Space Cowboy

NOBODY SMITH by Abe Evergreen is a short story about a smuggler trying to scrounge up the money to leave a backwater planet and make his way across the galaxy. Evergreen does a great job laying out the sci-fi setting, without dragging out the descriptions.

Even though the author doesn't reveal much of anything about Smith, I love the character's ingenuity. In fact, I wouldn't mind reading another adventure about Nobody Smith.

As always,
AstraDaemon

A Gift of Science

When a man clones his daughter, members of his family begin dying.

SHE'S NOT MY SISTER by Abe Evergreen is a sci-fi crime-thriller. Kyle tries to appease his estranged wife by creating a clone he names Annie, but succeeds only in enraging and alienating his wife and daughter, Alice. While the storyline is predictable and somewhat cliché, I had to know how the story would end.

I think Evergreen should've made this a novella, with more character development and more details about the biolab.

As always,
AstraDaemon

The Night Is Still Early

Western Romance. Young woman sets her sights on a man, ignoring the fact that he doesn't want to get married.

FRISCO by Abe Evergreen is nothing like the stories I am used to reading, not even the romance novels I used to read in the distant past, so I'm not sure how I feel about it, to be honest. I kept expecting something supernatural or violent to happen.

I suppose I could describe Frisco as a coming of age story, but not much is revealed about the main character, Chita, even though the story is told through her POV. In fact, very few details are revealed about anyone or anything: Jackson Jones (her love interest), her family (aside from owning a large ranch) or Frisco (the town she's in).

The writing style and plot is so extremely different from anything I've read by Evergreen before now, I'm not sure why he bothered to write this short at all. I hope the author has decide to stick with science fiction.

As always,
AstraDaemon

All The Shaking Hands

ABANDON SHIP by Abe Evergreen is a flash fiction scifi-fantasy story about a fire on a space vessel. The title gives away the issue at hand, but the accelerated level of FUBAR the crew must face is horrifying. The descriptions are excellent, and there are more than a few moments where I found myself gasping.

At one point, I thought the fire might not have been an accident. I had reason to believe the entire situation was orchestrated by space pirates. The ending caught me off guard.

As always,
AstraDaemon

The Odd Job

Travelin' Man tortures a woman for her bank account information.

Travelin' Man by Abe Evergreen is a jarring flash fiction piece. I expected there to be some twist, but it's extremely straight forward. The only real suspense occurs at the ATM. The rest is just a sicko describing his methodology. More violence than horror.

The story isn't that graphic, but, for some reason, my stomach really hurt after reading this.

As always.
AstraDaemon

Chains of Mountains

Runaway male slave fleeing across the desert is pursued by an android tracker.

Android Tracker by Abe Evergreen, author of the Dark City series, is a flash fiction story about the bittersweet taste of freedom. Sometimes the grass isn't greener on the side...sometimes the grass doesn't grow at all. Facing a harsh landscape, Ten encounters one obstacle after another during his escape.

The setting appears to be in a dystopian future of our world, with a reference to constellations seen from Earth. Almost nothing is revealed about the society Ten is fleeing from, but the hyper-focus on the slave and his fears creates an overwhelming level of suspense.

The ending is an unpredictable shock. I don't think the author intended it to be at all funny, but I had to laugh...for dark, ironic reasons. Evergreen definitely knows how to create quality science fiction.

As always,
AstraDaemon