Worlds Long Lost

Edited by

Christopher Ruocchio
&
Sean CW Korsgaard

(Baen, December 2022, pb, 320pp.)

“The Wrong Shape to Fly” by Adam Oyebanji

“Mother of Monsters” by Christopher Ruocchio

“Rise of the Administrator” by M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler

“Mere Passers By” by Les Johnson

“Never Ending, Ever-Growing” by Erica Ciko

“They Only Dig at Night” by Sean Patrick Hazlett

“Howlers in the Void” by Brian Trent

“The Building Will Continue” by Gray Rinehart

“re: something strange” by Jessica Cain

“The Sleepers of Tartarus” by David J. West

“Dark Eternity” by Jonathan Edelstein

“Rocking the Cradle” by Patrick Chiles

“Giving Up on the Piano” by Orson Scott Card

“Retrospective” by Griffin Barber

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Fourteen new stories involving the discovery of ancient alien artifacts, on Earth or elsewhere in the universe, appear in this anthology. The pieces range from intellectual puzzles to tales of adventure, with a fair amount of horror thrown into the mix.

The protagonist of “The Wrong Shape to Fly” by Adam Oyebanji is a broker of worlds, literally buying and selling planets in a cosmos where countless alien civilizations have disappeared, for a multitude of reasons. He comes across an object, thought to be the product of a particular long-vanished species, which turns out to be much younger than expected. His investigation leads to the discovery of the object’s purpose.

The author creates an intriguing universe and a compelling mystery. The text consists mostly of conversations among various characters, but these are interesting enough to hold one’s attention. Many readers will be able to figure out the object’s identity before the protagonist does, lessening the suspense.

In “Mother of Monsters” by co-editor Christopher Ruocchio, a military engineer in the service of a galactic empire comes across a relic buried underground on an enemy planet. Merely knowing that the thing exists is enough to make him a security risk, but this is a minor problem compared to what the object does to him after he encounters it.

The story starts in a realistic fashion, but later evolves into something much stranger, almost mystical in nature. Some readers may find that the scientific explanation for a bizarre transformation strains credibility.

“Rise of the Administrator” by M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler hops back and forth in time and space, from ancient Egypt to the modern world, and even to a place between universes. The noncorporeal beings that inhabit this region decide to test emerging civilizations to determine if they will be allowed to venture between cosmos, or if they threaten to harm others that dwell there.

This synopsis fails to convey the breakneck pace of the story and its disjointed structure, which may have something to do with the fact that it has two authors. The plot is certainly a compelling one, but unfortunately the narrative stops just when the reader is about to discover the nature of the test. A blurb at the end reveals that this work is really just a teaser for the authors’ upcoming novel, leaving one feeling cheated.

In “Mere Passers By” by Les Johnson, the crew of a starship discovers a system where three planets share the same orbit. They investigate the phenomenon and discuss what it means.

There is not much to the plot other than the situation described above. From the start, it is obvious that the worlds are the product of an extremely advanced civilization, but it takes the characters quite some time to realize this. The story ends without a real conclusion, leaving some things unexplained. The author creates a sense of wonder, but little else.

The narrator of “Never Ending, Ever-Growing” by Erica Ciko travels with other mercenaries to a planet where the inhabitants were destroyed in order to provide a haven for the elite. The human inhabitants sent out a distress signal, then went silent. The mercenaries are stranded on the world and encounter the vast entity that emerges from underground.

The introduction compares the story to the cosmic horror of H. P. Lovecraft, so it is no surprise that the plot involves incomprehensible alien architecture, hallucinatory visions, and an ancient godlike being that warps the minds of those it encounters. The author reveals great skill at combining these themes with military science fiction, but some readers may find it all too familiar.

In “They Only Dig at Night” by Sean Patrick Hazlett, a security guard at a secretive corporate facility encounters a worker with glowing green eyes, and is even forced to kill him when he attempts to escape. In this case, however, death is hardly permanent, leading to even greater mysteries.

As with other stories in the book, the mood is one of horror. The theme of alien possession appears to be present, although the exact nature of the threat is vague. This grimly paranoid tale is likely to send chills up the spines of readers, even if much remains mysterious.

Continuing in the same vein as previous stories, “Howlers in the Void” by Brian Trent combines cosmic horror with space opera. A human military starship and an enemy alien vessel both crash on a seemingly lifeless world. The planet is inhabited by humans and aliens from other stranded ships. This turns out to be the least of the world’s terrors.

The author provides creatively imagined aliens, as well as mysterious artifacts that play a major part in the plot. Once again, the theme of alien possession appears, this time in more explicit fashion. The story’s outcome seems inevitable. This fits the mood, but may disappoint some readers.

“The Building Will Continue” by Gray Rinehart follows the same trend. Researchers on a planet inhabited by large amoeba-like organisms try to find out why a previous team disappeared. The mystery involves ancient ruins, leading to nightmares, madness, and possession.

As can be seen, the story is very similar to others in the anthology. This is just a coincidence, of course, but it makes for less than exciting reading. The characters in this tale act in ways that are sometimes foolish or inappropriately adolescent, lessening the reader’s interest in them.

“re: something strange” by Jessica Cain takes the form of e-mails and telephone conversations between a woman and the man with whom she recently broke up. The recorded texts reveal the woman’s discovery of a weird structure on her family’s land, and how she is changed by it.

This is another example of cosmic horror, although the narrative structure gives it some novelty. The fact that the woman has been treated for an unspecified psychiatric disorder adds some interest as well. Overall, this is an effective, if not entirely original, example of the Lovecraftian theme.

The protagonist of “The Sleepers of Tartarus” by David J. West is a man dying of cancer who is sent on a suicide mission to investigate unexplained electromagnetic readings from an asteroid. The encounter with the chunk of rock sends him back in time to a strange version of the ancient world. A battle with giant humanoids who enslave the local populace follows, with implications for the future.

This is the kind of fantasy-tinged space adventure sometimes known as sword-and-planet fiction. Even for that exotic genre, it requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief to accept the hero’s extraordinary adventures. Readers nostalgic for Weird Tales or Planet Stories would make up the best audience for it.

“Dark Eternity” by Jonathan Edelstein takes place in the extreme far future, long after a previous galactic civilization fell and another space-faring one is rising. Based on legends and ancient records, the protagonists use small alien objects that record sound to track down the truth about a hero’s journey in the remote past, leading to a striking discovery.

The above synopsis is greatly oversimplified. This is a dense, complex story, set against a richly imagined, exotic future. In some ways, it reminds me of the unique work of Cordwainer Smith, although it is entirely original.

The narrator of “Rocking the Cradle” by Patrick Chiles is a geologist who discovers an ancient alien structure on a distant world. Messages inscribed on panels within the structure produce a startling revelation.

The narrator speaks in an informal style that makes for easy, enjoyable reading. The plot depends entirely on the meaning of the inscriptions, which is interesting but implausible.

“Giving Up on the Piano” by veteran, award-winning author Orson Scott Card is something of an anomaly in the book, as it is much lighter in tone than other stories and doesn’t fit the anthology’s theme as closely. A teenage boy is alone in the house to which his family is moving. A teenage girl shows up from the only other occupied house in the new development. When an alien spacecraft arrives, the two adolescents have to work together to help the new arrivals.

Most of this story reads like a romantic comedy for young adults. The author does a fine job of writing from the point of view of a teenager. The alien ship shows up out of nowhere, changing the plot drastically. The fact that the story appears to take place in the early 1970s fits with the fact that the aliens are more like something from a science fiction movie of the time rather than a serious attempt to imagine extraterrestrial beings.

The narrator of “Retrospective” by Griffin Barber discovers a bizarre, indescribable object while fighting to survive during a battle on a barren planetoid. The encounter leads to an extraordinary transformation.

The bulk of the text consists of the narrator’s desperate efforts to live while under attack by overwhelming enemy forces. The alien artifact is so strange that the reader is likely to find it utterly incomprehensible. This may be the author’s intent, creating an appropriately mystical mood, but it makes these sections of the story difficult to follow.

Victoria Silverwolf wrote this review on a holiday she pretty much ignores.