Posted by Nicky Drayden on Oct 14, 2014 in
Writer's Life Scigentasy
http://www.scigentasy.com/what-purpose-a-heart/
Author Website: http://www.rachaelacks.com
Sergeant Maly is a deck rat aboard an interstellar ship, crewed by rotten, yet respectable misfits. When a thin, mysterious Mahadi comes aboard with even more mysterious carry-ons, Maly’s life gets a lot more complicated. Does the stranger somehow sense Maly’s deepest secrets?
In her worst nightmares she saw Imir Collective Hunters as warped holes in space, something no one else in the crew knew to fear as more than ghosts. In this quadrant, the Imir Collective was as much a fortress of whispered fish stories as the Mahadi, blood and guts and horror instead of mystical fairy tales. Only Malys knew how much of the blood was true.
She knew because that blood was in her veins, deceptively red and hot. But the Imiri never came this far out. She kept that as an article of faith, the reason she still lived.
A strong theme of disquiet runs through this story–an unease with strangers, friends, and self alike. It translates well to the reader, and it makes the characters come to life. I dread as Maly does, feeling the weight of the decisions she must make and respect what she has denied herself for fear of her truths. This story is an engaging read, and packs a good punch for its length. Give it a read.
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Oct 10, 2014 in
Writer's Life Bikes in Space
http://takingthelane.com/product/bikes-in-space/
(Disclaimer, I have a story that also appears in this issue. Any typos in the story sample are mine.)
In this little flash piece, we get a slice of life story of a girl with a bike route on the moon. “Newspaper delivery on the moon?” I’m sure you’re asking yourself. But in the moon town of Summersville, Last Haven of Small Town America, people pay a hefty price to keep up appearances of a nostalgic time that none of them had actually lived through.
But delivering newspapers wasn’t a bad job. The ad on the telescreen had specified that a paperboy was wanted, but once the committee in charge of the town had seen how she could ride, they hired her immediately. They had given her the bike, to which she had made a few discreet modifications. They cautioned her about “maintaining authenticity,” but the adjustments were almost invisible to the untrained eye, and anyway no one was awake during her shifts.
This piece does its job at making the reader feel nostalgia for a simpler time. I remember my parents getting their news from the paper, instead of me getting it from a screen. I don’t have a robot to do my lawn…yet…but that day is already here. This story is a simple one, but it’s also a refreshing view of our future. Will there be towns like this on the moon? Will we ever revert to a simpler time, and give up the luxuries of technology, just for the pleasure of it all?
Tags: Bikes in Space, Moon Colonies, Short Story, Short Women in Space
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Oct 8, 2014 in
Writer's Life Daily Science Fiction
http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/space-travel/rebecca-hodgkins/the-rocketeer
Rocketeering: It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. That’s what I came away with after reading The Rocketeer, in which a jaded, veteran astronaut is irritated by the over-enthused nature of her barfellows in a space station orbiting Mars. She’s surrounded by young “Major Toms” who have no idea of the boredom that awaits them in the Big Black. She’s bitter, yes, and in addition to mental tolls, Space has left its physical damage upon her as well:
The Rocketeer has that peculiar frailty of the long-time flyer. Her body is stretched, emaciated, a side effect of not enough gravity. Because she has so little body tone, a mini-rocket on her back keeps her up, an anti-gravity pack fighting against the simgrav. The vets all have one. The rocket is very conspicuous, silver metal against the black fabric of her suit.
A particularly nice piece of imagery, and one that also parallels the Rocketeer’s feeling of being adrift, no longer connected to the Earth she’d fled decades ago. She’s not connected to anything now, but an honest conversation with one of the Major Toms forces her to reconsider the value of life how she fits into this universe.
As far as craft goes, I thought it was an interesting choice to alternate POVs between the Rocketeer and the Major Tom. It took me a bit to settle into it, and by the time I did, the story was almost over. The escapist in me was a bit bummed by the realness of this story. While it was not a story written for me, it is well-written and worth a read.
