REVIEW: “A Monster in Miami” by Daniel Delgado

Review of Daniel Delgado, “A Monster in Miami” Cossmass Infinities 9 (2022): 25-52 — Read or purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death and body mutilation; drug trafficking; contract murder.

The story begins in hot, sticky, sultry Florida: Ana María Quispe Ruiz, la Bruja de Mi­ami (“ba­si­cally three-quar­ters tra­di­tional healer and a quar­ter hedge ma­gician,” p. 30, a great line), has been called to the scene of a murder — it’s magic, not forensic science, that is needed to discover what has happened, and who did it, who the titular monster is.

It’s quite a long story, very introspective and self-reflective, and with some very pointed commentary on how magic is conceived of by those who practice it and those who merely study its phenomenon. Those who like hard-hitting urban fantasy should find something to enjoy in this.

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REVIEW: “The End of Sleep” by Jamie M. Boyd

Review of Jamie M. Boyd, “The End of Sleep,” Luna Station Quarterly 50 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Infertility, IVF.

Dr. Ocan Kato deals with sleep issues in PTSD sufferers, which makes him exactly the person Major Claire Weissman wants to see, when experiments involving unilateral sleep in humans (sleeping with only one half of the brain) throw up some surprising results.

But while that’s the main thread of the story, it’s not the only one; it’s also the story of Ocan’s struggle to come to terms with his wife’s infertility. You don’t often get infertility/IVF stories from the point of view of the father, and Dr. Ocan Kato’s grief is raw, palpable, and real.

Overall, a complex and interesting story.

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REVIEW: “Tatterdemalion, or Of Apple Bough and Straw” by Elou Carroll

Review of Elou Carroll, “Tatterdemalion, or Of Apple Bough and Straw,” Luna Station Quarterly 50 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a partner.

A very classic sort of fairy tale: A bereaved woman makes a bargain, only to find the price more than she can bear to pay. She gets her happily ever after in the end, but not without a heavy dose of heartache in between.

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REVIEW: “Osteomancy” by Jenna Grieve

Review of Jenna Grieve, “Osteomancy,” Luna Station Quarterly 50 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

My god, this was a good story. The language in this story is exceedingly beautiful, putting images into my head in a way that most stories don’t (those who don’t have any degree of aphantasia may not appreciate this quite as much). I can vividly picture Stranger, arriving at the door of Locksmith begging the creation of a key that only Locksmith can make, everything sharp but cloaked in shades of grey. What a sublime experience, reading this!

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REVIEW: “Crowd Demons” by Lisa Farrell

Review of Lisa Farrell, “Crowd Demons,” Luna Station Quarterly 50 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Take a photographer hired to photograph a rich man’s soiree, a bunch of photos that don’t turn out exactly how she expected, and a newspaper article a few days later and what do you get? A supernatural ghost mystery that feels like it could’ve been straight out of an episode of the X Files (and I mean this in the most complimentary way possible.)

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REVIEW: “The Hunter’s Child” by Amelia Brunskill

Review of Amelia Brunskill, “The Hunter’s Child,” Luna Station Quarterly 50 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a weird, almost grotesque, little fairy tale. It has all the characteristic roles — the Queen, the King, the Hunter — it has monsters beyond the castle walls, secrets, and little girls who can talk to birds. But entwined with these are ugly threads that you don’t expect to find in a fairy tale — alcoholism, abuse. If there is any happy ending at all, it is the little girl discovering that the monsters outside are not nearly as evil as ones inside.

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REVIEW: “Ghosts in My Lungs” by Madeleine Sardina

Review of Madeleine Sardina, “Ghosts in My Lungs,” Luna Station Quarterly 50 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I’m not sure if the titular ghosts were intended to be a metaphor for disease — they certainly can be read that way, but it’s not required — or if they’re just a fun creepy thing to imagine and write a story about, but either way, they definitely made for a fun creepy thing to read a story about, especially entangled in an absolutely glorious love story. A real treat!

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