L. Ron Hubbard Presents:Edited
by
Jody Lynn Nye
(Galaxy Press, pb, April 22, 2025)
“Storm Damage” by T. R. Naus
“Blackbird Stone” by Ian Keith
“Kill Switch” by Robert F. Lowell
“Tough Old Man” by L. Ron Hubbard (reprint, not reviewed)
“Karma Birds” by Lauren McGuire
“The Boy from Elsewhen” by Barlow Crassmont
“Code L1” by Andrew Jackson
“Under False Colours”, by Sean Williams (inspired by Craig Elliott’s “Creature of the Storm”)
“Ascii” by Randyn C. J. Bartholomew
“Slip Stone” by Sandra Skalski
“The Stench of Freedom” by Joel C. Scoberg
“My Name Was Tom” by Tim Powers
“The Rune Witch” by Jefferson Snow
“Thirty Minutes or It’s a Paradox” by Patrick MacPhee
“A World of Repetitions” by Seth Atwater Jr.
Reviewed by Mina
There are some real gems in this eclectic collection of stories.
“Storm Damage” by T. R. Naus, illustrated by Haileigh Enriquez, is a story about time travel and humanity’s tendency to destroy itself. A scientist who has just discovered time travel is sent to investigate a time anomaly by the military. What he discovers is a man claiming to be the guardian of history. The man asks him to make a tough choice. Ultimately, it is a tale about sacrifice and the things that make it worthwhile.
“Blackbird Stone” by Ian Keith, illustrated by Marianna Mester, is surprisingly fun. A man bound by time meets a woman from Eternity, who is addicted to time. Confused? Read this story to understand this unusual love story involving blackbirds, stones and telepathic lizards.
In “Kill Switch” by Robert F. Lowell, illustrated by Jordan Smajstrla, a discarded cop bot wakes up in a junk yard. He is sold to a woman seeking vengeance on the drug dealer who killed her brother. Kill switch turns out to be a title with a double meaning as the story progresses. And underneath it all is the question, can an old bot have a soul? Asimov meets Chandler.
“Karma Birds” by Lauren McGuire, illustrated by Breanda Petsch, gives a whole new meaning to “karma’s going to get you.” Imagine a world where bad karma takes the form of killer birds. The only defence is through kindness and honesty. Darleen is part of a convoy driving to Canada, with two small girls in her care, trying to outrun the birds spawned by a society that was rotten to its core.
“The Boy from Elsewhen” by Barlow Crassmont, illustrated by Daniel Montifar, is ultimately about learning the courage to be different and stand on your own. In a world where all are physically connected to technology, the narrator is fascinated by the time-displaced boy in his class who is not connected to immersion equipment but learns from paper books. A simple but touching tale.
“Code L1” by Andrew Jackson, illustrated by HeatherAnne Lee, is a blend of SF and horror. A group of contractors arrive on a forest world to assess its suitability for human habitation and tourism. They find evidence of a civilisation that suddenly died out. The tale gives a clever twist to the science of “sublimation” and shows that evolution is not always a happy thing.
“Under False Colours”, by Sean Williams (inspired by Craig Elliott’s “Creature of the Storm”) is the story accompanying the art on the cover of this anthology. It takes a while to really get into the story, which begins with Keeper Carpinquell attempting to make contact with new life-forms from a gas giant. The lightship’s algorithms find a life-form but misinterpret the data. It all felt a bit contrived.
In “Ascii” by Randyn C. J. Bartholomew, illustrated by Tremani Sutcliffe, a sentient taxi picks up a harmless-looking man. It is a very curious taxi and cannot resist reading the book the man is carrying. Realising that it is a dangerous book, it contacts Advisory. The taxi’s discussions with Advisory were funny, in particular the taxi’s love of alliteration. A whole new take on Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.
“Slip Stone” by Sandra Skalski, illustrated by Haileigh Enriquez, is a sweet tale without being cloying. An orphan buying stones at a tourist shop in Niagara Falls becomes tangled up with time travellers and an unexpected adventure. Rule Number One literally brings tears to your eyes.
“The Stench of Freedom” by Joel C. Scoberg, illustrated by John Barlow, is excellent. The best tales for me involve character growth, where the protagonist must question all his beliefs. Hywel is proud of his job, catching “sparkies” so that they can be turned into generators of electricity for the city. Until the day that his son is born with lightning power, meaning he will share the fate of all sparkies. Hywel must accept the help of the Undergrid if he wants to save his son and wife. The world building is fascinating; the story gripping, with unexpected depth. I loved the Welsh names and I do believe in the possibility of redemption. I would read this twice.
“My Name Was Tom” by Tim Powers, illustrated by Gigi Hooper, is intriguing. It’s set on what seems to be a huge ship. The protagonist travels up then down, from the centre to the edge. He vaguely remembers a woman called Ruth but doesn’t remember his own name till he is given a map and sets out to find the captain. The ending feels frustrating but the author is clearly doing it on purpose: Tom decides he doesn’t want to understand what the journey is or where it ends so the reader can’t either. A neat trick but I’m still trying to forgive the author for it.
“The Rune Witch” by Jefferson Snow, illustrated by David Hoffrichter, is heartbreaking. A woman living in isolation spills her blood every month to keep a demon caged. When the thing she loves most is taken from her, will she seek vengeance or keep protecting a village that shuns her? A tale about courage, duty, honour and hard choices.
In “Thirty Minutes or It’s a Paradox” by Patrick MacPhee, illustrated by Cam Collins, Terry is caught in a dead-end job, unable to find the motivation to change anything. Until he gets a visit from his future self, then selves. At first, I found the story annoying, but it grew on me. Worth reading to find out how the timeline is restored. At the end, we don’t know which possible future Terry will choose but at least he is ready to move forward, rather than standing still.
At the start of “A World of Repetitions” by Seth Atwater Jr., illustrated by CL Fors, I was worried it was going to feel like Groundhog Day revisited, with the difference being that everyone is aware of the time loop. Being stuck in a time loop is a well-worn SF trope but I liked where the author went with this. The story ends with the protagonist smiling and the reader does too. In the end, whether we are in a changing world or in one that is stuck on repeat, we decide what gives meaning to our lives: “Learning from history is all well and good, but we live in the present, over and over and over again. So be present with the things that mean something now.” The author is perhaps unrealistically optimistic about human nature in such a world but this reader was happy to join him in that fiction. Reality can go hang whilst I smile a bit longer with the protagonist, the author and fellow readers.