First, please let me offer you all a Merry Christmas! I hope this is a time of joy and love for you and yours. I wish you a Merry Christmas and many more. This is the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior, who was born into humble human flesh, where he lived a perfect life so that he could die on the cross, thus paying the price for our sins and giving us freedom and life.
“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” (Luke 2:9-14)
Spoiler Free Summary: And The Light Faded by Lisa Fox is the thirteenth story in the Alien Days Anthology. Rosa thinks she’s about to mournfully observe another new year, another new year in a world without her daughter in it. An alien invasion changes everything. The come swift and terrible, and Rosa is forced to survive.
Character: On one hand, Rosa is very sympathetic. She’s also proactive. This is one of those stories where I like a lot, but the thing I didn’t like, a decision made by the character near the end, really rubbed me the wrong way as an individual. I will acknowledge that Fox did a nice job making that decision seem realistic, but I still dislike the choice.
Exposition: This probably had more than I’d like, especially in regard to the end. It wasn’t so much exposition that it lagged in places, but it was disappointing in that the exposition felt more like the author trying to justify herself than simply provide background. I’ve read a few stories like this, where I feel like the author is trying to defend him or her self. It’s only a problem because it shows the author feels defensive.
Worldbuilding: This is an Earth alien invasion story, so there isn’t much need for world building. In terms of alien invasion stories, it is what it needs to be. Scifi fans who want to be whisked away may not enjoy it, but fans of drama-oriented stories will judge it based on how they feel about the ending.
Dialogue: This was solid. Maybe a little stereotypical, but not unbelievable. This is another area where the conversation seemed to dip sometimes into author justification. There really is only one conversation in the story, so it may be a bit unfair to judge it by that one conversation. Then again, if you’re going to write a story containing only one conversation, perhaps it should be a powerful conversation.
Description: I don’t remember much about this particular aspect of the story, which means it didn’t drag, but it didn’t activate my senses very well either. If I had to choose between dragging the story down or just moving it along, I’d go with the move along option.
Overall: This story hinges on how the reader feels about the end. I personally didn’t like it, but those reasons are as personal as the sort of ending written. I’d say if you want to know, give it a read and see what you think. This ending is exactly the sort of ending meant to be discussed and debated. If you think it works, you’ll probably think the story is OK. I don’t know that anyone would call this story great though. For an alien invasion story, there’s certainly not much happening other than a long conversation based on the wealth gap.
Thanks for reading
Matt
M.L.S. Weech 