Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales
    The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales
    The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales
    Ebook82 pages1 hour

    The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales

    By Annie Reed

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Five stories of a distant -- and not so distant -- future.

    The title story "The Forever Soldier" features a far-future infantry soldier who can't stop fighting, no matter how many times she dies. In "Human Interest," a journalist searching for that one big story to reinvigorate his career uncovers more than he bargained for on a mining colony at the edge of known space. "The Liar" finds one woman preparing for the end of the world in her own unique way. In "Reboot," a time travel pioneer facing forced retirement sends himself on the most important mission of his life. And in the award-winning, near-future story "One Sun, No Waiting," an old motel owner tries to maintain an oasis of normal in the Nevada desert as the sun dims and civilization falls apart around him.

    "Annie Reed draws a pitch-perfect portrait of the Nevada desert and peoples it with folks so real I want to drive out by Vegas and try to find the Forty Winks Motel and check up on how everyone's doing. Its quiet voice and fast pace weave together to make any reader care." -- Cindie Geddes, Editor, Lucky Bat Books.

    "A friend recommended the works of Annie Reed. I was not disappointed. In fact, if her other shorts are as good as this one, I plan to read many more." -- Carol Davis Luce, author of NIGHT GAME (reviewing Annie Reed's short story CHANGELING)

    "The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked." -- Dave Hendrickson, author of CRACKING THE ICE, forthcoming from WestSide Press

    Author Annie Reed is a prolific, award-winning writer whose short stories have been published in numerous science fiction and fantasy anthologies, as well as in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThunder Valley Press
    Release dateJul 11, 2011
    ISBN9781465901286
    The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales
    Author

    Annie Reed

    Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

    Read more from Annie Reed

    Related to The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letters

      Jul 13, 2023

      James Wright’s letter [FT431:62- 63] rightly points out that the film Poltergeist was allegedly ‘cursed’. However, he gave me a laugh when he mentions actress “JoBeth Williams, who won the part for showing precocious reading ability at her audition”.

      14 min read

    • Article

      Garth Marenghi: ‘Many Writers Cite Me As An Influence ... And I Will Be Suing Them All’

      Oct 29, 2022

      Horror writers don’t come much more elusive than Garth Marenghi, AKA “the dream weaver”, AKA the “titan of terror”. The author (who bears an uncanny resemblance to comedian Matthew Holness) is best known for his 1980s hospital horror “dramamentary” G

      6 min read

    • Article

      Books

      May 1, 2023

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      Reading Behind Bars: Eleven Essential Books About Prison

      Apr 15, 2022

      Be warned: It ain’t pretty. The post Reading Behind Bars: Eleven Essential Books About Prison appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Jan 4, 2024

      To say that the inspiration for my third whodunit, Murder on Lake Garda, came unexpectedly wouldn’t quite be doing it justice. When I first happened on the seed of an idea, I was actually well into working on a completely different novel, involving a

      5 min read

    • Article

      In Which a Susan Sontag Fan Learns to Love Her Fiction

      Nov 16, 2017

      To say I love Susan Sontag’s writing means I must come to terms with the fact that much of her fiction just isn’t that good. The post In Which a Susan Sontag Fan Learns to Love Her Fiction appeared first on The Millions.

      10 min read

    • Article

      In Which a Susan Sontag Fan Learns to Love Her Fiction

      Nov 16, 2017

      To say I love Susan Sontag’s writing means I must come to terms with the fact that much of her fiction just isn’t that good. The post In Which a Susan Sontag Fan Learns to Love Her Fiction appeared first on The Millions.

      10 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Mar 10, 2023

      Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      Starting Your Story Right

      Feb 13, 2023

      These are the things I didn’t know: When you first wake up in a dark wooden box, you’ll tell yourself this isn’t happening. You’ll push against the lid, of course. No surprise there. You’ll beat at the sides with your fists, pummel your heels against

      2 min read

    • Article

      Elf Quest

      Nov 30, 2022

      Elf Quest
      11 min read

    • Article

      I Used To Be Well Read

      Jun 29, 2022

      I Used To Be Well Read
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Mar 6, 2023

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      Slaying Monsters in Fiction

      Jan 23, 2018

      When a monstrous beast appears in a story, then it becomes, at least in part, what that story is about.  The post Slaying Monsters in Fiction appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Aug 11, 2022

      Walter Sickert was a painter of extraordinary artistic prescience and skill and took an interest in the Jack the Ripper killings as well as many other aspects of working-class London. The Ripper killings were a very pertinent working-class issue at t

      8 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Dec 2, 2021

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sci-Fi Has Changed A Lot In The Past Decade — These 7 Reads Will Show You How

      Aug 16, 2021

      This year's Summer Poll is all about the past decade in science fiction and fantasy, so we asked critic Jason Sheehan to come up with his own list of the new sci-fi that's blowing his mind.

      9 min read

    • Article

      The A-Z Of DISCWORLD

      Dec 1, 2023

      The A-Z Of DISCWORLD
      8 min read

    • Article

      Dune: Science Fiction’s Answer To Lord Of The Rings

      Oct 18, 2021

      If science fiction has an answer to fantasy’s The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien’s epic saga of the battle to defeat the Dark Lord, Sauron – then Frank Herbert’s Dune has to be a strong contender. Published in 1965, it is the story of the desert pla

      7 min read

    • Article

      A Recipe For Murder

      Oct 5, 2023

      A Recipe For Murder
      4 min read

    • Article

      5 Books Making News: Gods, Monsters, and Refugees

      Feb 21, 2017

      The first volume in Philip Pullman’s new “The Book of Dust” trilogy is coming in October. Pullman tells the BBC the books are not a sequel or a prequel but an “equel” to his Dark Materials series. The six books on the International Prize for Arabic F

      8 min read

    • Article

      Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels

      Jun 19, 2019

      A list of books so scary you definitely won't keep them on your nightstand. The post Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Forever Soldier and Other Future Tales - Annie Reed

      THE FOREVER SOLDER

      And Other Future Tales

      Annie Reed

      Published by Thunder Valley Press at Smashwords

      Copyright 2011 by Annie Reed

      www.annie-reed.com

      Cover illustration Copyright Ralf Kraft at Dreamstime.com

      Cover layout by Thunder Valley Press

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This story is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Introduction

      The Forever Soldier

      Human Interest

      The Liar

      Reboot

      One Sun, No Waiting

      (If you would like to jump directly to the story, just click on the title)

      ~ ~ ~

      Introduction

      Welcome to my very first short story collection.

      Since this is my first collection, this is also the first introduction I've written. What to say? Should I tell you that I've been a fan of science fiction since I first laid eyes on Kirk and Spock and Chekov --especially Chekov -- back when the original Star Trek first aired? Or that I made up stories about The Invaders when I was a little kid because I knew more things had to happen to David Vincent than we got to see on television? To be fair, I should probably also tell you that I made up stories about the characters from Gilligan's Island, too.

      See, for me, stories are all about the characters. The Professor from Gilligan's Island, David Vincent from The Invaders. Later it was Starbuck from the original Battlestar Gallactica, John Crichton from Farscape, Ham Tyler from the original V. Good or bad, or somewhere in between, they're all characters coping with a world that's taken a sudden left turn from normal.

      Just like the characters in this collection.

      I wrote The Forever Soldier for an anthology assignment that ended up not going forward. I like anthology assignments because they make me stretch my wings. Like with this story. I don't write much military science fiction, but the anthology assignment -- the end of the world as we know it -- gave me the perfect jumping off point for telling the story of one far-future soldier who can't stop fighting, no matter how many times she dies.

      Human Interest is another far future tale, this time about a journalist whose career is stuck in fluff piece hell. Sent to dig up a story -- any story -- on a mining colony at the edge of the known universe, this reporter gets more than he bargained for when he discovers a whole new meaning to the term human interest.

      The next story in this collection -- The Liar -- has an interesting backstory. Years and years ago, I read a book on fiction writing by Lawrence Block called Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. It's probably still on my bookshelves somewhere. The title stuck with me. Years later, I started going to get-togethers hosted by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith where a bunch of writers read each other's work and gave short responses, but generally just talked writing and whatever else struck our fancy. Being the shy newbie writer I was back then, it took four of these get-togethers, plus a not-so-subtle nudge from Kris, before I gathered up the courage to bring a story of my own. The Liar was that story. The title came from Lawrence Block, and the story came to life due to nudging by Kris. Here's my chance to officially thank them both.

      I wrote Reboot for the anthology Time After Time, edited by Denise Little. In Reboot I got to play around with a what if involving time travel, forced retirement, over-crowding on a global scale, and the eradication of disease. All in one short story. It was a fun one to write.

      The last story in this collection is One Sun, No Waiting. This story was inspired in part by a car trip I took down the Extraterrestrial Highway, the official name of State Route 375 in Nevada. Like a lot of roads in the west, and particularly in Nevada, there's so little traffic on the Extraterrestrial Highway that it's a wonder the small pockets of businesses along the highway manage to survive. Once I started writing about the people who live and work along such a lonely stretch of road, the characters became so vivid in my imagination that the story almost seemed to write itself. I love it when that happens. One Sun, No Waiting won a Literary Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council, one of the few -- maybe the only -- speculative fiction story ever to do so.

      I hope you enjoy spending time with the characters in these stories. I sure enjoyed spending time with them while I was writing.

      --Annie Reed

      Reno, Nevada

      July 4, 2011

      ~ ~ ~

      The Forever Soldier

      I decided what I want on my tombstone, Roger Three said.

      Roger Two looked down at Three's inert body. What, 'death by stupidity'?

      Three laughed, a hollow, empty sound intended to cover the sick pit-of-the-stomach feeling she always got whenever she had to look down at her own body, dead and d+iscarded on the battlefield like so much forgotten trash. I was thinking more along the lines of 'death by clumsy'.

      Two didn't laugh. Three didn't think she'd ever seen him even smile. Then again, facing the reality of your own dead body wasn't a laughing matter for most Rogers. Three just had a highly evolved sense of gallows humor born of long experience and a desire to stay sane.

      A rocket arced overhead, one of the big numbers, the kind that blew out entire buildings without breaking a sweat. The rocket's trajectory pegged it as one of theirs. With any luck it would punch a hole through enemy lines, giving soldiers like Three a chance to fight their way through without getting blown to bits. Unless, of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1