Review of Hannya Kay, “One God Loved Me As I Died,” Flash Fiction Online 156 (September 2026): 33-36 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is the second story in this volume of FFO that straddles the line between SF and fantasy. It’s got space-ships and incessantly talking gods, a great combination! It’s also another one that turned surprisingly sweet in the end. All in all, a short, satisfying read.
Review of Stewart C Baker, “How to Cross a Covered Bridge,” Flash Fiction Online 156 (September 2026): 24-27 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Whoever would’ve thought a bridge could make a reader so sad?! Baker must have some kind of magic, because that’s exactly what they conjured up with this story (even if I think it didn’t necessarily need the final page).
Review of Elijah J. Mears, “Saul & Noah’s Hot Bouleutophagy Summer,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 117-134 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
In case you’re like me and weren’t 100% sure what bouleutophagy, I’m not spoiling anything about this extremely hilarious — while simultaneously almost too real for comfort — story by glossing it as “eat the rich”. The word may not yet show up in my go-to dictionary, Wiktionary, but I certainly hope it will be there in years to come! (I also did a double-take, and enjoyed, seeing the city I lived in for the first 10 years of my life get name-checked — its one of those that usually only people who’ve been there know of it!)
Review of Rio Lombana and Kaitlin Schmidt, “Life Imitates,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 82-104 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was an exceptionally creepy piece. The horror in this story is that even when Mari does everything right, it still isn’t enough to save Karley.
Review of Ruth Joffre, “A Hole in My Heart the Shape of the Multiverse,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 147-166 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The looping back and forth through time and space and character in this story is effortless in a way that can only have taken Joffre considerable effort and attention and care. I loved this story in the way that I loved Natasha Pulley’s The Kingdoms (which I utterly adored).
Review of Ayida Shonibar, “We Decay in the Dark,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 51-85 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Basically everything Tanika has been told is a lie, and we get to watch her find this out over the course of 30+ pages.
Review of S. I. Fapohunda, “Fire and Brimstone,” Adventitious no. 2 (Apr 2026): 162-178 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a nightmare of a story, where human frailties are far more evil than any witchcraft or sorcery.
Review of Christine Hanolsy, “Festival,” Flash Fiction Online 151 (June 2026): 18-20 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a story of both regrets and hopes, and the fact that by the end, the hopes and dreams outweighed the regrets and sorrows made me very happy.
(First published in Small Wonders September 2023)
Review of P. A. Cornell, “The Soundtrack of My Afterlife,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 26-47 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: attempted rape.
“Then I died and became a car” (p. 26).
Sometimes, all it takes is one sentence in the opening page to make me know I’m going to love a story. That was this sentence for this story!
And I did love it. I’m of an age where the soundtrack of the narrator’s afterlife was also the soundtrack of my childhood, and of the songs I’m sharing with my own kid. Nothing like a good dose of nostalgia! But I also loved Cornell’s delicate touch in this coming-of-age story, and how realistic it felt. Honestly, this should be a movie!
Review of Abigail Guerrero, “This is Why Magical Realism
and Family Tree School Projects Shouldn’t Mix,” Adventitious no. 1 (Feb/Mar 2026): 19-25 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I’m not sure if this was a ghost story, a fantasy story, a slipstream story, a magical realism story, or something else altogether, but I am sure it was A LOT of fun to read! And I loved the thread of something deeper and more serious that ran through it all: That we are not bound by our pasts and we are free to decide what our futures will be.
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