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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REVIEW: “Luminous Glass, Vibrant Seeds” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires

Review of D.A. Xiaolin Spires, “Luminous Glass, Vibrant Seeds”, Clarkesworld Issue 218, November (2024): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Yet another beautiful story of hope! Clarkesworld is really spoiling us readers lately, each and every story making me feel a certain type of way. This one is a beautiful combination of food, agriculture, and glassblowing, amongst other things.

Set sometime in the future, where people have gotten more in touch with their roots and nature. Decentralization and independence is the focus for many humans here, allusions to a past occurrence that created a sort of dystopia. But humans are resilient. And humans have also always appreciated beauty, right from cave drawing times. Beauty in the craggiest mountain and smallest seed. Oh, and a little green-thumbed robot feels the same way, too. Just lovely.

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REVIEW: “Drunken Supernova” by Keira Perkins

Review of Keira Perkins, “Drunken Supernova,” Small Wonders no. 4 (October 2023): 21-23 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

One of the things that Small Wonders does very well is speculative poetry, and this one is no exception. Perkins’ poem is long enough to be a flash fic piece in itself, but it is very clearly poetry and not just prose that’s been formatted with strange line breaks. It has a tight, clear voice, blending reality and unreality exquisitely, with a sucker punch at the end.

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REVIEW: “On the Bare Unwelcoming Shore” by Zohar Jacobs

Review of Zohar Jacobs, “On the Bare Unwelcoming Shore,” Small Wonders no. 4 (October 2023): 17-19 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

What a beautiful and evocative story this was, exploring the lives of the generation after the generation after the generation that first settled on Mars. It’s ostensibly SF — space travel, planet settling — but the strongest thread in the story, for me, was the way it questioned what religion is and where it comes from. So much in such a small package: I loved it.

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