A tight drama from Lake in his ‘Sunspin’ setting. It’s actually online on co-editor Marty Halpern’s blog here so head over there to read it.
The previous stories of Lake’s I’ve read in this sequence impressed me for their gritty, realistic take on far-future SF. Not one of the cleancut futures as often seen on TV, but grimy, and sweaty, and populated with people with a range of faults, failings and personality traits, not carboard characters. In this story the protagonist, Maduabachi St. Macaria is a Howard -a human who has embraced technical and genetic modification for longevity and improved performance. However, he is a flawed character, cowed by the captain, a more lowly ranked and insignificant crew member that a Howard should be. But when push comes to shove, when the High Noon moment arrives, he decides to stand up for what is right, at the greatest possible risk.
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