Review: Clarissa - Tales of Lost Solace

July 11, 2021

Review: Clarissa - Tales of Lost Solace

Clarissa

If you’re reading this: HELP! I’ve been kidnapped.

Me and my big sister stayed together after our parents died. We weren’t bothering anybody. But some mean government agents came anyway, and split us up.

Now I’m a prisoner on this space ship. The agents won’t even say where we’re going.

I hate them.

And things have started to get a bit weird. Nullspace is supposed to be empty, but when I look out of the skywindows I can see … something. Out there. And I think it wants to get in here. With us.

My name is Clarissa. I am ten years old.

And they will all be sorry when my big sister comes to rescue me.

Buy it HERE.

MY REVIEW:

This has to be my favourite Lost Solace short story! Told from the entirely believable POV of a young girl, the author has made her dystopian universe completely authentic.

Clarissa is the latest in a long line of plucky hero/ines, raised in adversity yet somehow full of character and zest battling oppressive adults, forming alliances with aliens and AI and encountering a sympathetic mother figure who also sports enhanced robotic strength.

Eerily prescient, the author foregrounds our increasing reliance on AI while also speaking to our present-day isolation and desire for connection with others (whether human or AI). Terrific stuff - exciting and alarming in equal measure, this is just begging to be made for the screen. Will someone please offer Drinkwater an option?

Author Bio:

Karl Drinkwater writes thrilling SF, suspenseful horror, and contemporary literary fiction. Whichever you pick you’ll find interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

Karl has lived in many places but now calls Scotland his home. He’s an ex-librarian with degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science. He also studied astrophysics for a year at university, surprising himself by winning a prize for “Outstanding Performance”.

When he isn’t writing he loves guitars, exercise, computer and board games, nature, and vegan cake. Not necessarily in that order.

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