This month, we're looking at the on-line magazine dedicated to Christian sci-fi and fantasy, namely MindFlights. As they explain on their website, they "strive to provide quality fiction, poetry, and exposition, all in means that respects traditional values and Christian principles."
In the interest of fairness, I should say that I was published in one of MindFlights predecessors, so perhaps I'm a bit biased, but I think it's great that we have an outlet for sci-fi and fantasy short stories with a Christian bent. For example, On the Edge of Eternity by Steve Stanton.
Stanton's story, about asteroid miner Harlin Riley, was an engaging read. Riley's world was believable and had some depth to it, with colloquialisms and some societal insights.
That being said, Stanton could have done a slightly better job introducing a central idea of his story, namely that of the alien sprites. Here I thought it was just going to be a story about asteroid miners when out of nowhere, Stanton revealed that Riley had some sort of transdimensional alien sprite implanted in his brain. It blindsided me and since it seemed to be the central idea of Stanton's story, it might have been better to at least hint at it in the opening moments of the story.
The only other criticism I have about the story is that the ending didn't seem to grow from the ending. Given what Stanton says about Riley, I expected a different way for his story to end. Maybe I'm "Monday morning quarterbacking" ... or maybe "Monday morning armchair editing?" We need to come up with a similar term for writing.
Anyway, no matter what I might think about individual stories, it's good to be back in the somewhat familiar territory of MindFlights again.
Go see what other people have to say:
Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Pamela Morrisson
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
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Robert Treskillard
Linda Wichman
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise
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1 comment:
Hello! Thank you for your comments about Mindflights and the specific story. I have not thought about talking about individual stories yet, though I think I will tomorrow. Best regards.
Michael A. Heald
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