Title: The Broken Home
Author: Rudolph Kohn
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: August 12, 2024
Genres: Science Fiction
Length: 16 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 stars
Blurb:
Over ten thousand years in the future, mankind has spread to the stars… but the Earth Empire was left behind, and the birthplace of mankind was lost–first to tyrants, and then to the obscurity of history. However, when an explorer stumbles onto the once-great planet, not a single person has survived. The planet itself goes up for auction, and the buyer seeks to understand what happened, so long ago. The Broken Home is a short story about the excavation of the greatest fortress the Earth Empire ever built.
Content Warning: References to an ancient war and death.
Review:
Anyone can learn from the past if they listen closely.
Science fiction fans who have been immersed in this genre for a long time will probably be able to figure out what is happening in this tale fairly quickly, but that isn’t a criticism of this piece. Not everything needs shocking plot twists in order to be worth reading! What mattered more was seeing how Jenkins and Marley reacted to what they discovered about humanity’s past when they returned to Earth to see if there was anything interesting left behind there. I sympathized with the mixture of emotions they experienced as they uncovered something that no living person was aware of. Honestly, I probably would have behaved the same way if I were in their shoes!
As this short story was heavily centred on its plot development, I would have liked to see more attention paid to how humanity evolved over ten thousand years. That is a long period of time in which all sorts of incredible – or terrible – things could have happened, and I found myself wishing for more details about what the characters knew about their recent and distant past. This easily could have been expanded into a novella or full-length novel, and I would have happily read a much longer version of it.
One of the things I liked the most about this piece was how it reacted to the idea of history being something that is always changing as new information is added and old assumptions possibly being reinterpreted by the newest generation. Some things might be lost in the mists of time depending on record keeping and how much current historians know about a specific era, but that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. There is always the possibility of change as this field develops and new perspectives are considered. I know this paragraph is vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers while also sharing the wonder of how quickly our assumptions can shift given the right variables. That is to say, keep an open mind while reading this!
The Broken Home piqued my curiousity.
Title: Apis
Here are some characters I’d like to meet.
Occasionally, new books are released that are written in the form of poetry. That is to say, the entire story is told through one poem (or, more often, many different poems) that push the character and plot development forward.
Title: The Ring and the Knife
A Man Called Ove 
Maybe a character said something really profound or romantic or hilarious or heartbreaking. You could share witty one-liners, mic-drop moments, snippets of funny dialogue between multiple characters, catchphrases, quotes that have become a part of pop culture–like “May the odds be ever in your favor.”, etc.
Title: Winter’s Chill