As you all probably know by now, I am a huge fan of SF and fantasy. As such, I was excited a few years ago to find out about Enclave (then Marcher Lord) Publishing, a publishing house dedicated to Christian speculative fiction. Morgan L. Busse’s books are published through them (Daughter of Light, etc). Unfortunately, few of their books are available at the local library or even through inter-library loan. So I was very happy to run across this collection of stories, Ether Ore! Now I know which of their authors to put on my wish list.
“Armed” – Jeff Gerke
This SF novella
is a parable for men. A miner strikes it
rich, but when he brings his find in to be assayed, he meets a young boy who
will cause him to question the reasons for his actions. As long as you are okay with robot
allegories, you’ll enjoy it.
The first part of the story is strong…
but the middle is used as the frame story for the rest of the tales in this
collection. It’s not a strong frame;
there’s really no reason for most of the framing material to exist. The fact that this is partly a frame story
also means that you need to read this whole colelction in fairly short order,
or you will have forgotten what happened by the time you get to the end. The final section of the story is also the
final element of the book; I would have liked the ending to be more developed,
in order to balance the buildup given to the character and plot in “Armed.”
“The Drop” – Steve Rzasa
This is my
favorite short in this collection—a tone-perfect military SF story. It’s clear that there’s a lot more to this
story world and these characters than we get here. Ben Longstep and his men are as merry a band
of soldiers as I’ve ever come across. If
you are a fan of David Weber and Elizabeth Moon, this story is for you.
“The Merak Galaxy” - Jill Williamson
Short, cute,
and utterly without any scientific basis.
“Graxin” – Kerry Nietz
Part WALL-E
and part I Robot, this is an intriguing story about a mineral-surveying robot
that decides to go exploring and finds a strange cavern under the surface of
one of Neptune’s moons. What he finds
there causes him to go against his programming in search of a greater meaning
for his existence. Look out for the dark
Clarke-like twist at the end!
“Close” – Marc Schooley
Once again, we
find valuable minerals, greedy humans, a robot looking for meaning, and a dark
ending.
“Tableau” – Adam Palmer
I enjoyed this
one. The author’s voice, the character’s
creative response to his predicament… the happy ending. I look forward to reading more stories by
this author!
“Nether Ore” – Kirk Outerbridge
This story was
scary but rewarding. I really liked the
main character, John, who is stuck among cloned miners by day but at night
dreams of his family. Allegorical themes
and very creepy villains make this a compelling story.
I love that there are places publishing Christian spec fic. I should read more of it.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I tagged you here. Play if you want to :-)