun story with a happy ending.
Review of Marie Croke, “Secrets Locked in Metal Scrap,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 137-157 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story was not at all what I expected (even granted that I go into most stories with very few expectations). It started off with dinosaurs, and I was rather leery: I’m usually pretty good at suspending disbelief, but human/dinosaur stories are a type I struggle with. But Croke managed to build a story intriguing enough for me to want to keep reading, and then fed me a twist that I could never have predicted, and in the end made it easy for me to suspend that disbelief.
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