It's early 2023, and the aliens arrive in spectacular fashion. As a powerful radio signal, then riding inside a swift and enormous starship. Dubbed the Ohanas, they pass close to the Earth, and after leaving a large portion of the moon molten, their starship moves into a retrograde orbit around the sun. But the visitors never make direct contact with humanity. Not until some weeks later. Then without warning, compelling voices speak to every human. Does their species wish to apply for admission to the Galactic Union?
MORE RETROGRADES is a sequel to last year's RETROGRADE TALES. Once again, the focus is on Marianne and Marc J, a middle-couple with lives that already complicated enough. But now they have to contend with an invasion of magical beings.
Humanity is being judged or being played with. Marc is offended by the former and disgusted by the latter. But either way, he feels entitled to being pissed about everything, everything, everything.
"Assume the aliens' offer is genuine," he writes on Facebook. Twitter. Even Reddit. "If these uninvited voices tell the truth, it means that our species, these ill-mannered billions, are applying for some galaxy-wide designation. A title that Klingons and Hobbits no doubt already earned. But if this is like every other courtship or job interview, our status is plastic. Humanity is either looking better or worse. And since I want them to dismiss us, I'm not just saying, 'No.' In my life, I'm doing whatever I can to make a bunch of highborn snobs turn around and fly back to the stars.
Robert Reed is the author of several hundred published science fiction stories, with a platoon of novels thrown into the mix. He won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his novella, "A Billion Eves." But Reed is best known for his Great Ship stories, most of which are available on Kindle.
Genre: Science Fiction
MORE RETROGRADES is a sequel to last year's RETROGRADE TALES. Once again, the focus is on Marianne and Marc J, a middle-couple with lives that already complicated enough. But now they have to contend with an invasion of magical beings.
Humanity is being judged or being played with. Marc is offended by the former and disgusted by the latter. But either way, he feels entitled to being pissed about everything, everything, everything.
"Assume the aliens' offer is genuine," he writes on Facebook. Twitter. Even Reddit. "If these uninvited voices tell the truth, it means that our species, these ill-mannered billions, are applying for some galaxy-wide designation. A title that Klingons and Hobbits no doubt already earned. But if this is like every other courtship or job interview, our status is plastic. Humanity is either looking better or worse. And since I want them to dismiss us, I'm not just saying, 'No.' In my life, I'm doing whatever I can to make a bunch of highborn snobs turn around and fly back to the stars.
Robert Reed is the author of several hundred published science fiction stories, with a platoon of novels thrown into the mix. He won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his novella, "A Billion Eves." But Reed is best known for his Great Ship stories, most of which are available on Kindle.
Genre: Science Fiction
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