Title: Jade Cargo
Author: Rudolph Kohn
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: August 18, 2024
Genres: Science Fiction, Horror
Length: 14 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 5 Stars
Blurb:
A security officer on a routine patrol finds a small lone ship floating in the middle of nowhere. The ship’s systems tell him that it’s dead–a derelict, fated to float aimlessly until it is pulled into the gravity well of some heavenly body. However, the officer’s investigation turns up strange facts one after another, until he discovers the one fact that explains it all–perhaps too well.
Content Warning: Death.
Review:
Anything can happen in space.
I loved the foreshadowing in this short story. It struck the perfect balance between hinting at what was to come without giving the reader too many clues about why this ship is floating alone in the middle of nowhere. I had a rough idea formed in my mind of what might be going on, but even there I had plenty of opportunities for surprise as the unnamed narrator continued to search the abandoned vessel for possible treasure.
This is one of those cases when readers don’t need to know much about the protagonist in order to empathize with them. Their sex, race, age, and other identifying characteristics were never mentioned because their expertise in this field was what made their observations so valuable. Readers from any demographic group could imagine themselves in this character…and they just might be right! The protagonist knew something was wrong but didn’t have any concrete proof to back up their gut feeling. I both understood why they wanted to gather more information and kept hoping they’d listen to their urge to run away and never come back.
The ending was what convinced me to give this a perfect five star rating. No, of course I won’t spoil it for anyone reading my review. All I can say is that it tied up the loose ends from earlier beautifully while also making me wish for a sequel so I could see how things played out from that point. The horror themes popped out nicely here without ever needing to describe the visceral details of it in order to show the audience why we should be so scared. Now that’s the kind of horror I like to read when I do indulge in the genre!
Jade Cargo was utterly perfect.
Wow, this sounds like a really interesting read, especially the part where the narrator isn’t assigned any demographic identifiers, allowing everyone to be able to see themselves in this character. Recitatif by Toni Morrison is about two characters, one Black and one white, and readers aren’t told which character is which.
Yeah, I loved that about this story.
I need to read Recitatif. Thanks for the recommendation.