REVIEW: “Soul Mate” by Paulene Turner

Review of Paulene Turner, “Soul Mate,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Cassidy Braithwaite is the “loving daughter of Charles and Lena Braithwaite. Treasured fiancé to Vaughan Gallagher” — and also an atheist. She never expected to end up as ghost upon her death. Unfortunately, while she waits for those who loved her to come to terms with her death, she discovers that she doesn’t actually want them to do so, because it means that they are moving on, and so must she. Vaughan might be ready to let her go, but she’s not ready to let him go.

This story could’ve been vaguely sweet and romantic, but instead was rather stalkerish and selfish. I appreciated Cassidy’s sidekick Franky, who recognized how problematic her relationship with Vaughan was (even if he was never able to convince her of it) — until the point when he started aiding her in her pursuit. Just not really the sort of story for me, I guess.

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REVIEW: “The Paper Child” by Rebecca Harrison

Review of Rebecca Harrison, “The Paper Child,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This odd little story started off like a Scottish folktale and ended up firmly in the realm of horror. For most readers, everything we have have been taught has taught us to sympathise with the mother who only wishes to save her child; and yet, every step of the way, but most especially at the end, the mother of this story is terrifying.

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REVIEW: “Eclectibles” by K. Hartless

Review of K. Hartless, “Eclectibles,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

When the story started, I thought this was going to be something I’d really enjoy; but it ended up being a bit too moralising, about the virtues of reading vs. the vices of screens, which I found both irritating and a bit ironic considering that I was reading this story in an electronically published journal, on my screen! And then Hartless chose J.K. Rowling as an example of an author that should always be kept on hand — “So many everyday ailments can be solved with a dose of Potter.” In 2022, it’s no longer a neutral choice to pick a noteworthy transphobe. In the end, I was pretty profoundly disappointed to see such a story printed in LSQ, which normally is extremely reliable in the quality and satisfaction of its stories.

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REVIEW: “The Butterfly Eater” by Katherine Shats

Review of Katherine Shats, “The Butterfly Eater,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

What’s the best way to eat a butterfly? Well, “they have to be fresh or it’s so much harder to extract the hope.” Lines like this pepper this vaguely creepy little tale, always just close enough to normal for its weirdness to be unsettling. There’s something sacrilegious, the way the butterfly eater delights in her prey, and it’s wildly entrancing to read.

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REVIEW: “The Goddess of Fear” by Ivy Grimes

Review of Ivy Grimes, “The Goddess of Fear,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This story had a typical generic-fantasy sort of feel to it, except for the choice of “fear” as the focal point for the titular goddess. I really enjoyed the way Grimes developed a liturgy and religion around fear, both receiving and destroying. So that was something a little bit different which made the rest of the story worth reading.

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REVIEW: “The Important Things” by Lisa Fox

Review of Lisa Fox, “The Important Things,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Melanie is back in her childhood home, grappling with grief at the death of her last parent, sorting out the remains into the memories, the useless, and the rest. But it isn’t just relicts of her parents that she fines, but of generations that have gone before, including one very particular memento of her grandmother’s, whose discovery changes the way she looks at her grief.

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REVIEW: “Face” by Amy Mills Klipstine

Review of Amy Mills Klipstine, “Face,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

After intriguing opening paragraphs (which made me wonder if the story was intended to be a metaphor for plastic surgery), I found this story slow to get started and actually go anywhere. There was a lot of description and repetition; and overall, I think this just wasn’t the story for me.

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REVIEW: “Swallow It Down” by Sarah Dropek

Review of Sarah Dropek, “Swallow It Down,” Luna Station Quarterly 49 (2022): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a vivid, powerful story of a woman caring for her mother as she watches her die. I have not yet had to shepherd a parent through their final days yet, but I have watched friends do it and there is a ring of truth in the way Dropek takes this and turns it into something bleakly horrorful. A tough, but good, read.

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