Review of V. J. Hamilton, “Lake Small,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Lake Small, like all the other lakes, rivers, puddles around, is beginning to dry up, until one day the swimmer who used to swim in Lake Small daily goes on a quest to find the Tomten who will tell her how to make it rain again.
This quiet little story is a quick, easy read.
Review of Ann Wuehler, “The Swimmer,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Domestic abuse, murder.
This is a story about Gracie, now grown old, and her mother, and one special day they shared at the beach when Gracie was young. And yet, the most fascinating part of the story was the narrator, who is neither Gracie nor her mother and whom we never really quite get to know, but who is tremendously weird and entrancing to read.
Review of Libby Heily, “Detriment,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a brilliantly-done first-person narrative by someone (something?) that is not human, but still full of humanity. It’s a story full of emotion and character, and really gripping.
Review of Chelsea Catherine, “Collector of the Dead,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Minnie is haunted by ghosts only she can see. Most are there one moment, gone the next, but Sheila is different — she comes, she speaks to Minnie, and when she goes, she comes back again another day. Soon, the two have become friends, or perhaps more.
This is both a hopefully, happy story and a sad one, with an ending that is both exactly what it needs to be and exactly the one I didn’t want. Strongly written and enjoyable!
Review of Ruth Joffre, “A Girl (Five Angles),” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
What a short, effective story, told via an unusual story structure. This was an atypical piece for LSQ, for which reason I think I loved it all the more.
Review of Holly Schofield, “The Knells of Agassiz,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I love it when a story gives me cause to pause and look something up to see if it’s real or not. In this case, it was the Agassiz Ice Cap, and it’s real — but for who knows how long. Climate change and the quickly disappearing ice cap form the basis for Schofield’s story, in which Emma returns to the ice cap one last time to say good-bye. It could so easily be a sad and depressing story, but it is not: It has the tinge of realistic hope that all good climate SF should have.
Review of Rebecca Harrison, “The Little Husky,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Eliza’s father is on trial. His crime? He has stolen the Artic Circle, to ensure that he, and not his rival Mennor, would be the first man to reach the North Pole.
This was an interesting story, with some very beautifully-used language, but I felt like I had to wait too long to find out what was actually happening.
Review of Shannon Roberts, “How to be Caffeine-Free,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story won “best title of the issue” in my book, and thus was an easy first choice to read and review.
For Greyce, being caffeine-free matters. She’s living in Cosmos, where nothing matters more than chasing your dreams; but if she drinks too much coffee, her sleep gets screwed up, and if her sleep gets screwed up then she doesn’t dream any dreams. I found this to be an odd story, oddly written, and — for me — not quite living up to the potential of its name.
Review of Chana Kohl, “The Warrior Tree,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Born into a remote Amazigh village, Faiza is trapped by the circumstances of her life — born with no fingers, only thumbs; no money to afford an education beyond 8th grade; betrothed young to a much older man. But Faiza is lucky; her elder brother Adil is a carpet-trader in Marrakech, and he’s willing to help when she begs him for a way out.
This was quite an interesting story — really enjoyable in its own right, but given the context in which it was published, I kept reading it thinking “when will the speculative element come in?” The answer to that is: not until the very final few paragraphs. As a result, the ending felt a bit stitched on; nice, but not needed.
Review of Liz Baxmeyer, “The Oak Tree,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Dara is out haunting the oak tree when she surprises a stranger, Muriel, who is desperately seeking something. The folk songs that Dara sings, scattered throughout the story, emphasised the folk-tale nature of the story; but there was rather too much explaining rather than story-telling for it to quite work for me.
SFF Reviews