This is the fifty-seventh time Ship has tried to stop Zander from entering the cellar.
That’s the opening line to my new story in Lightspeed Magazine, “The Spread of Space and Endless Devastation.”
Time loop stories and other fun tropes
I’ve written time loop stories (and one time loop game) before, and several of them have even been published.
“The Spread of Space” focuses on a couple of other tropes I find myself returning to — either as a reader or an author — time and time again:
- Found families
- Ships/AIs with feelings
- Parenting feels
- Learning to let go, even when it hurts
It’s also got an ensemble cast, with a crew of colourful characters — something I’m particularly amused about in a 1200 word story!
We’ve got Kala, a historian with a tendency for self-insertion. Eun-ja, who is obsessed with dramas. Iope, the crew’s well-intended heckler. And of course there’s Zander, essentially the kind of person who feels he has to keep everyone else on track and is perpetually tired as a result.
The story follows the crew (and, of course, Ship!) as they examine a newly rediscovered asteroid out on the edge of known space, complete with a mysterious ancient ruin that seems to have been inhabited all too recently and weird alien writing.
But what’s in the cellar? Why does Zander keep going down there? What does it all have to do with time loop stories?
For the answer to those questions and more, you’ll have to go read the story! It’s free to read on the Lightspeed website.