Space Ships & Other Trips A Short Story Collection Book#2
Science Fiction, Anthology, Short Stories
Grey Sun Press
July 1, 2023
Kindle
210
Amazon
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Q-BE
Mikala must write a paper on economics during the Civil War, not easy since she finds economics in the present confusing. If she fails, the course she will lose financial aid and be a major disappointment to her grandmother. When a box is given to her by one of the students it contains a very expense phone which seems to have a mind of its own. She is introduced to Q-BE, an app on her new phone who offers help.
Q-BE offers information on tutors and proves helpful till it begins to request money. Other students appear to have the same phone as Mikala and there is a question of whether the school is responsible for the phones as part of a research program. What began as a free helpful phone turns out to be anything but free.
Hands
Depression leaves a person without hope, with a feeling that they are choking. This story is about being a survivor with injuries as a constant reminder of what happened.
Ol’ St. Nick
Mark Bane is the captain of the Perffaith a salvage ship. A battered spaceship promises the chance of a big haul that will bring much needed money for ship repairs. There is no crew and where everyone went is a mystery but that meant no interference in taking what they need. The mystery of the missing crew was nothing compared to the mystery of finding a dead man when there were no indications of anyone being aboard the ship. The man is wearing a suit, and everyone believed it was Santa Claus, but the man was far from being a man who gives and cares. Someone recognizes the man, but it was a secret that was not shared immediately. Now the captain and crew are searching for a murderer who is one of their own. This space story goes from salvaging to a murder mystery that keeps you guessing.
Drip
Wildfires burning, people running but what happens when you are far removed from the fires, yet your mind keeps going a hundred miles an hour worrying about what to do if the fire reaches you. I have suffered from insomnia trying everything to get to sleep but never thought about a drip.
Level Up
This is a scary look at what the future might hold. Sara is a trans whose husband divorced her leaving her without money, a home and in hiding from the sweeps. The sweeps mean death for someone like Sara. It was her husband that turned her in now she is homeless and digging through dumpsters for food. Another trans finds Sara and offers help but she is about to discover what lies ahead and it is not pretty.
Scouts Honor
When Pia’s father was killed by the ghost fleet his airship La Hermana del Bendito sol became his, but he owes the cartel for the repairs the ship needed. Pia needs a job and goes to Jefe of the cartel. He is assigned to complete the job his father undertook before he and his crew were murdered. This time Pia hopes to have success, or he will die by Jefe’s hands if the ghost fleet doesn’t get him first. The discovery of a destroyed ship is also the discovery of Scout Diego. Scouts ride around in airships reading the weather. Pia wants nothing more than to get his family name and honor back, but he must be successful in his mission and then hope that Jefe is honorable and rewards him. A story of good against evil, Mexico City in desperate shape but everyone trying to survive.
D.E.A.T.H.
What would happen if all diseases were eradicated, and no one aged? Well, this story answers that question, you build a machine called D.E.A.T.H., a machine that chooses who dies and when. Of course, the rule is that no one is under the age of thirty, but it is a machine and they do get bugs. Then there is the question of can the machine be reprogrammed and if so, what horror awaits the innocent. This story presents some very horrific examples of what a death machine is capable of.
The stories in this collection were scary and some of them had my mind going in circles wondering about the possibility of some of them happening in the future. I also took note of some stories that made me see things differently I.e., the story about “it’s just a bird” and owning a pet and having a different approach to shopping on Christmas.