Review of Timothy Hickson, “Constellations of Flesh, Bone, and Memory,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 25-27 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was an interesting, if slightly uncomfortable, read, full of memory and heredity and genetics. SF regularly reminds us that the future isn’t necessarily better than the present, and that’s certainly the moral I took from this story.
Review of Janna Miller, “The Sternum Ties it All Together,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 22-24 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a surprisingly gruesome little story — not quite body horror, but adjacent to it. Not ordinarily my cup of tea, but there was something quite gripping about it.
(First published in The Molotov Cocktail, 2022).
Review of Casey Lucas, “Lekythos,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 20 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
There’s a lot of mythological allusions in this poem, but for me they didn’t quite all seem to hang together in a coherent way. I was a bit underwhelmed by the poem until the final two lines, which are brilliant.
Review of Wendy Nikel, “Whispers of Ascension,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 17-19 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a gripping little modern ghost story. I was particularly taken by the way in which the setting was both very vivid and yet only slowly revealed, something that’s difficult to do within the limitations of flash fic.
Review of Avi Burton, “Quantum Eurydice,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 14-16 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Oh, I really loved this. It’s part myth, part literary commentary, and part Eurydice coming into her own. It’s the sort of story I’d give to my students to show them what stories can be.
(First published in Fantasy Magazine 2022).
Review of Amy Johnson, “The Mummy Gets Adopted,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 10-12 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This lovely little poem features a cat, and is therefore an entirely excellent poem which everyone should read.
Review of Morgan Welch, “Hikari,” Small Wonders no. 7 (January 2024): 7-9 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Death of a parent.
It’s not often that I read a story where so little happens and yet by the end of it, I feel satisfied. “Hikari” is one of those stories, so quiet and still and calm that you feel better for having read it.
Review of Aimee Ogden, “To Persist, However Changed,” Small Wonders no. 3 (September 2023): 27-28 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a very sciencey science fiction, full of botanical terms. It’s tricky to take plants and make them into sympathetic characters, and I struggled a bit with getting past the jargon. But maybe someone more familiar with the vocabulary would enjoy the story more!
Review of Myna Chang, “Let Us Dream,” Small Wonders no. 3 (September 2023): 25 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This beautiful piece straddling the boundaries of prose and poetry is full of sorrow and loss and regret.
Review of Rachael K. Jones, “How My Sister Talked Me Into Necromancy During Quarantine,” Small Wonders no. 3 (September 2023): 22-23 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Everyone has at least one pandemic bad decision in their closet, whether it’s sourdough starter gone green or ordering jellybeans by the kilo from amazon. This is the perfect story for anyone who wants to feel a bit better about their own bad decision, which probably pales in comparison’s to Becca’s decision to let her sister Lila live with her during lockdown. Short, sweet, funny — a great antidote to plague blues.
SFF Reviews