Mysterion, May 2023

“No Stranger to Desert Places” by Karen Eisenbrey

Reviewed by Mina

“No Stranger to Desert Places” by Karen Eisenbrey begins with a rough landing on Mars, ninety kilometres from the base. The three crew members manning the shuttle need to walk the rest of the way, which is made difficult by Mars’ weaker gravity. They have air, water and food for three days. During their arduous walk, Commander Ruby Ladd feels an unseen fourth presence urging her on. Later, Captain Anderson comments that he too felt a comforting presence. Nielson, their engineer almost doesn’t make it, his air running out as they reach the base. They are able to ask for a rescue ship to be sent to get the rest of their party stranded on the emergency depot on Phobos, after their ship was destroyed. It seems that miracles do happen and Ruby thanks God for it. The author was inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s failed Imperial Transantarctic Expedition (1914-17), where a small crew sought rescue for the larger expedition party. Despite recounting a daring rescue, the story feels curiously flat and plods on almost as slowly as its protagonists. It took effort to read it to the end.

Mina is chuffed that she recently got complimented on her essays in Sci Phi Journal by a Stanford fellow.