This is more of an essay. There isn’t a plot as such. The reader is told that what is referred to as a “kill switch” is more complicated than a single switch. What is referred to as a gene is more complicated than a single gene. “That’s the history of genetics right there. Applying chosenContinue reading “Review of “Kill Switch” by A. P. Howell”
Category Archives: Daily Science Fiction
Review of “The Castle of Wine and Clouds” by Jenny Rae Rappaport
Plot: “It begins with the Tyrant,” the reader is told. When the war is over, and a new king is crowned, the people are secure. They overlook the gradual eroding of less consequential rights. People disappear in the night. In the country, among those who work the land, the memory that things were ever differentContinue reading “Review of “The Castle of Wine and Clouds” by Jenny Rae Rappaport”
Review of “Inertia” by Wendy Nikel
Plot: The unnamed narrator and her unnamed mate meet at the launch pad. “Is it love at first sight?” he asks her. “Does it matter?” she responds. They are one of a one hundred assigned couples about to be sent off to replenish the human race on a distant world. They will sleep in suspendedContinue reading “Review of “Inertia” by Wendy Nikel”
Review of “A Plague of Santas” by Emily Dorffer
This is not really a story, as there is no plot. It is a portrait, a satire of the frenzy surrounding Christmas time. And it is cute. “It starts innocently enough in November,” the reader is told. “A shortage of cookies and milk at the grocery store, a faint jingling at night, the lingering scentContinue reading “Review of “A Plague of Santas” by Emily Dorffer”
Review of “Tenure” by Andy Tubbesing
Plot: The Philosopher is out walking up the slate steps up Academy Hill, as she frequently does when puzzling out problems. The path circles the school so she can pace it for hours if need be. A call to wait up comes from the Artisan. “Well, keep up,” the Philosopher grumbles. The Philosopher despises theContinue reading “Review of “Tenure” by Andy Tubbesing”
Review of “Rainbows” by William R.D. Wood
Note: the story comes with an editorial warning from Daily Science Fiction that it is a dark, adult tale. In short, you won’t see any rainbows. Plot: Jacob holds his four-year-old daughter Becca up to the basement window so she can look out to the outside world. There, the reader is told, “[a] cloud ofContinue reading “Review of “Rainbows” by William R.D. Wood”
Review of “The Last Rider of the Apocalypse” by Floris M. Kleijne
Plot: The Four Horsemen of lore—Pestilence, Famine, War, and Death, have destroyed humanity in an Apocalypse, leaving only Porcaleo alive. Porcaleo pursues them with vengeance across the vast expanse of space through Andromeda and the Horsehead Nebula. With the final quarry, a problem arises: how does one kill Death? Thoughts: This was a fun littleContinue reading “Review of “The Last Rider of the Apocalypse” by Floris M. Kleijne”
Review of “The Raleigh Temple of Artemis” by Caroline Diorio
Plot: The reader is told that the Temple of Artemis closes at midnight, and it’s now 11:52. The narrator apologizes to the snake-headed girl in the UNC Chapel Hill sweatshirt who’s cleaning the statue of Artemis. She’s waiting for someone. Not that she has an appointment. She tells the reader she just knows the otherContinue reading “Review of “The Raleigh Temple of Artemis” by Caroline Diorio”
Review of “The Colossus Stops” by Dafydd McKimm
The Colossus that has circled the waters outside the island three times a day as long as anyone can remember has stopped. From birth, the people know the sound of its great gears, forever turning, as it protected the island from pirate ships. On the day before yesterday, the Colossus slowed, making only two rounds.Continue reading “Review of “The Colossus Stops” by Dafydd McKimm”
Review of “The History of the World in Four Sentences” by Liam Hogan
This history of the world is relayed as a bedtime story from a man to his great-granddaughter. She knows it as the story of the things their “an-ces-tors did wrong, an’ what our future is.” Annoyed, the great-grandfather tells the story in four short sentences. The little girl prefers the longer version with Adam andContinue reading “Review of “The History of the World in Four Sentences” by Liam Hogan”
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 