“Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach” is a fascinating, humanist piece of science fiction. Despite having almost no conflicts, barely anything that counts as a propelled plot, it’s intriguing all the way through. Reading it instills so many emotions: sadness, joy, wistful nostalgia, and the exact type of curiosity that incredible concepts have all the power to invoke.
“The Long Game” is actually a story about very short periods of time and the exploitation of a species. Its title refers to one idea in the story, among a few different, some related, some not, concepts—and the greatest strength of this one, like “How It Unfolds,” is how interesting those ideas are.
Imagine, if you will, a series of spaceships housing all of humanity.
Now imagine the level of work it would take to keep such locations livable and pleasant.
“Falling Bodies” is an outlier, so far, in this collection. The concept of time does play a part in the story, but no more than any story that deals with someone’s past. There are plenty of sci-fi elements, but it takes place on a normal time scale.
An extra-dimensional species simply called “Needles” has just arrived—and things have gotten bad.
“Void” is a murder mystery story, front and center. And, with as much forthrightness, I’ll admit to my lack of knowledge of the subgenre. I don’t know the conventions.
“How Things Unfold” is beautiful, devastating, heartbreaking, hopeful, fascinating, imaginative, and yet so much more. It’s a short story that captures a human message while delivering a sci-fi concept that feels original. And all of that in such a short page count.
Much has been said, no doubt, about the social satire inherent to Severance. It’s the most immediate aspect of the show—and only continues to become more aggressive as the series continues. But I am not the reviewer to talk about its accuracy to either the feelings inherent to such a type of work or the setting’s accuracy.
A conversation can reveal so much information. But what if we only hear one side of it?
And we’re back, dear reader, and things are about to get scary.
There was something very bad down in that forgotten laboratory.
Hello, dear reader. Today, we have something a little more serious than our last two-parter.
Last time, we talked briefly about how some science fiction stories are just normal stories with a different coat of paint. And, just like last time, that statement has no bearing on the story presented.
