Review of Wen Wen Yang, “Out of Print,” Flash Fiction Online 144 (September 2025): 22-25 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Writers often speak of their characters as if they have a life of their own. This story was a gripping and touching take on that premise.
(First published in Apex, May 2024.)
Review of Wen Wen Yang, “Granny’s Spider,” Small Wonders no. 4 (October 2023): 13-15 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Gwen has never known what happened to The First One, Granny’s first husband and the grandfather of Gwen’s husband, and this story is the story of how she asked and found out. I actually really struggled with this story for perhaps a silly reason: Granny knew that The First One was not a good one quite early on, already back when her kids were young. She says she went to a lawyer and was advised to go and ask for a divorce. But this is below the Mason-Dixon line, and Granny is 80, so assuming this was in the 1960s…lots of states didn’t introduce no-fault divorces until 1970 or later, and prior to that it was just not that easy for a woman to “go and get a divorce”. So would this really have been what a lawyer would advise her?
It’s such a small point to get hung up on, but get hung up on it I did (paused in the middle of the story to go trawling down wikipedia to confirm my hazy memory for dates), and while I love a story that causes me to wikipedia dive, I don’t like it so much when I feel the need to do it in the middle of the story as a fact-check mechanism.
(First published in The Arcanist 2021.)
Review of Wen Wen Yang, “The Illusionist’s Daughter,” Luna Station Quarterly 57 (2024): 196-210 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a story of a haunting ghost, generational trauma, sexual assault, and women standing up for each other. It ended on a hopeful not, but given its contents it’s probably not a story for everyone.
Review of Wen Wen Yang, “The Fox Spirit’s Retelling,” Flash Fiction Online (May 2023): 20-22 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This was a lovely little ghost tale, full of hauntings and spirits and stories that never get fully told.
(Originally published in Remapping Wonderland: Classic Fairytales Retold by People of Color, January 2021.)
SFF Reviews