coming home againRating: 2.75 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Short Story


Captain Blair has been waiting for alien contact, and now that a flying saucer has landed, he’s eager to converse with the occupant. Captain Michael Rogers disappeared in 1948, but has returned, altered by the aliens with whom he’s spent his time. Blair has to spend time not only examining Rogers, but also to get inside his head and to learn about the man’s time away. But there’s pressure from the higher ups, and they are determined to find out the truth. Is Rogers what he says he is? It’s up to Blair to not only figure out what’s going on, but to protect Rogers, and their burgeoning feelings, in the process.

Okay, so I went into this story expecting a quick, interesting read, as the premise intrigued me immensely. And while this short story had a lot of potential, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. While I enjoyed the characters, the plot itself just didn’t work as well as it should have. Blair and Rogers have their moments where I could feel the edge of their connection, but it certainly wasn’t a focus. In fact, I could even go as far as to say this story would have been exactly the same without the romance subplot, so that was disappointing.

Basically, the themes presented here are just too heavy and expansive to be dealt with in the short amount of space the author gave them. A pilot gone for 70 years, to return after living with aliens? An entire alien race? Technology, and plots, and sinister characters. It seemed like there was too much jammed in for what the author was trying to accomplish.

Ultimately, I felt like everything in this story moved too fast and was too underdeveloped for it to work. Basically, this story was one long info dump of everything that happened and everything the characters were doing. I didn’t feel a connection to the story, and barely a passing one to the characters. What could have been an intriguing and interesting storyline fell flat. The style of writing aside, which wasn’t for me, everything just moved too quickly, without being explored. Yes, this is a short story, and by definition there are a small amount of words to get the story across. However, the plot still needs to be developed, and I found that lacking here.

Basically, I wasn’t overly impressed with this story. While there were a few short moments where I thought the story would turn around and head in a better direction, it mostly left me wanting. Everything moved too quickly, was too underdeveloped, and lacked the impact it should have had.

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