SEAL Book Club

[thiskurt]

...jesealuit

It's French for "not doing the readings"

The Society for Evasionary Action in Literature (and Jesus)

[Bee]

...jesealuit

It's French for "not doing the readings"

The Society for Evasionary Action in Literature (and Jesus)

Unironically tho

[Bee]

Happy monday, because as we all know today is monday, naturally. And what a marvelous monday it is, certainly not a terrible tuesday; who would even suggest such a thing.

This week's stories, seeing as the week starts on a monday (and not something crazy like sunday or heaven forbid tuesday), are courtesy of Future Science Fiction Digest:

Short Stories (11310)

1. Echos of a Broken Mind by Christine Lucas
Wordcount: 6150
Link: https://future-sf.com/fiction/echoes-of-a-broken-mind/

2. Three Times Dad Saved the World, and One Time He Didn't by P.G. Galalis
Wordcount: 1710
Link: https://future-sf.com/fiction/three-tim ... -he-didnt/

3. When the Mujna Begins by Oleg Didov, translated by Alex Shvartsman
Wordcount: 3450
Link: https://future-sf.com/fiction/when-the-mujna-begins/

Accidentally read these instead of this week's, lololol

1. Echos of a Broken Mind by Christine Lucas
I was rolling my eyes a bit at it in the first few paragraphs -- it seemed to be no better than "Fantine and Cosette... in Space!" -- but in the end I was a bit disappointed because it wasn't nearly long enough to develop its own story into something that didn't feel cliche and tired. Oh, well.

2. Three Times Dad Saved the World, and One Time He Didn't by P.G. Galalis
Again, I believe it would have benefitted a lot from extra length. I don't have much else to say about it, it felt a bit flat? But maybe I'm just tired of superheroes from being subjected to MCU movies over the last few weeks, who knows.

3. When the Mujna Begins by Oleg Didov, translated by Alex Shvartsman
This only barely sorta fits the SFF label, and only if you squint really really hard. Still, it's by far the most interesting in this batch! A bit too relatable, though. .-.

[thiskurt]

1. It Happened in 'Loontown by Lavie Tidhar

Did I just read a noir detective story set in town of balloons getting 'high' on Helium? Like Who Framed Roger Rabbit with 'loons instead of toons? Well, except there are no humans in it at all. Or am I having a fever dream?

Here goes assuming I'm sane:

I think this story needed to be funnier for me to really like it for what it's trying to do. But, I was in pretty down mood when I started reading it and I'm slightly less down now, so that's good.

It felt like a hard boiled detective story or at least like other non-serious hard boiled pastiches do and it had fun with its premise. I think Big should have gone out by having his knot rip and be sent flying around like when you let go of an open balloon, though.

[thiskurt]

We've made it to the last magazine in the list, Sci Phi Journal, the wordcount is only 7246, because these stories are all relatively short so I've capped the total number of stories at 6, otherwise there are just too many I think. I may not have that much time to read this week myself too.

Short Stories (7246)

1. Bentham In Hell, by Alexander B. Joy
Wordcount: 1880
Link: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php ... m-in-hell/

2. The Baptismal Status Of Persons Wetted By The Sprinkler Deluge, by Andy Dibble
Wordcount: 980
Link: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php ... er-deluge/

3. Spin Doctor Of The Self, by Marcelo Worsley
Wordcount: 809
Link: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php ... -the-self/

4. Where The Monster Lurks, by Malik Mufti
Wordcount: 1246
Link: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php ... ter-lurks/

5. Report To The Pro-Aedile Of Excavations, by Patrick S. Baker
Wordcount: 812
Link: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php ... cavations/

6. The Time-Traveller’s Lament, by David Stevens
Wordcount: 1519
Link: https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php ... rs-lament/

[Bee]

*crickets*

[thiskurt]

Hey, guys, I was pretty busy this week and am currently under the weather due to an illness I'm sure you've never, ever heard of, like definitely not something you've been hearing about constantly for the last two years.

:/

[Bee]

Hey, guys, I was pretty busy this week and am currently under the weather due to an illness I'm sure you've never, ever heard of, like definitely not something you've been hearing about constantly for the last two years.

:/

Oh Noooooo get better soon!

[InspectorCaracal]

Hey, guys, I was pretty busy this week and am currently under the weather due to an illness I'm sure you've never, ever heard of, like definitely not something you've been hearing about constantly for the last two years.

:/

Man this year has just started and it's already kicking everyone's butts

[Bee]

how are we this week?