Title: Cosmophobia
Author: George Saoulidis
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: December 26, 2018
Genres: Science Fiction
Length: 24 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 4 Stars
Blurb:
Who is watching the stars, every second of every day, so we can better understand the universe? This short story was awarded the 2nd place in the Science Fiction category, in the Athens Fantasticon 2016 competition. Inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope which will be launched and deployed in 2020. It will hopefully be as invaluable as Hubble was, opening our eyes to the cosmos.
Review:
Eternity is a matter of perspective.
The first scene was momentarily confusing, but as soon as I figured out what was going on I was hooked on the storyline. There’s definitely something to be said for playing around with the audience’s expectations in any genre, and this was a good example of how to do just that. I’d recommend other readers avoid spoilers as much as they possibly can so that they, too, can have the chance to be surprised about exactly what was going on here.
I would have loved to see the last scene expanded by a page or two. The twist in it was what really brought everything together for this reader, and it would have been even better had it been given more time to develop. It’s difficult to go into detail here without sharing exactly what it was, but it made me smile and wish I could keep reading about this universe. This is a minor criticism of something I thought was otherwise well done.
Stargazing is something I like to do on occassion, and I was intrigued by how this topic could be turned into a science fiction story. There were elements of hard science fiction here that I found intriguing and would have loved to read more about. With that being said, I also liked the creative flair the author added to it and had plenty of questions about how that change happened and what a sequel might entail if such a thing were ever written.
Cosmophobia made me want to go observe the stars again.