Review of Hannya Kay, “One God Loved Me As I Died,” Flash Fiction Online 156 (September 2026): 33-36 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is the second story in this volume of FFO that straddles the line between SF and fantasy. It’s got space-ships and incessantly talking gods, a great combination! It’s also another one that turned surprisingly sweet in the end. All in all, a short, satisfying read.
Review of Margaret A. Hanson, “For the Good of the Engines,” Flash Fiction Online 156 (September 2026): 29-32 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was one of those delightful stories that tells you on its face that it’s science fiction, while concealing (albeit not too hard!) the fact that it’s really fantasy. Sweet and adorable.
Review of Harklin Ashe, “Zig and Zag’s Guide to Crash Landing,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 107-122 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Such a sad story this was, woven through with death and grief and loss, so many events conspiring to leave Miral alone with only echoes to help guide her through landing Turulla on a deserted island. It’s also very tense: 15 pages is a lot of pages to land a flying machine! I spent the entire story on the edge of my seat, wondering how it would all resolve. The ending did not disappoint.
Review of Kelley Tai, “The Grass is Pinker on the Other Side,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 206-210 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Predation, exploitation, ruthless slaughter…all characteristics of this story which is not at all pleasant, not at all uplifting, without any happiness at all. It’s short, but that doesn’t make it any easier to read.
Review of Xavier George, “Vestigial Speech,” Luna Station Quarterly 66 (June 2026): 173-176 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was an odd little story. As much as it was a story about tensions of language, it also felt like it was one about tension between love and lust — it felt like Lark and Lola were living in very different stories. I’m still not quite sure what to think of it.
Review of P.A. Cornell, “A Game of Go,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 12-43 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
The main character in this story is Ava, the SmartHome who has been raising Christopher since his mothers both disappeared. As a sentient AI character, Ava has been programmed to abide by certain rules; while with the rapid growth of gen-AI, LLM-driven models we tend to think that rules are important for keeping AIs from doing the wrong thing, the crux of this story is how Ava’s constraints prevent her from doing the right thing, and how she fights back against this. It was a curiously optimistic view of AI agents.
Review of Hannya Kay, “All Aboard,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 214-220 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There was something wildly, surprisingly creepy about this story.
Review of Stewart C. Baker, “The Spacefarer’s Guide to Connecting With Your Daughter’s Descendants,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 168-177 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Oh, this was a glorious story — full of love over generations and forgiveness and parenting mistakes and recoveries. I nearly cried while reading it, and was so delighted by the ending.
Review of Holly Schofield, “The Grammar of Jespersen-b,” Adventitious no. 4 (Aug 2026): 136-145 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story reminds us that just because a planet may not have any humanoid or humanlike lifeforms on it, it doesn’t mean we weren’t colonizing it just the same when we land on it and force it to conform to our own needs. I particularly enjoyed the way that Schofield uses linguistic metaphors in her depiction of unsettlement, longing, and disorientation.
(First published in On Spec 33, no. 4, 2023)
Review of R.S.A. Garcia, “This Is an Emergency Broadcast”, Clarkesworld Issue 238, July (2026): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Oh my. What a story. This one will surely be collecting some nominations, I think!
I have been reading this very slowly amidst a busy few weeks, and it was so so worth it.
Even when I only got to read a few minutes at a time, it was immediately arresting. So many moments in this story that evoked many different kinds of reactions and feelings in me.
At the end of the story, when I tell you I got literal chills and scrolled all the way back up to check something again (you’ll know what I mean if you read the story).. this one was a pure pleasure to read.
Do yourself a favour and read it.
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