★★★☆☆ Average
(SF Sports) When hostile aliens start destroying the Earth, athletes from the Women’s Roller Derby come to the rescue. (5,154 words; Time: 17m)
"The Thing with the Helmets," by Emily C. Skaftun [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 150, published on March 1, 2019.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.158 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: With the magic helmets and everyone’s casual attitude toward the mayhem caused by the aliens, it’s pretty clear this is meant to be amusing, not horrifying. Sort of like Saturday morning cartoons.
I liked the fact that the magic helmets came with a price; using them too long was fatal, but the longer you used them, the more you wanted to use them. Helga was luck to survive it. (It tickled me that your mother using your full name was stronger magic.)
Con: How many of these aliens were there anyway? There seem to have been enough to trash the whole world and yet so few that Helga and her friends were largely able to eliminate the threat just by killing the ones in her town.
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Emily C. Skaftun Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: With the magic helmets and everyone’s casual attitude toward the mayhem caused by the aliens, it’s pretty clear this is meant to be amusing, not horrifying. Sort of like Saturday morning cartoons.
I liked the fact that the magic helmets came with a price; using them too long was fatal, but the longer you used them, the more you wanted to use them. Helga was luck to survive it. (It tickled me that your mother using your full name was stronger magic.)
Con: How many of these aliens were there anyway? There seem to have been enough to trash the whole world and yet so few that Helga and her friends were largely able to eliminate the threat just by killing the ones in her town.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Emily C. Skaftun Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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