REVIEW: “The Seal Wife” by Madeline White

Review of Madeline White, “The Seal Wife,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 23-25 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I sometimes shy away from selkie stories because the myth is so narrowly defined that it is hard for an author to do something new and different. One aspect I really enjoyed about White’s take was that the titular seal wife while nevertheless always longing for the sea simultaneously refuses to give up her humanity and the chance to linger in the sunshine. That’s an angle I rarely see, and I liked it. More than that, I liked how the would-be husband to the narrator’s wife steadfastedly refused to satisfy the normal tropes, and instead doggedly insisted on consent and respect.

It wasn’t quite a happy story, but it was close.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Aftertaste” by Julia Lafond

Review of Julia Lafond, “The Aftertaste,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 19-21 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Disordered eating.

The last thing Mom needed was my worries on top of hers (p. 20).

This is a story of accommodation, of swallowing all the distress, fear, anger, unhappiness, tamping it down, keeping it down, so that everyone else can be happy.

It’s beautiful and toxic and Lafond’s words make the tastes tingle on my own tongue.

(First published in Twenty-Two Twenty-Eight, October 2023.)

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Things Elan Reacquainted Himself With After Being Broken Out of His Single-Day Time Loop” by D. A. Straith

Review of D. A. Straith, “Things Elan Reacquainted Himself With After Being Broken Out of His Single-Day Time Loop,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 13-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I do love a good list-story! This was short, but effective, especially in conjunction with another title-which-is-basically-a-story-in-itself.

(First published in Inner Worlds 2024.)

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “This Island Towards Which I Row and Row, Yet Cannot Reach Alone” by Jennifer Lesh Fleck

Review of Jennifer Lesh Fleck, “This Island Toward Which I Row and Row, Yet Cannot Reach Alone,” Flash Fiction Online 141 (June 2025): 8-12 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I love it when a title is almost an entire story in itself.

I love it even more when the story that goes with the title is not at all what I thought it would be, and yet the title is exactly right for the story.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Something Broken, Someone New” by Caroline Shea

Review of Caroline Shea, “Something Broken, Someone New,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 15-34 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Child terminal illness.

This is a story of two forgotten children living in a forgotten airport — are they shadows? Are they ghosts? For much of the story the reader doesn’t know, and it seems like even the children themselves don’t know. Only towards the end is it revealed how they got there, why they are there, in an intimate portrayal of sibling rivalry and love. It’s a strange little story; I enjoyed it.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Oathbinder” by L. Fox

Review of L. Fox, “Oathbinder,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 303-319 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

There was something about Fox’s use of language in the opening pages — how the words sort of slipped and rolled sideways — that was purely magical. The feeling of the prose translated, for me, into a feeling of the world itself, slightly strange, slightly confusing, full of depths that I definitely couldn’t quite understand. This is probably my favorite story of the entire issue.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “Mother Maggie” by Rebecca Harrison

Review of Rebecca Harrison, “Mother Maggie,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 127-144 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Harrison tells this story through the medium of podcast transcript [1], effectively just a dialogue between the two hosts, Tasha and Claudia. Their show appears to be a mixture of folklore, sensational stories, baking, and digressions [2]. I enjoy this sort of medium because it means there things don’t get bogged down in unnecessary description; but at times I also couldn’t really get into it for the same reasons I can’t get into actual podcasts — they’re just a bit too tedious for me. Despite the tedium, though, there was an eerie, creepy pull as this horror story developed.

[1] At least, I think it’s supposed to be a podcast, or maybe a radio show (esp. as the hosts mention their “international listeners”). However, at one point Tasha says something that indicates she’s sharing a photograph, so maybe it’s actually video transcript.

[2] If you are not already familiar with the reference half-way down p. 129, go watch this, you won’t regret it.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment

REVIEW: “The Family Ghosts” by M. E. Garber

Review of M. E. Garber, “The Family Ghosts,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 37-47 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Most families are haunted to some degree by the ghosts of their ancestors, but in this story, family ghosts are so much more than that —

“We are your family, your community, your past and your future” (p. 38)

and leaving means not only losing your family but also your history.

The metaphor is obviously one for generational wealth, support, etc. (or the lack thereof!) but its obviousness didn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of the story. I always approve of a story of someone who manages to escape bondage and find freedom.

Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment