Wanderling by Benjamin Taylor Jr.

Tell us what you thought of the February 2010 issue.
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Lester Curtis
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Post by Lester Curtis »

And I like the reveal at the end of the story. While this is a common device in sci fi stories I think it works well in this case.
I disagree; I felt that almost ruined the thing for me, harkening too strongly back to an old Twilight Zone formula. Up until that point, I liked it quite a bit, although it was a little bit of a stretch that the captain should suddenly have such a change of heart about these phenomena -- and then I saw that ending and said, "oh, not again . . . "

To me, the better surprise was that the ship didn't turn out to just be a seafaring vessel, which I had gotten to thinking it was.

The descriptive language was impressively beautiful, btw.

I really feel that this device has been way overused, and should be avoided, maybe even included on the List Of Things Not To Be Done.
Megawatts
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Post by Megawatts »

My only criticism about this story is that the Captain, the First and the Chief biologist have no real names.

Referring to them as Captain and First makes them impersonal and a little artificial.

If during the beginning of the story the author gave them real concrete names, then referred to them by their ranks as the story progressed, well that would have added some more dimension to the characters.

I understand why no names were mentioned. That author wanted to conceal to the reader that the ship was alien. And with no names mentioned except Captain and First, the author attempted to conceal that fact. I knew something was up when no names were mentioned at the beginning, yet I didn’t figure out what it was. Possibly, with no names, the author knew that some reader would pick up on that and really try to figure out why no names were used!! I don't know, but not using names in this story wasn't any critical error or failure in judgment with character development. It was just a small point that I thought should be brought up.

Very good description, dialogue sounded natural and the characters did come alive. But I still think that names would have helped in character development.

Good one :D
Tesla Lives!!!
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