Story Review: Forbidden Science by Terry Mixon, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful (scary but not dangerous) night. Enjoy the trick-or-treating!

Spoiler Free Summary: Forbidden Science by Terry Mixon is the eighth story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Jeff Peters is a graduate student about to work with a professor as part of Peters’ doctoral studies. Instead of being able to choose a professor he’d like to work with, he’s been recruited … by a complete nut job. At least, that’s what he thinks. Professor Xaltar is as eccentric as his is intelligent, which is saying something.  The problem is, what they’re working on could be destructive in the wrong hands. In fact, even if his dean learned about how far the experiment has come, it could spell trouble.

 

Character:  Jeff and Xaltar feel so much like Marty and Doc Brown I can’t help but love them. They’re every bit as funny as they are charming. Fans of Back to the Future will love this story, and people who didn’t well, do those people exists?

Exposition: The book started out pretty heavy in this category.  I was honestly not into it for the first part of the story because I was getting information shoved down my throat, but once I got to those two characters interacting, I forgot all about my annoyance and just enjoyed the fun.

World building:  This is another of the stories I felt stood on its own. If there was some connection to the universe that I missed, I didn’t feel like it. The story is expertly contained to the plot and the characters of this tale. It doesn’t expand much as far as I can tell, but I get the feel for what’s going on, and given that the experiment is a big deal in this universe, I understood the stakes.

Image of Mr. Mixon taken from his web site for review purposes under fair use.

Dialogue: Much like with Back to the Future, the dialogue was the star of the show. I had several laugh-out-loud moments usually based on the interaction between the main characters. It was lively and entertaining.

Description: I don’t remember much, which means there wasn’t a ton of description (which I, contrary to most fans of scifi, appreciate). No, the details didn’t stick with me, and I couldn’t tell you so much as the hair color of either main character. Other fans of the series will have to decide if that bothers them or not. It doesn’t bother me. I got a good story, and a three-page description of a ship didn’t get in the way of the ship blowing something up.  (NOTE: I’m not saying those things happened, I’m just using that as an example.)

Overall: This story was just pure fun. It’s my second-favorite story in the whole anthology. It’s Back to the Future in a futuristic setting. If you like wit and zany fun, this is the story for you.

Thanks for reading,

Matt