Tag: Shana Ross

Review of Shana Ross, “Not Fade Away”, Luna Station Quarterly 40 (2019): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Gabby, salty and brusque, is a witch in private practice — she’s building up a clientele of people in need of three wishes, a glimpse of the future, or, in the case of the anonymous young girl who arrived on her doorstep without any appointment, a potion. Not just any potion, but a particular one:

it was such a straightforward potion – you drank it, it gave you what you wanted most. And so everyone got what they deserved.

But as in any proper fairy tale, what is promised is not what is given. Listening to Gabby recount to her friend Natalie what has happened to those she has given this particular potion to in the past took the story from fantasy and back into a chilling reality — how many of the desires that were granted are ones that so many ordinary women desire, day in and day out? What could’ve been a somewhat saccharine modern-day fairy-tale ended up a sad commentary on modern society.