Title: The Visitor
Author: Neil Shooter
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: January 6, 2016
Genres: Science Fiction, LGBTQ+, Historical, Contemporary
Length: 11 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb:
On an ordinary blustery British night an extraordinary visitor comes, a time traveller, with a paradox. But time is relative.
Content Warning: References to alcoholism and mild homophobia.
Review:
How far would you go to correct the past?
The conversational structure of this short story kept my interest levels high. It takes effort to include necessary details about character and plot development while still making sure both characters are speaking to each other in ways that feel natural. Mr. Shooter did a good job balancing these needs while pushing the storyline forward with every reply. It felt like I truly was listening in on someone else’s conversation.
I had some trouble understanding the significance of the final scene due to how vague it was. While I have a theory about what it probably meant, I wasn’t sure if that was what the author was trying to convey or if I’d misunderstood something along the way. It would have been helpful to have a few more hints about what was happening and if my interpretation of it was the correct one (or one of the correct ones). This is something I’m saying as a reader who normally enjoys
It was also entertaining to see how Dean, the protagonist, explained how time travel works and why he decided to go back so many years. While I can’t share a lot of details about these aspects of the tale for spoiler reasons, they were reasonable and helped to answer several questions I had about how certain details were meant to fit together. It was also fun to get to know Dean a little better as his personality was a little bit of a mystery to me at first. Honestly, I would have made the same choice he did if such things were possible.
This was my first experience with this author’s work, and I will be coming back for more.
The Visitor was thought provoking.