We Read Science Fiction

Every so often I’m contacted by a new author who would like me to read his or her new book. If they’ve at least bothered to print a hard copy that I can read in bed, then I usually accept. Far too long ago, Simon Just contacted me and asked me if I’d be interested in reading his collection of short stories World, Other World.

This book is divided into two halves. The first is World and is mostly general fiction stories that aren’t specifically science or science fiction in nature. Other World is his collection of his science fiction shorts. This review covers mostly the second half of the book.

Summary: Simon is an up-and-coming science fiction writer who has solid ideas and simply needs more time and experience to work them into novella-length stories. If you want to dive into his universe and see his stories unfold check out Other World.

World, Other World warrants a rating just shy of 3/5 in my books. It definitely has some neat and special ideas in it, so 2/5 would be a bit harsh. Maybe 2.7 would be more accurate. If I were rating just the second half, I’d probably say 3.5/5 or so.

In general I found most of the book to be a collection of story fragments and idea seeds. Some are very, very interesting and others, like most of the World half, aren’t. I’ve already said I’m not a short story fan since I like deep character development, side stories and the interplay between characters and their world. The part I enjoyed most about this book was the ideas but in the end, as always with shorts, I felt like it was a book of movie trailers, like going to see the feature presentation and leaving after the previews were done. For some stories (Doze in particular) I was left wanting much more, while others ended and were erased from memory immediately.

However, two stories continue to stick out in my mind (6 months after I read them) so I’ll discuss them here for you to judge.

Doze

Doze covers the story of a drifter who has yet to find his place in life. The world is remarkably like our own with one small twist. In this world it is possible to sell Sleep to people who don’t want to slow down and rest for for the night. Many people make careers out of staying in bed all day sleeping so that others can stay awake for days or weeks on end. Corporations hire sleepers so they can get more productivity out of their workers without paying ‘retail’ rates for Sleep. Sleep is offered up like a drug and can be an employment perk akin to corporate health insurance or 401k contributions.

This short was by far my favorite story of them all. However, I showed it to a few other people and the consistent comment was “Where’s the rest of it?” The story seemed much more like a first chapter of a great novella. It drops the reader into this strange world with a jolt, but it also ends with a jolt. I emailed Simon with over a dozen follow up questions and ideas about this one story alone. He tells me he’s working it into a proper novel. I hope I get an advance copy of it!

In short, Doze felt like a classic Philip K Dick short and even reminded me a lot of Johnny Mnemonic (NOT the movie!).

As Strange As Most

Probably the single best space bar scene I’ve ever read. Funny, powerful and fast with an ending that makes you feel like the bouncer just kicked you out to the curb without a space suit. I can’t say more without giving it all away, but this is one that I hope Simon finds an alternative means of distribution for. Maybe an EscapePod Flash piece? Maybe even as a free downloadable PDF from his site? Whatever it is, if this appears online in any sort of instant-gratification form I’ll be sure to let you all know.

At $12 on Amazon, World, Other World is a bit steep in terms of entertainment value compared to some of the more popular authors, but at the same time everyone has to start someplace don’t they? Good luck Simon, and keep writing!