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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