Sunday, September 30, 2012

Saya's Last Gasp


Saya’s Last Gasp is part of a series of Sci-Five Shorties, a podcast of four- to eight-minute monologues (or short stories) that are science fiction-themed.  I tip my hat to anyone who can create character and an interesting situation in five minutes; equally, any monologue-type entry that can do this successfully is also worthy of praise because for me personally, a play is always preferable to a monologue.    This one, by Neil Gardner, surprised me at how good it actually was.  After all, I was a bit surprised to see the entire short story (in essence, the play script) reproduced on the page in front of me.  I recommend you don’t read it until after you’ve listened to the shortie.  It’s a darkly humorous tale of accident-prone astronaut Saya and her last thoughts on the outer hull of her spaceship before it starts the jump into hyperdrive, leaving her at the mercy of certain death.  Despite the fact that Neil Gardner reads the part of Saya as well as the narration, with minimal effects included, this story really comes alive.  Saya’s hapless personality struck a chord with me, and overall the story had echoes of Douglas Adams and Tim Gambrell.  

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