REVIEW: “The Midwife” by Carol Scheina

Review of Carol Scheina, “The Midwife”, Luna Station Quarterly 42 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Childbirth.

Hannah is a midwife of whom it is told she has never yet lost a mother or child. When she’s called to Emmilene’s childbed (far too late, in her opinion), she must draw upon all of her skill and experience to ensure her streak is not broken.

I found the story weirdly glorifying of the mystical experience of childbirth; it was also uncomfortably exclusionary (falling back into the default assumption that no husband could ever have a place beside his laboring wife). Just little things, but as a result, this story didn’t really do it for me.

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REVIEW: “Depth and Meaning” by Jennifer Lee Rossman

Review of Jennifer Lee Rossman, “Depth and Meaning”, Luna Station Quarterly 42 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Rossman’s stories appear in LSQ not infrequently — but after a couple of years of reading and reviewing LSQ stories, seeing her name attached to one of them is guaranteed to make my ears perk up, as her stories are pretty reliably good ones.

This present story is the story of Emi, a pictomancer like many others in her town, but unlike them, her paintings don’t take on the same magical life as theirs, the potential once seen in her (“People used to tell me I’d be an elder by the time I was twenty.”) trapped and inaccessible.

No one, least of all Emi, talks about what happened to make her this way. But even before she finally articulates it to her sister, it’s easy for reader to fill in the gaps, at least for anyone who has experienced how depression can prevent you from exercising your creative outlets.

That being said, I wasn’t especially keen on the way depression was treated in this story. Dex, Emi’s sister, tells her that it’s a good thing she’s depressed, that suffering is what gives art depth and meaning. Emi’s friend Ronaldo warns her against taking medication for it. Parts of the story felt heavy-handed and preachy at parts, and I’m not sure I liked the message.

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REVIEW: “TheraBot” by Hannah Frankel

Review of Hannah Frankel, “TheraBot”, Luna Station Quarterly 42 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Velma’s got a new task at work — to program her replacement, a TheraBot called JoyCE. Why have people administer therapy when a robot can be trained to do the same? Angie works in customer support at the same company, and she’s one of the first to receive therapy from JoyCE.

The story alternates between the two women, and collects together all sorts of present-day anxieties about the future of employment — how AIs will integrate into the job market, the damage caused by anti-absenteeism culture, the rise of workplace-caused depression and anxiety, the panacea of “wellness” — there’s something in it for everyone to identify with! Sometimes it hits a bit too close to home for comfort. 🙂 But rather than accept these things as merely inevitable, Velma and her partner Todd make a decision to pro-actively embrace the future, turning JoyCE to their own purposes, and affecting the course of Angie’s life. I really enjoyed the optimistic turn the story took at the end.

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REVIEW: “Sweet Little Lies” by Lindsey Duncan

Review of Lindsey Duncan, “Sweet Little Lies”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I really loved this story, one of the best in the issue. It was set in a richly, wildly full world (the opening scenes and characters felt like they could easily support a complete novel), and it was full of beautiful language and parts that made me laugh. This is exactly the sort of fantasy I want to read, and I look forward to reading more by Lindsey Duncan!

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REVIEW: “A Life in Six Feathers” by Kathryn Yelinek

Review of Kathryn Yelinek, “A Life in Six Feathers”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh, I loved this story. It combined intriguing and realistic science with a depth of character and a sweet thread of love and romance, and hope — so much hope. Beautifully constructed, a real joy to read. If you are looking for a “cosy SF” story, this is one for you.

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REVIEW: “Mouse, Crow, Cockroach, Valkyrie” by Tiffany Meuret

Review of Tiffany Meuret, “Mouse, Crow, Cockroach, Valkyrie”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This is the story of an invasive plant species that kills almost everything it comes in contact with, experienced through the titular characters — a mouse, a crow, and cockroachs.

While I liked the rotating points of views, overall I’m not sure how successful this story was. One the one hand, the experiences of the mouse, the crow, and the cockroach felt too human, too complex, to be believably animal. On the other hand, their experiences and impressions of the “plants” were not enough for me to really understand what they were (were they really plants, or some type of machine?). In the end, the arrival of the valkyries felt strangely out of place.

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REVIEW: “The Anatomy of Spines” by Nicole Crucial

Review of Nicole Crucial, “The Anatomy of Spines”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a powerful, emotive story of a difficult love. Rosco and Lorelei have had, since childhood, to balance their feelings for each other with the pulls and expectations of the world they live in. When Rosco refuses to do what is required of the heir of his family, Lorelei takes matters into her own hands, in a move that will test the strength of their bond.

It took me awhile to get to know Lorelei and Rosco, but it was worth the effort.

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REVIEW: “On the Cusp of Darkness” by C. L. Holland

Review of C. L. Holland, “On the Cusp of Darkness”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I’m not sure if this hopeful, affirming coming of age story is a vampire story or not; part of me hopes it is, because I find vampire stories in general so overdone and so ordinary, but this one was unusual and different.

(Originally published in Cucurbital 2, 2012).

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REVIEW: “Stealing Through the Stars” by Jenny Wong and Sylvia Santiago

Review of Jenny Wong and Sylvia Santiago, “Stealing Through the Stars”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Cats in space are always a winning combination, and I was much taken by the stowaway kitty on the Veronica Speedwell in this story. The initial set up and characters were intriguing, particularly delivery-girl Nova Dufau and her friend the poet Bis Onalaion. But about a third of the way through, there is an abrupt shift of both scene and character, and another third of the way through an abrupt shift back, and I came away from the entire story feeling somewhat uncertain as to what had happened.

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REVIEW: “Cloth Mother” by Sarah Pauling

Review of Sarah Pauling, “Cloth Mother”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Wow, what a story. It started off so simply: the young girl Mazie asks Vita, her caretaker, for a turtle. A small and simple request.

When it started off, I sort of hated the cloth mother and the way she lived in an uncanny valley. By the end of the story, the cloth mother made me cry. This was a powerful, compelling story.

(First published in Strange Horizons 2015).

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