Old Moon Quarterly Issue 1 Review
Written: 28-11-2025
I'm going to break this down into mini reviews of each of the stories.
"A Town Called Trepidation" by Paula Hammond
I always like a Western. This idea of a western in an alternate history felt a little odd to me at first. The different cultures who have explored the new world feel like a façade rather than giving much actual substance to the story. At the end of the day it still feels like a western. The magic system is cool though and I would like to see some more exploration of this.
"Stella Splendens" by Graham Thomas Wilcox
This one is really just one very well written fight scene where luck and chance come into play as much as skill and training. There is some surrounding information about the motivations of the fight and how the fighter felt afterwards and about the event which are well done, but the fight is what it is about.
"The Questing Beast" by Carys Crossen
The highlight of the issue and of most fantasy short stories I have read. I love the idea of writing from the perspective of the monster and the idea of the monster being partially misunderstood but also partially thinking its misdeeds are right. I also like the way this was incorporated into Arthurian legend and how roles get reversed throughout the story. There is also this very unique feature of the beast having multiple minds. All around very good.
"Brightstar" by Mob
Brightstar didn't do much for me. It felt a bit like a generic Viking battle where some weird creatures turned up and nothing really interesting was made out of it. Probably my least favourite of the bunch.