Title: Beach House on the Moon
Author: Leigh Kimmel
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: May 16, 2023
Genres: Science Fiction
Length: 13 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb:
The Moon is a dead world, airless and desolate. Emmaline Waite has known this fact since childhood, when she watched the Apollo landings. But here she sits on the shores of the Sea of Tranquillity, looking up at the gibbous Earth as the waves roll in. What madness can this be? She gets no time to contemplate that question, for she is not alone. She is about to enter a realm of love and fear, of mindbending secrets that change her understanding of human history, and of self-sacrifice. Her life will never be the same.
Review:
A little science goes a long way.
The dreamlike themes made me wonder what would happen next. Ms. Kimmel did a good job of capturing what it feels like to not be sure if you’re dreaming or if something incredible has just happened. This was particularly true as one scene would drift slowly into the next one without always explaining what had happened in the intervening moments. That’s not an easy mental state to portray with the written word, so kudos to her for accomplishing it so nicely. Truly, I could not have predicted the ending.
I struggled with the plot holes, especially as they pertained to Emmaline’s relationship with someone she met on the moon. Sometimes it felt like those scenes were an outline of something that hadn’t been fully written yet instead of the finished product due to how quickly everything happened and how some key details were glossed over. As much as I wanted to give this a higher rating, my confusion about what was going on there prevented me from doing that.
There aren’t enough science fiction or other types out tales set on the moon these days. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read one that included an ocean there, so exploring how that came to be was of high interest to me. While I don’t want to give away any spoilers in this review, I can say that these descriptions were nicely written and made me want to learn more about what was going on there.
Beach House on the Moon piqued my curiosity.
Title: Ghosts of Christmases Past