REVIEW: “Bedtime Story” by Rhonda Parrish

Review of Rhonda Parrish, “Bedtime Story,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 102-109 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This is a story of a story, a horror story told by Laura, an old doll, to Clara, the daughter of her previous owner. Clara was the one who asked Laura to tell the story, but during Laura’s telling I kept wondering what the purpose of the story was — would there be a moral? Was it just to scare Clara? I kept waiting for some signal, why did Clara ask Laura to tell her a story, or this story in particular? I never quite got any of the answers I hoped for.

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REVIEW: “Lost in Target” by Camden Rose

Review of Camden Rose, “Lost in Target,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 46-54 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Child loss.

“Target is magical,” the narrator tells us, and she means it literally, as the nexus for her exploration of grief after miscarriage. Throughout the story, we feel the intensity of her grief, as well as the palpable lack — or apparent lack — of her husband’s grief. It’s a raw, tough story, finely crafted and satisfying to read.

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REVIEW: “Regarding Your Application to This Year’s Orpheus Fellowship” by Anna-Claire McGrath

Review of Anna-Claire McGrath, “Regarding Your Application to This Year’s Orpheus Fellowship,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 34-44 Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a parent.

Any academic who has ever written a grant application will resonate with this story — but I’m pretty sure that even if you haven’t gone through that specific circle of hell, you’ll still enjoy this clever and touching tale!

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REVIEW: “And Lilith Sewed the Seam” by Allister Nelson

Review of Allister Nelson, “And Lilith Sewed the Seam,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 22-32 Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I really love it when SFF stories take religion seriously, and my experience in recent years is that this most often happens in Jewish SFF. Nelson’s story is a great example of this, as her characters weave together magic, Russian mythology, and Jewish beliefs. Add in a bunch of queer romance, and there was a lot in this story I liked. There were also parts that weren’t for me — I’m not really into graphic descriptions of nudity — but they weren’t enough for me to not want to read it all.

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REVIEW: “Sojourner” by Esther Alter

Review of Esther Alter, “Sojourner,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Everyone who has ever followed the escapades of the Mars rovers and other extra-terrestrial sojourners via twitter or other newsfeeds will understand the draw that humans have to stories of plucky machines exploring worlds we ourselves will never visit (though maybe our great-grandchildren will).

This is a story of such machines. It’s got rocks. And robot jokes. And, oh my goodness, it made me cry. I loved it.

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REVIEW: “Misty Moon” by Elizabeth Hinckley

Review of Elizabeth Hinckley, “Misty Moon,” Luna Station Quarterly 56 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was definitely a story that is aimed at the horse-person readership demographic (a demographic I’m not a part of). I waited quite awhile before I got anything speculative, and while I was waiting I felt that the story could’ve benefited from just a tad more editing than it got (e.g., two “in facts” in the opening paragraph is just a bit clunky, and it was heavy on the telling and light on the showing).

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REVIEW: “Rain Town” by Mary J. Daley

Review of Mary J. Daley, “Rain Town,” Luna Station Quarterly 56 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Lyn and her parents live in a Rain Town — something we, the reader, never quite find out what it is, and yet Daley gives just enough details to allow us the piece together an intricate backstory to this world that feels both incredibly familiar and yet altogether foreign. Is it a vision of what our world might be in the future? Is it an alternate past? Or is it entirely it’s own thing? Again, none of these questions are answered, but instead provide a backdrop for what is, at the heart of it, a simple story: A stranger comes to town, works for room and board, and when he is able to, leaves again. Yet there was also so much more to it than that, making for an extremely effective and satisfying read.

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