Genre:
Science Fiction/Short Story
Description:
“When
a World War-II era Naval vessel mysteriously appears in the middle of
the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, Professor Henry
Kelvin and CIA agent Jason West are called away from a meeting with
the President of the United States to investigate yet another
singularity related to The Phenomenon. The ship is positively
identified as the U.S.S. Eldridge, a name synonymous with one of the
nation's oldest conspiracy theories, the alleged Philadelphia
Experiment. Finding out how and why the Eldridge has arrived in
present-day Norfolk will push Kelvin and West's sanity to their
limits as they gradually fall victim to the reality-warping secret at
the heart of the Eldridge.”
Author:
“Trevor
Judd grew up in rural Tennessee but moved to Colorado after serving
six years in the U.S. Air Force where he was an exceptional golf
caddy for various generals and his coffee making skills became the
stuff of legend. He was raised on a steady diet of comic books,
violent cartoons, science fiction novels and action movies, so it
wasn't very surprising when he started writing his own stories at the
age of 8. He continues to write in his spare time, between classes or
when the boss isn't looking.”
Appraisal:
This
short story is the second in a series of four (so far) dealing with
singularities that are appearing on Earth. The introductory science
read like a string (sic) of quantum jargon to me, but then quantum
physics is mostly inexplicable to me anyway. So what I received from
the author was sufficient to convey that a crisis in the universe is
underway and that’s what is causing the singularities.
Once
the characters get onto the USS Eldridge, I was sucked into the time
warp, which was well described and entertaining and brought to mind
the TV series “Fringe,” which I also enjoyed.
I
don’t read many short stories (I didn’t realise it was a short
until I’d finished it, d’oh!), so I can’t really judge if this
was long enough. I wouldn’t have objected to some fleshing out, but
it was a fast, fun read.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating:
****
Four
Stars
Reviewed
by:
Pete Barber
Approximate
word count:
10-11,000 words
1 comment:
I like the variety of lengths we get with indie publishing. A 10K story can explore an idea fully - but it doesn't have to be a big idea with lots of legs. The SF community is still doing this in its grandee magazines like Asimov's and Analog. But that used to be the only way to get to read them.
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