Flash Fiction Online #29, February 2016

“Love Letters on the Nightmare Sea” by Rachael K. Jones

Reviewed by Chuck Rothman

The February issue of Flash Fiction Online concentrates on love stories. Three of them are literary fiction, but there are two with genre themes.

“Love Letters in a Nightmare Sea” by Rachel K. Jones is the story of a woman shipwrecked on a desert island after being attacked by some strange creatures, perhaps alien, that have stung her lover Suneeti, putting her in a coma. The narrator had to learn to escape them – with something Suneeti has left. It’s a rather simple story (not surprising because of its length) that is ultimately about solving the problem through love.

Raven Jakubowski contributes “Sister Margo’s Heart.” Margo is a nun made of porcelain, who discovers that her heart – a clear cube in her chest – is starting to beat. It turns out she had given up her body to take this form, and her human form is in a room beneath a convent. It’s about release from her condition, with a charming coda at the end.

In both stories, there were uncharted depths not apparent on first glance. That‘s unusual in flash fiction, and made for some great reading.

Chuck Rothman’s novels Staroamer’s Fate and Syron’s Fate were recently republished by Fantastic Books.