REVIEW: “Asra’s Magnificent Emporium of Clockworks and Curses” by Madalena Daleziou

Review of Madalena Daleziou, “Asra’s Magnificent Emporium,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 291-301 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I always enjoy fantasy stories (which this definitely is: cursed objects! divination! witches!) that are nevertheless set in SF settings (Europa!) — there’s something about the cross-genre blending that tickles me. This was an enjoyable tale, no deep thoughts, no big moral, just some slices of Asra’s life and a peak into her very magnificent indeed emporium.

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REVIEW: “Selling Chances” by Louise Hughes

Review of Louise Hughes, “Selling Chances,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 283-289 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Oh, man, what a beautiful story this was, about generational trauma, generational hope, the neverending desire of a parent for their child to have a better life, a better future, a better chance. Just the right length, and with a twist at the end that made everything more intense. Hughes has written a gem!

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REVIEW: “In the Orchard, Where Robots Grow” by Erin K. Wagner

Review of Erin K. Wagner, “In the Orchard, Where Robots Grow,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 53-69 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a parent.

It’s hard to call a post-apocalyptic SF story “cozy,” but as I read this story and reached for the right words, that’s the one I kept ending up with. It’s not “cozy” in the sense of happy and comforting but in the sense of small-scale, intimate, personal, much more about the breakdown of familial relationships than the breakdown of the robot in the orchard.

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REVIEW: “Melilot Dreams” by EC Dorgan

Review of EC Dorgan, “Melilot Dreams,” Luna Station Quarterly 62 (June 2025): 81-92 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Most post-apocalyptic stories lean heavily to the SF genre, but this one doesn’t wear that genre on its sleeve; if anything, it tends more towards horror, of a very reflective, personal, and introspective kind. We never learn much about the apocalypse other than that it was AI-driven, but quite a bit about the narrator, their life before and after, and the loneliness of trying to stay alive.

It is a deeply, deeply unhappy story.

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REVIEW: “Robot, Changeling, Ghost” by Avra Margariti

Review of Avra Margariti, “Robot, Changeling, Ghost,” Flash Fiction Online 140 (May 2025): 7-10 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death of a child; child abuse.

I’m always excited when I see an Avra Margariti byline, as I know I’m in for something satisfying and probably unusual. This story is particularly dark, bordering on horror, full of hurt and loss and longing. It’s also disconcerting enough that I’d like to say: Read with care.

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REVIEW: “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Teleporter” by M. J. Pettit

Review of M. J. Pettit, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Teleporter,” Flash Fiction Online 139 (April 2025): 25-28 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I wanted to love this story — great title, a lot of humor, intriguing premise, a captivating hook at the beginning — but unfortunately, I just couldn’t quite. The combination of the 2nd person POV plus story-telling that presupposes I (as the “you” character in the story) know far more about what’s going on than I (as the reader!) actually do made it feel like I as a reader was being kept at arm’s length, making it hard for me to properly engage with the story.

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REVIEW: “Through These Moments, Darkly” by Samantha Murray

Review of Samantha Murray, “Through These Moments, Darkly”, Clarkesworld Issue 223, April (2025): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Reading this story on a cold spring day hits different. The “you” point of view for narration was a choice, and I’m happy to say it made sense for the story. Lovely words throughout – the prose was just as awesome as the plot. An evocative piece of writing.

This story is a hopeful delight.

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REVIEW: “galactic oracle eulogy” by Samir Sirk Morató

Review of Samir Sirk Morató, “galactic oracle eulogy,” Flash Fiction Online 137 (February 2025): 9-12 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The setting and characters in this story are so unusual and distinctive that I spent quite a bit of my time trying to figure out just who and what everything is. I like the way that so much is left ambiguous (is it fungus? parasites? metaphor? weird aliens? bio-ship or metal-ship? macroscopic or microscopic?), so that I have no confidence at all that my interpretation is accurate, but every confidence that my interpretation is just as valid a way of reading it as anyone else’s.

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