Review of Ann Wuehler, “The Swimmer,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Domestic abuse, murder.
This is a story about Gracie, now grown old, and her mother, and one special day they shared at the beach when Gracie was young. And yet, the most fascinating part of the story was the narrator, who is neither Gracie nor her mother and whom we never really quite get to know, but who is tremendously weird and entrancing to read.
Review of Libby Heily, “Detriment,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a brilliantly-done first-person narrative by someone (something?) that is not human, but still full of humanity. It’s a story full of emotion and character, and really gripping.
Review of Chelsea Catherine, “Collector of the Dead,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Minnie is haunted by ghosts only she can see. Most are there one moment, gone the next, but Sheila is different — she comes, she speaks to Minnie, and when she goes, she comes back again another day. Soon, the two have become friends, or perhaps more.
This is both a hopefully, happy story and a sad one, with an ending that is both exactly what it needs to be and exactly the one I didn’t want. Strongly written and enjoyable!
Review of Ruth Joffre, “A Girl (Five Angles),” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
What a short, effective story, told via an unusual story structure. This was an atypical piece for LSQ, for which reason I think I loved it all the more.
Review of Holly Schofield, “The Knells of Agassiz,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
I love it when a story gives me cause to pause and look something up to see if it’s real or not. In this case, it was the Agassiz Ice Cap, and it’s real — but for who knows how long. Climate change and the quickly disappearing ice cap form the basis for Schofield’s story, in which Emma returns to the ice cap one last time to say good-bye. It could so easily be a sad and depressing story, but it is not: It has the tinge of realistic hope that all good climate SF should have.
Review of Rebecca Harrison, “The Little Husky,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Eliza’s father is on trial. His crime? He has stolen the Artic Circle, to ensure that he, and not his rival Mennor, would be the first man to reach the North Pole.
This was an interesting story, with some very beautifully-used language, but I felt like I had to wait too long to find out what was actually happening.
Review of Shannon Roberts, “How to be Caffeine-Free,” Luna Station Quarterly 53 (2023): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story won “best title of the issue” in my book, and thus was an easy first choice to read and review.
For Greyce, being caffeine-free matters. She’s living in Cosmos, where nothing matters more than chasing your dreams; but if she drinks too much coffee, her sleep gets screwed up, and if her sleep gets screwed up then she doesn’t dream any dreams. I found this to be an odd story, oddly written, and — for me — not quite living up to the potential of its name.
Review of Louis Evans, “Surgical Strike,” Radon Journal 3 (January 2023): 20-28 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Sexually explicit material.
This story was prefaced by one of the most intriguing content notes that I’ve ever come across. [It does not highlight the same issue I have highlighted in my content note.] It identifies the key piece of fantasy that the story relies on, and explicitly says that such a fantasy should not be engaged with. The paradox is that we cannot help but engage with the fantasy while we are reading it.
There are some stories that I come away from reading thinking, “of all the stories that could have been told, why this one?” I was worried that I would have the same reaction here: Given the problematic fantasy upon which it is premised, why tell this story, instead of the innumerable other stories that could be told instead?
Sadly, I think I was right to be worried. By the time I reached the end, all I could think of was the other stories I could have read instead. There was a lack of finesse that made the entire story feel a bit clumsy; and definitely not for me.
Review of Shana Ross, “What To Do With a Gift,” Radon Journal 3 (January 2023): 47-50 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a sweet little love story, between a star ship and her human partner, with an ambiguous ending.
Review of Mikaela Kesigner, “Ste·nog·ra·phy,” Radon Journal 3 (January 2023): 60 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This poem illustrated the fact that Radon Journal isn’t all about spec fic (or spec poetry) — there’s nothing at all speculative about this critique on the justice system, it’s unfortunately rather prosaically ordinary. Perhaps that’s why it didn’t hit me as strongly as some of the other poems in the issue; it’s just a bit too depressing without any imaginative relief.
SFF Reviews