Short Story
Published in Artemis (LRC Publishing ) -- July, 2001, Ian Randal Strock , ED.
On Writing "Echoes in a Shattering Silence" |
I don't know why I was thinking these things. Who ever knows why, eh? But I was thinking about friends while I wrote this piece. What is a friend? How do you know when you have one? What makes one person immediately a friend, and another person ... well ... not a friend. What would you do for a friend? How far would you go? If you say "no" are you still a friend. Or what if you say "yes?" These are timeless ideas--important ideas. We think these are the things that make us human. But are they, really? Perhaps, I thought as I was writing this, there's more to it than that. Maybe the answers to these questions are not what makes us human, but instead are what makes any sentient species more than the sum of its parts. Maybe we even give these human characteristics to our animal friends because those characteristics are actually there, you know? So, I was thinking about friends. And out came "Echoes..." |
 | |
|
Excerpt: The kappo should have been up and moving. They should have been picking through rugged grasslands for the yellow grubworms that lay just below Belatron's surface. They should have been snorting and grunting their finds and claiming their mates, grooming each other and squabbling over territory, doing all the things that make them almost human--whatever that is. | |
Buy this Short Story