Review of Kai Taddei, “Larvae,” Luna Station Quarterly 23 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story combines two things I’m not a huge fan of — 2nd person POV and body horror — into something that I actually rather enjoyed. The mesmerising narration felt more like a person talking to themself, rather than instructions to the reader, resulting in a very intimate and emotionally draining glimpse into a sad and rather sordid life.
Review of Sylvia Heike, “Brother, Unseen,” Luna Station Quarterly 23 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Oh, my goodness, this was a masterclass of a story. Short, effective, beautiful language, an amazing setting and scene. It left me hungering for me, I want to read a full novel set in this world, with these characters. Just about perfection — stories like this are what make reading through the archives so worthwhile.
Review of Cathrin Hagey, “His Soul,” Luna Station Quarterly 23 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There are a lot of lovely fairy tale elements in this story, as well as echoes of the myth of Narcissus, but also a lot of patriarchal stereotyping with an underlying misogyny.
I would love to have been able to enjoy this story, but it just failed to push the boundaries in the way it maybe could have.
Review of Karen Bovenmyer, “The Scarlet Cloak,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Bullying, abuse, & harassment; murder ideation; cannibalism; references to rape.
One thing that’s interesting about reading the back archives of a journal is seeing which stories age well (or don’t age at all!) and which don’t. I feel like this one ends up in the latter category: A story where the central heroine is part of the police force is a bit harder to swallow in 2021 than it may have been in 2015.
Then again, I’m not entirely sure I would’ve appreciated this story when it first came out: It is too gruesome, too violent for my tastes.
(First appeared in The Crimson Pact Volume 3, 2012.)
Review of Tracy Staedter, “Williams,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Body modification/body harm.
This was an effective use of the out-of-order-snapshot mode of story-telling. In the end, we the reader never quite figure out what has happened to Williams, but then again, neither does he.
Review of Charity Tahmaseb, “Keeping Time,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a sweet little story about love across generations, and though there wasn’t anything particularly fantastical or speculative about it, it was still a quick, pleasant read.
(First published by Kazka Press, November 2013).
Review of Elizabeth Archer, “The Sidhe,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I felt like this story rather confused sidhe with dryads. More precisely, I didn’t see what made the sidhe characteristically a sidhe — she could have been any type of woodland spirit. I would have liked to see something that was a bit more distinctive and fleshed out than what I got.
Review of Mary E. Lowd, “Feral Unicorn,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Lowd’s story of mother-of-two Janie attempting to raise a feral unicorn was quirky and adorable. A friend of mine raises goats, and reading Lowd’s story I could just imagine what a little baby unicorn would be like — like a goat kid with double the mischief!
Review of Riley Vainionpaa, “The Corn Grows Back Every Year,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was sci-fi with a good dollop of horror (content note: body horror/mutilation). At first neither Peggy nor Mellie understand what’s going on with Mellie’s body, or why she appears to have developed special powers. But then they agree to systematically experiment, driven by the need to know, to understand.
This was an odd little story!
Review of MK Sauer, “Retriever,” Luna Station Quarterly 24 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Cannibalism, mention of rape.
Borr is a Bio-Organic Retrieval Robot, part-flesh, part-metal, but wholly able to withstand the ravages of the Oxidation — well, at least better than humans can, by a long shot. She’s been sent out from base camp to retrieve any fuel, water, books, or survivors that she can find. But not all survivors want to be retrieved.
The most remarkable thing about this story was the slang that Sauer developed. It was familiar enough to be (mostly) intelligible, but foreign enough to feel realistically future. The use (or non use) of this slang give the characters each distinctive voices, and made this story something just a little out of the ordinary.
SFF Reviews