REVIEW: “The Probability of One” by Jen Brown

Review of Jen Brown, “The Probability of One,” Fantasy Magazine 83 (September 2022): 6-8 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was quite a complex story for how short it was; I started it, got lost, had to start it again, got distracted, started again before I really go stuck into it. It feels like it skirts the barrier between very clever and unreasonably opaque. I’d rather not decide for myself, but encourage everyone to give it a go. At the very least, it’s short, and if you reach the end still confused, it’s okay — it’s short. And even at the end there’s something that leaves me thinking “I wish I understood more.”

The author bio says that Jen Brown writes “otherworldly tales about Black, queer folks righteously wielding power.” For that reason alone, I’d read this story.

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REVIEW: “All the Dead Girls, Singing,” by Avra Margariti

Review of Avra Margariti, “All the Dead Girls, Singing,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 31-33 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Violence against women.

The story of Fairview, whose dead girls congregate by the edge of the lake, is raw and harsh and rough. On the one hand, it’s superficially a ghost story. On the other hand, it’s definitely not that, it’s a story of violence against women, and about the men who perpetrate it.

Read with care/caution.

(First published in Coppice and Brake 2020.)

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REVIEW: “The Pieces of Her” by Lora Gray

Review of Lora Gray, “The Pieces of Her,” Flash Fiction Online 124 (January 2024): 12-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a partner.

Gray shows excellently well how to combine quite a lot into quite a little. We got a full dose of SF via the building of human-robot hybrid pilots, and a full dose of personal relationships gone wrong via Denise, Miranda, and Lilith. The story operates well at both levels, which is a difficult thing to pull off!

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REVIEW: “Five Books from the Alnif Crater Traveling Library” by Stewart C. Baker

Review of Stewart C. Baker, “Five Books from the Alnif Crater Traveling Library,” Flash Fiction Online 123 (December 2023): 16-19 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a series of vignettes (which nevertheless held together well enough to constitute a proper story) about life on Mars.

As much as I enjoyed the story, it did feel a bit of a strange choice coming, as it did, immediately after Rachael K. Jone’s “Seven Ways to Find Yourself at the Transdimensional Multifandom Convention”. Both are structurally similar and use a conceit which I think works better in isolation, rather than in conjunction.

(First published in Nature Magazine, September 2021.)

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REVIEW: “Seven Ways to Find Yourself at the Transdimensional Multifandom Convention” by Rachael K. Jones

Review of Rachael K. Jones, “Seven Ways to Find Yourself at the Transdimensional Multifandom Convention,” Flash Fiction Online 123 (December 2023): 11-14 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a fun, funny, and touching story, which I liked quite a bit even if it is in 2nd person (my least favorite way of telling a story).

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REVIEW: “Love, Happiness, and All the Things You May Not Be Destined For” by Lindz McLeod

Review of Lindz McLeod, “Love, Happiness, and All the Things You May Not Be Destined For,” Assemble Artifacts 2 (2022): 62-96 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I know it’s still early 2024, but this story is an exceptionally strong candidate for being my story of 2024. The conceit is novel: Georgia meets up regularly with other versions of herself, at different ages, both learning how her life will turn out from the older versions and in turn teaching the younger ones the same. And the twist(s! plural!) at the end are glorious and unexpected and perfect.

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REVIEW: “The Family Proof” by Arianna Reiche

Review of Arianna Reiche, “The Family Proof,” Assemble Artifacts 2 (2022): 1-44 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Sexual assault/violence.

At 44 pages, this is almost a novelette than a short story. But the length worked: It allowed Reiche to feed the reader small bits and dribs and drabs, the hints that let us know that things are not as they seem. It’s a story that sits in the uncanny valley: It’s almost just an ordinary story about ordinary people, and just enough not that to make for an incredibly rewarding read. (I also think it would make a fascinating short film.)

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REVIEW: “High to Kolob on a Cosmic Clydesdale” by Katrina Carruth

Review of Katrina Carruth, “High to Kolob on a Cosmic Clydesdale,” Luna Station Quarterly 56 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Be wary what you wish for when you go to your friend’s new moon crystal party — the narrator of this story wished for manifest destiny and ended up with a cosmic Clydesdale in her livingroom!

For the most part this was a quick read despite being a long story, light and humorful, but towards the end it turned surprisingly deep, in a way that made it feel like more than fluff. It can be hard to shift tone midway through a story like this, but I feel Carruth pulled it off well. It all made sense, which feels like an odd thing to say about a fantasy story, but it’s true.

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