Review of Sylvie Althoff, “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 131-152 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Those who really like jazz will appreciate Althoff’s ability to pull more than twenty pages out of one improv session at a small bar on a far-flung planet. For those who could take jazz or leave it, this story is rather…long.
Review of Ashley Burnett, “Eva,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 185-203 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Enslavement, prison, forced adoption, forced pregnancy.
I find that I am beginning to tire to stories where misogyny is baked into the core of the narrative — even if the narrative is one of release, and freedom, and vengeance, and retribution, of escape for the woman/women involved, I am increasingly longing for stories that imagine an entirely different way of existence.
Still, I understand the value in ones that take our world as it is, and show that we can resist, so I don’t want to speak too negatively of Burnett’s story; it’s just not the story for me, I guess.
Review of Marissa Lingen, “Person, Place, Thing”, Clarkesworld Issue 234, March (2026): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A story about a colony, with many subcolonies. One of those, the translator subcolony, interacts with the first humans they’ve ever come across.
They are all one, and they are all united. This story explores how these two very vastly different kinds of creatures interact.
It’s way more beautiful than that, I’m definitely not doing justice.
Such a pleasure to read.
Review of M. McNamara, “Squilla of the Flower Moon,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 35-52 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Violence against women, sex work.
Bordello Bot Jenny was programmed with Level 14 curiosity, which left her unsatisfied with her intended purpose and longing for adventure. But the adventure she embarked upon wasn’t anything like what was advertised, which is how she ended up as a Bordello Bot.
This story was predicated on the violence and oppression of women and so of course the only solution available was also violent. I’m sure there are audiences for stories like this, but I’m not one.
Review of T. L. Xue, “The End of the World, Simon et al.,” Luna Station Quarterly 65 (January 2026): 15-22 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
“End of the world” stories rarely contain anything new, insofar as there aren’t that many cataclysmic ways the world can end, so when this story didn’t give me anything new in terms of apocalypses, I wasn’t terribly disappointed. What this story had that was new was its framing, constructed along the lines of a scientific paper. I enjoyed that.
Review of David D. Levine, “Bend Like the Palm”, Clarkesworld Issue 234, March (2026): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
This story is about a lot of things, and many of those are quite timely.
The worldbuilding was great. I find that a lot of times when the worldbuilding is good and you can tell the writer has spent quite some time on it, the plot suffers for it. As a reader, it makes me appreciate the world, but not the plot progression or the storyline. This story does not have these issues.
A thoughtful story with many good elements – a human story in a sci-fi setting, as good sci-fi stories tend to be.
Review of S.L. Harris, “Moonmouse,” Flash Fiction Online 150 (March 2026): 29-32 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
“People carry their ruin with them wherever they go” (p. 31) is the repeated moral of this story — and yet, despite this grim conclusion about humanity, the story itself is hopeful, almost joyful, a real contrast to the rest of the stories in this issue.
(First published in Short Édition January 2026.)
Review of Christopher Degni, “Me an’ Streeter (an’ Vince) Chase a Comet,” Flash Fiction Online 149 (February 2026): 8-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This story features not your average astronauts on not your average space journey (of course not, the journey started as a dare…), and it was a lot of fun.
Review of Cressida Roe, “The Memory Swap,” Flash Fiction Online 148 (January 2026): 28-31 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Have a memory you no longer want? Want a memory you no longer have? Roe’s memory swap story has the solution: Post an ad to a Craig’s-list-like forum, and see who takes you up. Of course, the fun part of the story is: Who would want the memories that someone else doesn’t want? And who can bear to give away the kind of memory that someone else might want? The result is an excellent mix of humor, sorrow, and more than a little a bit of horror.
Review of Thomas J. Weiss, “The Bargain,” After Dinner Conversation 3, no. 12 (December 2022): 48-65 — Subscribe here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was an intriguing “first contact/take me to your leader” story. Neither of the characters involved in the titular bargain are involved out of choice, and both hope to reach the same outcome, which makes the bargain particularly interesting. With richer characters and more of an actual storyline, this was one of the stronger stories in this issue. While bits of it made it clear how white-western the viewpoint it was written from was, it was also clear that the author tried to diversify the cast list. A solid effort.
SFF Reviews