Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores, November 2022
“Where Things May Lead” by Barbara Krasnoff
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
This month, Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores has two new stories, one in the Eldritch section and one in the Science Fiction section.
“Emissary” by Joshua Grasso
In this short horror story, a fifteen-year veteran of the Tsar’s wars comes to the Kremlin. The people fear him as he passes along the streets, but the Tsar’s daughter lets him in to see her father. Standing before the throne, the soldier asks the Tsar to stop the wars, but the Tsar is unmoved.
So the soldier reveals the mortal wound he received long ago and takes the Tsar’s daughter as a hostage back to World’s End, where the dead wait to join the dead soldier’s crusade. Fearing for his daughter, the Tsar ends all the wars. However, he holds in his heart plans to make war once the soldier returns his daughter.
This mysterious story was hard to put down until the end.
“Where Things May Lead” by Barbara Krasnoff
Caitlyn develops a new kind of avatar in this short SF story. It is a neat and popular idea that allows gamers to share avatars across games. But, more interestingly, it creates new ideas in other developers who grow Caitlyn’s original concept.
Over several decades, companies and developers extend each new avatar concept. Each improvement is simple but revolutionary until avatar development reaches its promised potential.
The author captured the essence of technological growth in an entertaining story.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com. There are links to join his mailing list for a weekly newsletter on the recent release of his debut novel, Defender of Vosj.