REVIEW: “Technical Magic” by Samantha Carr

Review of Samantha Carr, “Technical Magic,” Luna Station Quarterly 55 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Cheyanne’s mother is ill, and her sister Tricia wants to put her into a care home; after all, the two sisters have been caring for her for five years, and there’s a limit to how long Cheyanne can be expected to put her life on hold.

But Cheyanne doesn’t want her mother in a home, and is willing to go to extreme measures to prevent this. Unfortunately, technical magic only works when you follow all the details and instructions properly. This not particularly happy story had a not particularly happy ending, but there was never any reason to think it would.

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REVIEW: “Fittonia” by Libby Feltis

Review of Libby Feltis, “Fittonia,” Luna Station Quarterly 55 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There were so many little bits and pieces in this story that are things I love — an emphasis on the importance of names, throwbacks to classic literature, sass, innuendo, writers writing stories as a means of currency, and happy endings. It was such a fun read. It was always an extremely realistic and believable account of the life of a highly sensitive and empathetic person.

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REVIEW: “The Broken Princess” by K. R. Segriff

Review of K. R. Segriff, “The Broken Princess,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story combined a fairy-tale-like voice with a fairly-mundane setting (hard to imagine Polk County, Iowa, as a magical land, whatever the narrator says!). Unfortunately, the result was, for me, too jarring to be enjoyable, and instead felt almost condescending. But maybe if you’re a horse person — or an Iowa person — this will be a story for you.

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REVIEW: “Before the Unicorn Hunt” by Hesper Leveret

Review of Hesper Leveret, “Before the Unicorn Hunt,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Every year there is a unicorn hunt, where the prince can flaunt his skills to his courtiers. For the remainder of the year, Lariselle, its caretaker, lives with her family in the royal hunting lodge, keeping everything ready until the next year. And each year she has a special duty: To go to the hidden Boscan village and select the unicorn whose blood will go into the special cider the prince will drink, the one whom the prince will then go on to hunt and kill. It’s an awful duty, but one that Lariselle discharges, albeit unwillingly, and in the end she gets her reward.

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REVIEW: “The Tale of the Mother and the Hexed VCR” by Nika Murphy

Review of Nika Murphy, “The Tale of the Mother and the Hexed VCR,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Postnatal depression, consideration of suicide.

Two things I loved about this story:

(1) The way it shows how the ordinary, every day events of our lives are at exactly the same time the birth of myths and folk tales.

(2) The way it illustrates, clearly and without apology, the reality of postnatal depression, and how separate it is and distinct from a mother’s love.

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REVIEW: “We’re Sorry, This Number Has Been Disconnected” by E. A. Brenner

Review of E. A. Brenner, “We’re Sorry, This Number Has Been Disconnected,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Misogyny, harassment, attempted rape.

Indira Chant does no one favors and is friends with no one and I loved her from the very first paragraph. She’ll never live up to the magical powers of her sister (Jorie, who is off on her “labyrinth year”, a great alternative to the more prosaic gap year most students get), and now she needs her sister’s help — but Jorie hasn’t answered her phone in two weeks.

So instead, Indira, who is friends with no one, has to for the first time in her life make an alliance with someone other than her sister. Ella wants to learn magic, and wants to escape having to go to prom with Chris. Indira is ready to help her with both. It’s a good, fierce story of women supporting and uplifting women.

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REVIEW: “Left at the Altar” by Lindsey Duncan

Review of Lindsey Duncan, “Left at the Altar,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh, my, but I loved this absolutely delicious story. It has a classic set-up: A princess with the power of magic engaged to a foreign prince in order to end a war, her devoted bodyguard, a prince who doesn’t want to be married, a magic spell interrupted — from the start you know that princess Viatrese is going to end up with her bodyguard Berran, so it’s just a matter of figuring out how, and the unrolling of this just a pleasure to read. If you want a queer love story with a fiercely happy ending, read this!

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REVIEW: “The Soundtrack of Your Life” by Lesley Morrison

Review of Lesley Morrison, “The Soundtrack of Your Life,” Luna Station Quarterly 54 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Alcoholism.

The science in this SF story is the sort of boring, everyday, run-of-the-mill science that I really enjoy reading stories about. No rockets or robots or deadly weapons, just various mods that sound exactly like things people would actually try to build in reality, such as “a mod that curated a personal musical soundtrack,” the project that Janice, the narrator, works on — basically, Spotify but more personal, and more sophisticated. It’s a great premise — I’m sure we’ve ALL crafted (or tried to craft!) the soundtrack of our own lives — and the story is just good fun to read.

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