What do you think?
Rate this book
Backlash: A Novelette
A novelette by Nebula Nominee Nancy Fulda.
Eugene Gutierez lost his wife, his pride, and part of his sanity during an undercover anti-terrorist operation in South America. When Eugene finds a cryptic message in a restaurant fortune cookie, he thinks his daughter's boyfriend is pulling a prank. The truth is far more complex, involves time travelers from Eugene's future, and will offer Eugene a final chance to restore his broken family.
Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, this novelette was listed in Tangent Online's 2010 recommended reading list and received an Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction.
Eugene Gutierez lost his wife, his pride, and part of his sanity during an undercover anti-terrorist operation in South America. When Eugene finds a cryptic message in a restaurant fortune cookie, he thinks his daughter's boyfriend is pulling a prank. The truth is far more complex, involves time travelers from Eugene's future, and will offer Eugene a final chance to restore his broken family.
Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, this novelette was listed in Tangent Online's 2010 recommended reading list and received an Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction.
- GenresScience FictionMystery
31 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2011
3 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Fulda
47 books29 followersNancy Fulda is a past Hugo and Nebula Nominee, a Phobos Award winner and a Vera Hinckley Mayhew Award recipient. She is also a recipient of the Jim Baen Memorial Award. She holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science with an emphasis in Machine Learning. She also loves dancing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 13, 2025
Reminded me very favorably of the movie Looper. I LOVE a good time-traveling story, and this one didn't disappoint. It's length makes it just slightly choppy, and the fight scenes I wish could have been blocked out further, but on the whole - very well done. Tight, engaging. My only real complaint is that I wasn't quite finished reading when it ended; I could have easily kept going.
December 30, 2020
That was an awesome short time travel story!
January 23, 2021
Quick read with a lot of bang for your buck. A time travel adventure that was a delight to read...in just about an hour. This novelette was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and received an Honorable Mention from Gardner Dozois in one of his Year's Best SF collections.
April 11, 2012
Nancy Fulda's "Backlash" is a non-stop sci-fi action/thriller novelette about a former war hero caught in the crossfire of averting a disaster that could change the course of time. Eugene Gutierez returned from an assignment in South America that left him with the scars of war, but in his retirement, a meal with his daughter and her boyfriend takes an odd turn. When he opens up a strange fortune cookie, he realizes that someone was trying to target him. He first believes it to be a cruel joke, until after the meal when he's nearly shot. A woman named Chen-chi joins him, claiming to be from the future and averting a disaster that could destroy the world. From there, Eugene and Chen-chi team up to fight against a mysterious terrorist group that includes more intimate ties that Eugene thought possible.
I thought this was a solid, entertaining short story, though I'll admit towards the end, it felt a bit rushed in the resolution. Up until about 85% of this story, I was hooked from the beginning. I liked the fluid prose, the structure of the conflict, the intrigue of Eugene's failed activation and the militant groups. I thought, however, the issue regarding Eugene's daughter was far too quickly resolved, especially considering her role in the collective conflict and the relationship between her and the member of the group. The main villain seemed taken down far too easily, and I didn't really get a chance to know his motives. Still, for a 31 page story, this was very well written, and I would be remiss if I said that I didn't enjoy it for what it had to offer. I would definitely read more from this author in the future.
Overall: 3/5
I thought this was a solid, entertaining short story, though I'll admit towards the end, it felt a bit rushed in the resolution. Up until about 85% of this story, I was hooked from the beginning. I liked the fluid prose, the structure of the conflict, the intrigue of Eugene's failed activation and the militant groups. I thought, however, the issue regarding Eugene's daughter was far too quickly resolved, especially considering her role in the collective conflict and the relationship between her and the member of the group. The main villain seemed taken down far too easily, and I didn't really get a chance to know his motives. Still, for a 31 page story, this was very well written, and I would be remiss if I said that I didn't enjoy it for what it had to offer. I would definitely read more from this author in the future.
Overall: 3/5
September 2, 2011
Lilac Wolf and Stuff
This is a super fast sci-fi thriller, containing only 31 pages. I read it in a few hours...it would take less without kids. lol
Eugene gets pulled into a black op from the future, forcing him to be a very quick study - he wasn't even supposed to be aware but the constant flashbacks he suffers from prevents the science from working properly.
Add to this finding out his daughter is part of a terrorist group, his world is thrown upside down in a matter of minutes. And he must recover from all this and do the job he volunteered for...well his future self volunteered.
As I said, very fast read. Great descriptions. I got lost in the tech-heavy description of the time-travel, very physics based. But even though I couldn't understand that part, it doesn't really take away from the story. She does try to explain it deeper, but it was still Greek to me.
If you like action packed sci-fi, you'll love this short story. I enjoyed the story, but I think it was too short and too scientific for my tastes. Alas, I can only give this 3 stars. And yes, I would chance other works by this author. She is a very good writer.
This is a super fast sci-fi thriller, containing only 31 pages. I read it in a few hours...it would take less without kids. lol
Eugene gets pulled into a black op from the future, forcing him to be a very quick study - he wasn't even supposed to be aware but the constant flashbacks he suffers from prevents the science from working properly.
Add to this finding out his daughter is part of a terrorist group, his world is thrown upside down in a matter of minutes. And he must recover from all this and do the job he volunteered for...well his future self volunteered.
As I said, very fast read. Great descriptions. I got lost in the tech-heavy description of the time-travel, very physics based. But even though I couldn't understand that part, it doesn't really take away from the story. She does try to explain it deeper, but it was still Greek to me.
If you like action packed sci-fi, you'll love this short story. I enjoyed the story, but I think it was too short and too scientific for my tastes. Alas, I can only give this 3 stars. And yes, I would chance other works by this author. She is a very good writer.
August 29, 2011
Billed as a "novelette," this short work is immediately engaging. When Eugene gets the strange fortune cookie and we start to find out a little more about his past, I found myself drawn even more into the story. One thing this author did really well in a short space was to provide enough backstory to flesh out the characters, which made them interesting and relatable. That being said, I was a bit confused by Clarise's motivations. I understand what she shared with Eugene at the end, but I would have liked just that little bit more that would have explained how she fell in with this crowd in the first place, and why she thought her involvement would have bettered the overall situation. I liked the twist that involved this conflict between her and her father, but it left me a little unsure as to "why."
Although it's nicely written for its length, I think it would be really interesting to take this short selection and flesh it out to a longer novella or a full-length novel. I think there is a lot to work with, and more pages would allow the time to really flesh out the storyline. This would be a novel in which I could become completely engaged.
Overall, this was another solid, engaging read from this author. I look forward to more of her work!
Although it's nicely written for its length, I think it would be really interesting to take this short selection and flesh it out to a longer novella or a full-length novel. I think there is a lot to work with, and more pages would allow the time to really flesh out the storyline. This would be a novel in which I could become completely engaged.
Overall, this was another solid, engaging read from this author. I look forward to more of her work!
January 1, 2013
This kindle short story clocks in at about 31 estimated pages. It is a truly interesting bit of sci-fi. My only complaint is that it felt like the story was just getting started and then it ended. I hope that someday this book is expanded into a full-fledged book.
Eugene Gutierez is a former anti-terrorist agent having dinner with his college-aged daughter and her latest boyfriend. He cannot imagine what she sees in him. Soon the evening collapses when his fortune cookie comes with this message: "Eugene Gutierez. Activation code: pupae." He assumes this new boyfriend has made a cruel attempt at a practical joke and he does not appreciate it. Gutierez suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - he gets powerful panic attacks and flashbacks, described as "that gasping feeling as the world sp[ins] out of control."
Gutierez's world will truly spin out of control in the next few hours as time traveling secret agents desperately try to utilize the skills of his former life and he discovers that his daughter is involved in things that could not have imagined...
http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
Eugene Gutierez is a former anti-terrorist agent having dinner with his college-aged daughter and her latest boyfriend. He cannot imagine what she sees in him. Soon the evening collapses when his fortune cookie comes with this message: "Eugene Gutierez. Activation code: pupae." He assumes this new boyfriend has made a cruel attempt at a practical joke and he does not appreciate it. Gutierez suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - he gets powerful panic attacks and flashbacks, described as "that gasping feeling as the world sp[ins] out of control."
Gutierez's world will truly spin out of control in the next few hours as time traveling secret agents desperately try to utilize the skills of his former life and he discovers that his daughter is involved in things that could not have imagined...
http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
May 23, 2011
I left a review on Amazon--basically even if you don't like short stories, this is a long one and it's a very good one. Well worth the read. It also appears inside the anthology "Dead Men Don't Cry" --which I just downloaded after reading this story. The writing style is unique in that you're reading an adventure so you're pulled along with the characters, sweating out each scene--but you get done and suddenly there's a lot to think about. It's not so much a "message" it's more this huge feeling that you really want to think about the "What if?" And...really. "What if???"
Superb story-telling.
Superb story-telling.
May 27, 2011
quick paced fight for family and life. Really enjoyed this read.
Review is at Doubleshotreviews.com
Review is at Doubleshotreviews.com
May 23, 2011
Very good short story - kept me involved all the way through.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews