Review of Reyzl Grace, “Zvezdochka,” Luna Station Quarterly 61 (2025): 283-306 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a sweet little reflective love story steeped in folklore and theology.
REVIEW: “Exopunk’s Not Dead” by Corey Jae White
Review of Corey Jae White, “Exopunk’s Not Dead,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 20-25. — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Drug and alcohol abuse.
Wanna read a story about queer guys punching Nazis? Then this is a story for you!
(First published in A Punk Rock Future, 2019).
REVIEW: “Ghost in the Shell” by Holly Lyn Walrath
Review of Holly Lyn Walrath, “Ghosts in the Shell,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 70 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was the itty-bittiest of little flash fic stories — but Walrath nevertheless manages to pack quite a bit into that one single solid paragraph of text. It’s all introspection and yet it manages to convey a rich breadth of history and scene-setting, capped off with a satisfying ending. I love seeing a well-crafted piece of fiction like this!
REVIEW: “The World Has Been This Way For a Long Time” by Vincent Endwell
Review of Vincent Endwell, “The World Has Been This Way For a Long Time,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 44-47 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This title intrigued me, as there was a delightful ambiguity in what it is signalling — would this be a happy story or a sad one? It could be either!
And then it turned out to almost be neither, rather instead it was mostly a quiet story, “speculative” in the sense that the narrator spent a lot of time wondering what if, what if, what if. But at the end, there is definitely some solace that we as the reader can take away.
REVIEW: “We Are Island” by Atalanti Evripidou
Review of Atalanti Evripidou, “We Are Island,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 127-145 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I love it when I read a story where one character’s love for another is so palpable, so shining, that you see it from the very first page and you get swooped up in it. This is one of those stories. Elias’s love for Ren is dazzling, and so is Ren’s for Elias.
And yet, as brightly as is shines, it doesn’t eclipse the background world that Evripidou has deftly constructed through the introduction of one simple change: It’s a world very much like ours except that there are chips available which when implanted allow people access to their familial memories. Evripidou works out the consequences of this one idea in ways that enhance her characters. It’s such a deftly-balanced story; I was super impressed. (And I desperately would love to see it turned into an 8- or 12-episode TV series, if one can do that with such a short story!)
REVIEW: “The Crow Bridge” by Catherine George
Review of Catherine George, “The Crow Bridge,” Luna Station Quarterly 59 (2024): 167-185 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
What a stunningly lovely story this one: Delicately told and strongly constructed, full of myth and loss and struggle. I really loved it.
Also, kudos to George, who, according to her biography, took 10 years out from writing fiction, and came back to it. I did that too, and yet I still find support in hearing of other people doing the same. It helps, when facing writer’s block, to see examples of how it’s not forever, even if 10 years may seem like forever.
REVIEW: “Field Guide to the UFOs of the Keweenaw Peninsula” by Phoebe Eliza Billups
Review of Phoebe Eliza Billups, “A Field Guide to the UFOs of the Keweenaw Peninsula,” Luna Station Quarterly 59 (2024): 15-32 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Often when I read a slow, protracted story, I put a lot of stake on the ending making itself worth the wait. Billups’s story left a different impression on me: I enjoyed the journey enough that I didn’t need to reach the destination, and the fact that when I did, I didn’t know where I was didn’t take away from my enjoyment.
REVIEW: “The Weight of Your Own Ashes” by Carlie St. George
Review of Carlie St. George, “The Weight of Your Own Ashes”, Clarkesworld Issue 212, May (2024): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A deeply layered story of identity, and what a sense of self could mean. The protagonist is multi-bodied, with a single soul. What this effectively means in terms of perception, acceptance, and gender identity to themselves, and to other single-bodied organisms, like humans, is the journey of this story.
There are also moments of beauty, like a passage about symphonies, that also show how all those experiences shape Yonder, the protagonist. A great story with many lovely elements.
REVIEW: “Thistle and Spice” by Dorianne Emmerton
Review of Dorianne Emmerton, “Thistle and Spice,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 249-268 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Fatphobia, misogyny, domestic abuse.
In an attempt to escape an increasingly loveless marriage, Darlene ends up going to Wednesday night witchcraft classes, and I, as the reader, end up really, really hating her husband. Bring on the spells so that he gets his comeuppance!
REVIEW: “Date Night” by Alexandra T. Singer
Review of Alexandra T. Singer, “Date Night,” Luna Station Quarterly 58 (2024): 189-203 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The opening setting of this story is so mundane that I knew from almost the first line that something was up — something that turned out to be absolutely fascinating and unexpected, and SO sweet, and then so sad. A real reward of a story to read.
SFF Reviews 