Search Beyond: The Casting by Harry J. Bentham

Tell us what you think of the December 2013 issue!

Moderator: Editors

Post Reply
User avatar
Lester Curtis
Long Fiction Editor
Posts: 2736
Joined: January 11, 2010, 12:03:56 AM
Location: by the time you read this, I'll be somewhere else

Search Beyond: The Casting by Harry J. Bentham

Post by Lester Curtis »

This story has the feel of an old pulp space opera; a lot of the action has that sort of overexcited tone to it. There's a fair amount of info-dump via dialog and by the main character's internal monolog. Not too bad, but it was noticeable. Setting was nicely done, but the characters were pretty thin.

The application of italics to that internal monolog was incomplete in the first paragraph.

The story title seems to suggest that this is one part of a larger series or collection, and the story itself gives that impression as well. I can't quite make sense of the title, though; it doesn't seem to have much to do with the story. Maybe we just need to see the other chapters, if there truly are others.

A lot of literary self-help material these days focuses on conflict, and this story had a little problem with that, in that nearly all of the conflict in the story was internal to the alien character Herb. This, to me, reinforces the feeling that there are other chapters in this tale.

Very fast-paced, but not always in a good way; I felt at times that the story was jumping ahead of itself. So, some parts of it could be stretched out to give the feeling of a passage of time and to vary the pace a little.
I was raised by humans. What's your excuse?
Post Reply

Return to “December 2013”