Review of Maeghan Klinker, “This Sweet and Bitter Fruit or, Ladon’s Lament,” Luna Station Quarterly 52 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There were weird inconsistencies in this story that, alas, kept me from enjoying it as I hoped I would. (It also falls on the wrong side of my dislike of second-person narratives.)
Review of Maeghan Klinker and Aubrey Zerkle, “Rise in Perfect Light”, in Around Distant Suns, ed. by Emma Johanna Puranen (Guardbridge Books, 2021): 33-48 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)
This story begins with an epigraph from Sarah Williams’s “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil”, which perfectly aligns with two reflections at the end of the piece, of which I’ll pick out one from each — Klinker speaks of “how science and art can build off one another” (p. 47) and Zerkle of the joy of seeing your dearest ideas “as seen through a[nother]’s eyes” (p. 48). These form a lovely bookend for what was a very satisfying “first contact” story, full of vivid characters and realistic science.
Review of Maeghan Klinker, “Mother Haskell”, Luna Station Quarterly 46 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I feel like this story needs a warning, do not read if hungry! Mother Haskell tends an orchard that always bears, and bakes the best apple pies from the fruit; and after reading all the descriptions, now I want pie! Pies so good, you could almost bribe Death with them…and that’s exactly what Mother Haskell tries when her trees start to die.
A fun, yummy, sweet, story. (I was a bit surprised, though, by “the sweet maple syrup she’d collected herself when the maples were vibrant and blushing with fall” — I thought syrup was collected in early spring!)
SFF Reviews