SFF Reviews - Science Fiction and Fantasy

Review of A Handful of Mud by Artyv K (3082 words) Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 036 : Read Online A world where everyone lives in subterranean rooms, where kids haven't even seen the sunlight or the land up there. And then grandmum smuggles in some mud. Dana, our narrator and the older child, is more aware of the possible repercussions of such an action. The younger one Mtra, is too young to understand much, and just wants some chocolate. The grandmother is an interesting, unencumbered character. She does not really care for their current circumstances, having had a full life above ground, a freer life. The good old days. The kids have not experiences it and as such have nothing to compare their current living situation to. She misses the freedom of choice - down to the food eaten everyday, and the ability to grow a plant in your house. Naturally, she is very excited about acquiring A Handful of Mud. I really enjoyed the references to India and Indian culture, and how much...

Review of Finnegan by Meghan MacLean Weir (1006 words) Flash Fiction Online, May 2019 Issue :  Read Online A touching story of motherly love, irrespective of biological connection. The story starts with Carrie, a social worker associated with hospitals, who is presently working with an unnamed infant, whom she names Finnegan. She has decided to steal him, because she think she would treat the child better than his biological mom. You can tell that she also desperately wants a child. She justifies taking the baby (to herself) by mentioning that the mother won't be a good mother, that she probably even didn't want the baby to begin with. And she, Carrie, would do a much better job. She makes up her mind, down to the day and time, about when she will take him. But the mother arrives, a natural with her son, and she seems to be a good person. That interaction makes Carrie wonder, and you as a reader will feel a pang at that moment, because you will, by now, have picked a si...

Review of  The Alien Invasion As Seen in the Twitter Stream of @dweebless  by Jake Kerr  (1002 words) Unidentified Funny Objects : Buy Here UFO Publishing :  Read Online A humorous take on our modern day obsession with social media. Aliens are invading us, and they want us all to move to Canada. Yep, they've designated Canada as a safe spot for humans, and they want everything else. @dweebless and others on the Twitter timeline think that it's a total joke. A promo for a movie, in fact. One that they don't even want to watch, because what noobs, they don't even know how to transcode a video to YouTube. And they've called themselves @AlienOverlords, to boot. Nobody is taking it seriously, complaining about Nickelback and RTing as a joke. It's a very realistic portayal of what's happening, down to Reddit blowing up with supposed proof. It's fun to see how it plays out, and it's a thin line between funny, and if-this-happens-this-is-pro...

Review of Bedtime Snacks for Baby by Catherine George (993 words) Flash Fiction Online, May 2019 Issue :  Read Online I read this halfway, then I went back to the top and started reading it again. I did this twice. An absolutely beautiful story, and I'm posting this review on Mother's Day! Quite fitting, I suppose. This is an extremely well written story, and Catherine George manages to build a wonderful world in this short format. I was intrigued by the use of placeholder words from the very beginning of the story. The fact that words aren't mentioned, but rather a description of the thing in itself. For example, the word cat is replaced throughout the story by [word for domesticated feline] .  As the story progresses, the reasoning becomes clearer, and also slightly terrifying. The child literally eats words. A spoken word takes shape, and the child eats it. And then those words cease to exist, globally. I will say that the incident in itself would seem terrifyi...

Review of Bog Witch by Maya Dworsky (2291 words) Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 036 : Read Online I love this! Bog Witch is a kickass story, and Taterra is an amazing person. She's a scientist on Hecate III, an old prison moon that she was wheedled into going to for academic purposes as part of the Lioness Project. As she reminds herself ever so often - she chose this. I love that shes a scientist turned witch, and that she's so in control. I enjoyed the feminist angle to the story, too. On Hecate III, thoughts become things. Your beliefs literally shape reality there. How could a scientist pass up on the opportunity to implant herself in this world and observe? But of course, she ends up changing their fabric of reality as well. They think of her as a magician, a witch; and that is what she becomes. As a magician and witch, she becomes part of the royal court, and a girl-prince is born after many many years. Why? Because Taterra said it, and all the women believed it...

Review of The Palm Bride by Diana Hurlburt (6768 words) Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 033 : Read Online . The Palm Bride is an evocative, historical fantasy story. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Hurlburt has a way with words, and her subtleties are wonderful. It's a post-war setting, in a beautiful house named Villa Reina, owned by Mrs Cobbs. Miss Randolph, from Seneca Falls, travelled to St. Augustine to figure out what ghostly activities were happening there. The Palm Bride, or more accurately, the Palmer's Bride, had been created, and what came was a spirit named Ada Nuit - mildly sinister, clearly powerful, and having a strange effect on the one man present in the story. Like I said, very evocatively written. It was a clean, unambiguous ending. Read it, if nothing else then for the beautiful way it was written. Support us on Ko-fi -  https://ko-fi.com/ohjustbooks  

I'd like the first post to be a welcome post for all your lovely SFF lovers. Oh Just Books  started as a passion project reviewing all sorts of books, and is turning into a great community and platform. Oh Just SFF is, you guessed, it, all about SFF! We will be reviewing short stories, online magazines, print magazines, anthologies, novellas, and whatever other medium we fancy. OJB launched 2 years ago in March 2017, and here we are with OJSFF in March 2019! We hope you'll enjoy the reviews and find wonderful new works to read. Spreading the joy of new writing -- one article at a time. Support us on Ko-fi -  https://ko-fi.com/ohjustbooks