Last week, armed with my Kindle, a lunch break and a desire to read short fiction, I settled on a couple of ebook shorter works from multiple award winning author Connie Willis.
In the novella All Seated on the Ground, aliens have landed in Denver, Colorado. Contrary to our long-held fears, they did not come to subjugate us, nor to steal our women; they don’t even seem particularly interested in being taken to our leader(s). What they do seem to be interested in, is nothing. A Commission is formed to attempt to communicate with the aliens, and after several months of failures, the membership is dwindling and those remaining are running out of ideas. With December 25th fast approaching, the Commission resorts to taking the aliens with them to experience the variety of an American Christmas. The results are quite surprising. My rating: 7.5/10
D.A. (which stands for something that matters in the story…thus no spoilers), is a novella that is reminiscent of the juvenile fiction of Robert A. Heinlein, particularly the story The Menace from Earth, in that it features a spirited teenage girl in a future where space travel is a reality. Theodora Baumgarten is an atypical teenager in that she is one of the few high school kids who has no desire to get into IASA’s space cadet program. When she is unexpectedly chosen, despite not applying, she will stop at nothing to determine how this cruel joke happened to her and what she can do to get her way. My rating: 8.5/10
