Here's my review:
Five stars out of five.
This story is beautiful. Cindy Borgne is a titanic voice among new authors. Aside from having won multiple awards early in her career, she dares to explore a short story of love between a wounded soldier and an alien (who more often than not) takes the form of another man. This bold direction is refreshing and powerful because it has the courage to ask "Can we choose with whom we fall in love?" And "does sexual orientation actually matter?"
As a science-fiction story, Cindy is in full command of her powers as she weaves a tale of a world where nearly immortal entities travel in the form of electro-magnetic waves. But for all of their omnipotence and their ability to see the wonders of the universe, they choose to spend time with humans. The how and the why are within the threads of this story.
I strongly urge people to read TransShifter. It's quick...probably will take you an hour is all...and should belong on the same shelf as other great science-fiction shorts such as "For a breath, I tarry" by Roger Zelazny (probably one of my favorite short stories of all time-embedded link if you want to read it yourself).
You can download the short story absolutely FREE from Smashwords HERE. Seriously, it's worth an hour of your time.
Have a great weekend. :)
Sounds like an excellent work. Incidentally, I don't need to ask myself those questions 'cause I already know the answer is no, it doesn't!
ReplyDeleteThe story sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI like sci-fi and the premise, so I'll put this on my Goodreads TBR list. That's the only way I can keep track!! Going to add it now...
ReplyDeleteCrap, I should have checked Smashwords before I bought it off Amazon. Oh well, it was just 99 cents I'd waste on something else, like another XMas song I don't need.
ReplyDeleteI liked it up until the end, which I thought was way too abrupt.
Spoilers!!!!
I mean, how did Chad know to use the generator against the evil shape shifter? He was a soldier, not a physicist or anything. It sure as hell wouldn't occur to me to use a generator against it. Mostly I'd just be running away.
And shouldn't Chad have been more pissed off that he lost a leg to protect "Ray"? And how could "Ray" be a "guardian angel" when he/she caused Chad harm?
Anyway, at some point I think this should be a full-length novel.
I've just added it to my tbr pile. Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend.
ReplyDelete@Grumpy: Well, Chad was inhabited by the alien for quite a while to sustain him. I think that this has something to do on a subconscious level of being able to figure out how to fight the evil shape shifter.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I think that Chad was kind of in love with Ray already and just hadn't realized it. I think Cindy handled it great because sometimes it can take men a long time to come to terms with these "feelings".
@Rusty: It's a short story. It appears long because Cindy has stuck a five chapter preview of Vallar in the book along with it as a marketing tool but TransShifter shouldn't take you long at all.
@Brinda: I'm with you on using Goodreads to organize books now. I do the same.
Thanks everyone for visiting this morning! I hope all your Christmas shopping is going well. I still have so much to do.
I love short sci-fi. It's about all I have time for lately. I'll put it on my kindle later today. Thanks for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteooh, this sounds great. I'm totally going to download this once i get my laptop back from the shop
ReplyDeleteSounds incredibly unique. Downloaded.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great work. Thanks for the heads-up. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have it on my iPad!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike for the great review. I wrote this story about a year ago and orginally it was meant to be a novelette. It was published by a small press which only pays royalties, however, I have never received any $ for it. (imagine that) and they only had first rights, so I publihsed it myself.
ReplyDeletePerhaps some people will be furstrated it's not longer or they may think it's abrupt at the end, but orginally it was written to be in an anthology. I have thought of continuing it.
I published it because I want it to go free on Amazon as a sample of my writing, but I have not been blessed by the Amazonian Gods in that way yet.
Thanks, Michael. I'll have to read this. Congrats to Cindy on a great story.
ReplyDeleteI plan to read it over the holidays. Sounds very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great review. Sounds like an awesome book.
ReplyDeleteSounds good. Now all I need is my new e-reader (that I suspect I'm getting for Christmas. shhhh).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. I guess i found the next book to read. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful holidays! Esp a prosperous new year!
JJRod'z
Did you ever see Star Trek Next Generation where Dr. Crusher falls in love with a male alien who later changes into a female? It was an excellent show. This sounds like a good book and I'll go get it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting read... will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI love your enthusiasm, so I've grabbed it to read later when I've got some peace and quiet. I'll let you know what I think.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an intriguing read. I've added it toy list of things to read over the Christmas break.
ReplyDeleteThat should read 'to my list'! :-)
ReplyDeleteJust the title grabbed my attention - I'm a sucker for GLBT science fiction.
ReplyDelete