Friday, September 22, 2017

Overburden, by Genevieve Valentine

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(Military SF) After seven years of non-stop war on a colony planet, Colonel Davis thinks he finally sees a way to get promoted to general and, as a side-effect, end the war. (6,770 words; Time: 22m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

"Overburden," by (edited by Jonathan Strahan), appeared in (RSR review), published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: Davis gets his comeuppance, and the war really does come to an end—sort of.

Con: Davis is so incompetent it beggars disbelief. To a degree that’s played for laughs, but the story is far from humorous.

The story is confusing in many ways. Right off the bat it says that Cirrus Prime “brought down” the Glorious Forces, which makes it sound as though they were on the same side. We’re told that David killed Carter with a metal rod, but at a different point we’re told that he had strangled him.

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3 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. This was strange -- a lot of off-page world-building that I couldn't quite suss out. Right away I was wondering why the pond was constantly spitting up dead carp.

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    Replies
    1. A surprising number of stories imply really heavy worldbuilding. Sometimes I find myself both recommending against a story and yet curious about reading a novel in the same universe.

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  2. Reprinted now at Lightspeed:

    http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/overburden/

    ReplyDelete