Once again we return to the world of Glandar, and we learn a little more about the complex societies that populate the planet.

Neri is a fisher because his father is a fisher. Acam's parentage isn't as well described, so I have to wonder if he's a geek (love that title) because his father is a geek?

The fisher life is difficult. An act of apparent cowardice condemns the two boys to exile, but it quickly becomes clear that they are really being punished for being homosexuals. Was the cowardice declaration just an excuse to get rid of them in a potentially less inflammatory way?

Carl has painted a detailed picture of the village life and the flight to safety. I found myself enthralled as I waited to see what would happen next. I was then amused by the actions of the B'na, who helped them leave when the Argötteans didn't want them to go. I just have this mental image of Eight just shrugging when they question him.

Well done, Carl!

Fascinating read, Carl! I enjoyed it very much.

You are most certainly from the "dark" side. I'm not complaining. It's a place I like to visit every now and then.

Conner

OOOOO.... Loved it . Must read more.... hoping that I understood correctly and that there are more stories based in this world.... Hope to see more about these two.

The other two stories that I'm aware of are in the last two anthologies:

The Last Watcher, from the Summer 2007 anthology

Annihilation and Sterilization, from the Fall 2007 anthology.

Thanks for posting that... I couldn't find any in the normal searches.
Is this a normal thing to have such a great story world and characters and only use them for anthologies?

Some authors use a common theme or characters for their anthology entries, but a lot do completely standalone stories. It is whatever the author wants to do. There is a requirement that the stories work as standalone stories, but Viv (as an example) is able to do that while telling a multi-chapter story. I'm still amazed at what she's been able to do.

Carl has taken a common universe and told stand-alone stories in it. It's a fascinating universe and its wide-ranging nature allows him to easily fit it into the anthology themes. It is also very entertaining

Carl, this was great!!

The first thing I noticed was the present tense. That's very difficult to write in, but it works well here.

Their world is indeed harsh, with all manner of nasty fates. Nightmarish, and the scariest thing to me was that there is a strong hint that thoughts are not private; they were "found out" without actually having done anything.

I had a good chuckle over the "Geeks" term, and the description of truckers and their habits.

The comment about "Spanners" at the end had me laughing.

HOWEVER, there is one thing that I found most objectionable...




Great story, Carl!!!

Wow! I was amazed by the story. Even in the future, we are still hated. On the upside, the toilet cleans us! The present tense made me think of the events in the story happening as I read them. I enjoyed this story. Great work, Carl!