REVIEW: “Dad Jokes” by David Lee Zweifler

Review of David Lee Zweifler, “Dad Jokes,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 35 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

At one page, Zweifler set expectations high before I even started reading it: You’ve really got to nail it, in such a short space. Between the title, and the opening lines that are filled with grief and uncertainty, I wasn’t sure if I was going to end up wholly let down by the end.

And I so wasn’t. That finally line brought a slightly anxious, slightly sad story into something flooded with hope.

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REVIEW: “The Fish in the Garden” by Eleanor Lennox

Review of Eleanor Lennox, “The Fish in the Garden,” Radon Journal 9 (2025): 13-19 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death, and the aftermath of death.

I love stories that focus on the day-to-day, the mundane, the almost-humdrum; there’s enough high-stakes terror in the real world nowadays that I don’t need that in my fiction, too. This story was a perfect example of the former, a quiet meander through the details of life during the 11-year trip to Titan, full of exquisite little snapshots and so sad. What a beautifully put together story this was.

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REVIEW: “We Are Island” by Atalanti Evripidou

Review of Atalanti Evripidou, “We Are Island,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 127-145 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I love it when I read a story where one character’s love for another is so palpable, so shining, that you see it from the very first page and you get swooped up in it. This is one of those stories. Elias’s love for Ren is dazzling, and so is Ren’s for Elias.

And yet, as brightly as is shines, it doesn’t eclipse the background world that Evripidou has deftly constructed through the introduction of one simple change: It’s a world very much like ours except that there are chips available which when implanted allow people access to their familial memories. Evripidou works out the consequences of this one idea in ways that enhance her characters. It’s such a deftly-balanced story; I was super impressed. (And I desperately would love to see it turned into an 8- or 12-episode TV series, if one can do that with such a short story!)

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REVIEW: “Run Time” by Gemma Church

Review of Gemma Church, “Run Time,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 223-269 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Miscarriage; domestic abuse.

The pagination may make this story seem like on the long side for LSQ, but in fact it’s quite a short story, just elaborately formatted, typeset as a back-and-forth text-based conversation — no scene-setting, no description, just dialogue, so that it is in fact quite a quick read. Moreover, the quick pace of it means that there is very little advance warning for when things suddenly turn dark and more than a little bit ugly. There’s a viciousness to one of the characters being discussed that makes the ending so very much more satisfying, when that awful abuser gets his come-uppance.

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REVIEW: “The Grand Finale” by Elly McFadden

Review of Elly McFadden, “The Grand Finale,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 109-124 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Death. Lots of dead family members. And guns. And suicidal plans.

The basic premise of this story is simple, and true: When the apocalypse comes, not everyone can afford to escape it. McFadden’s narrator knows that she is one of those, and so decides to take matters into her own hands, to meet the apocalypse on her own terms. What unfolds is surprisingly lovely, and hopeful, even considering how it ends.

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REVIEW: “Mothering Lessons” by Asa West

Review of Asa West, “Mothering Lessons,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 15-34 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Parental illness.

The background worldbuilding of this story is complex enough that it took me a bit of work to keep track of who was who, but the premise of it made the work more than worth it. Mostly sweet, often incredibly sad, and sometimes wretched, this was a wonderful story about learning how to be a mother — but also about sisterhood, and how complicated it can be, at any stage of life. Make sure you have tissues on hand while reading it. I haven’t cried so hard over something I’ve read for SFFReviews in years.

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REVIEW: “Clean and Godly in Denmark” by Diana Deverell

Review of Diana Deverell, “Clean and Godly in Denmark,” Luna Station Quarterly 60 (2024): 184-200 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I picked this story to start the issue with because it has just the best title — full of humor and giving nothing at all about the story away. I don’t want to spoil the fun for the reader of discovering for themself what kind of a story it is, which makes reviewing it difficult! I’ll only say that the relationship portrayed in it is beautiful, and the story itself was both fun and sobering to read.

(First published in Fiction River – Hard Choices, 2018).

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REVIEW: “Plastic-Eating Fungus Caused Doomsday [2][3]” by Emma Burnett

Review of Emma Burnett, “Plastic-Eating Fungus Caused Doomsday [2][3],” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 12-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This is the first time I’ve encountered a story written in the form of the talk page of a wikipedia article. Burnett constructed this brilliantly, right up to the ending that made me laugh Two thumbs up, recommended reading even if you don’t like fungus!

(First published in Nature: Futures June 2024).

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