Today the Bookworm brings you two short story reviews from the author William Peterson.
To think that there are no other sentient beings in the universe borders on vanity.
To think that other sentient beings would be any less prone to violence and war than are we, borders on naivety.
Collateral damage is a reality with any conflict.
What if there is undelivered ordinance…stray bullets…from distant, cosmic conflicts floating through space like wandering asteroids or long-period comets?
What if bystander Earth was the victim of one of these…errant shots?
Tim stopped at the corner of the vehicle as all the color drained from his face. He hit a button on the phone, then put it back to his ear to listen to his messages. “Tim, you’ve got to call me. Don’t come here,” Professor Winston began immediately. “It’s not a fossil Tim, it’s something else…something made, or engineered. We think it’s a weapon, some kind d of chemical weapon. The bright side is that it proves there is intelligent life out there and other water worlds, but it also shows they must have the same propensity for destruction as we do, maybe even more so.
This is a creepy, amazing short story! It starts out with a major catastrophe and quickly things start to take an even more disastrous turn. What Tim thinks may be an amazing find that will set him up with his next paycheck turns into something completely horrific and unexpected. The story takes a very dark turn and the ending is amazing and unbelievable. I think the author should take this short story and make it into a full novel because I would love to see how the world turned out after what happens. I feel like he took my cake from me just as I was about to eat a fork full. I want more! I feel like this was just the beginning.
Marcus is venturing out of his permanent shelter to check the day’s traps and possibly hunt seals on the ice, when he discovers a nearly dead, young female whale researcher out on the ice alone and unconscious. After bringing her back from the frozen brink, she reveals some disturbing details of an armed takeover of her research facility, sounding like the earmarks of a terrorist attack, though nothing up here was of any strategic or political value.
Upon inspecting the scene for himself, Marcus uncovers an ongoing struggle that has lasted for thousands of years, much worse than any terror plot, holding mankind’s future in the balance. With time running out, limited resources and only a frozen stranger to help, he must stop a terrible bloodline of ancient tyrants and evil men bent on world domination and total destruction, before they kill the last magical creatures on Earth.
Maddie sat down and propped herself up against a sheet of ice protruding from the pack, gun in one hand, binoculars in the other, and resigned herself to closing her eyes for just a minute or two. The shivering stopped and she wasn’t even that cold now, she was almost comfortable, and while closing her eyes felt so good she smiled a little, she knew very well she would not be waking up this time.
Mythical was just as amazing as Errant Shot. It was a heart pounding read that clutches onto you and pulls you in from the beginning of the story. You won’t believe the plot twist. There’s fantasy, evil, violence and compassion all brilliantly wrapped in this short story with an unbelievable ending. William Peterson is an incredible story teller and his stories are not to be passed up. For me both stories are a 5/5 and I recommend them greatly. They are available at smashwords and amazon.
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