Strata

by Bradley P. Beaulieu, Stephen Gaskell

Strata is a stand-alone novella by two Writers of the Future Award winners.

It's the middle of the twenty-second century. Earth's oil and gas reserves have been spent, but humankind's thirst for energy remains unquenched. Vast solar mining platforms circle the upper atmosphere of the sun, drawing power lines up from the stellar interior and tight-beaming the energy back to Earth. For most of the platforms' teeming masses, life is hard, cramped—and hot. Most dream of a return Earthside, but a two-way ticket wasn't part of the benefits package, and a Sun-Earth trip doesn't come cheap.

Kawe Ndechi is luckier than most. He's a gifted rider—a skimmer pilot who races the surface of the sun's convection zone—and he needs only two more wins before he lands a ticket home. The only trouble is, Kawe's spent most of his life on the platforms. He's seen the misery, and he's not sure he's the only one who deserves a chance at returning home.

That makes Smith Pouslon nervous. Smith once raced the tunnels of fire himself, but now he's a handler, and his rider, Kawe, is proving anything but easy to handle. Kawe's slipping deeper and deeper into the Movement, but Smith knows that's a fool's game. His own foray into the Movement cost him his racing career—and nearly his life—and he doesn't want Kawe to throw everything away for a revolt that will never succeed.

One sun. Two men. The fate of a million souls.

Genres: Science Fiction, Novella, Short Stories

69 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 23, 2011

About the author

Bradley P. Beaulieu began writing his first fantasy novel in college, but life eventually intervened. As time went on, though, Brad realized that his love of writing and telling tales wasn't going to just slink quietly into the night. The drive to write came back full force in the early 2000s, at which point Brad dedicated himself to the craft, writing and learning under the guidance of writers like Nancy Kress, Joe Haldeman, Tim Powers, Holly Black, and many more.

Brad and his novels have garnered many accolades including two Hotties—the Debut of the Year and Best New Voice—on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, a Gemmell Morningstar Award nomination for The Winds of Khalakovo and more:

* Top Ten Book and Debut of the Year for 2011 on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist for The Winds of Khalakovo
* Best New Voice of 2011 on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
* 2011 Gemmell Morningstar Award Nomination for The Winds of Khalakovo
* Top Ten Debut for The Winds of Khalakovo on Ranting Dragon's Best of 2011
* Top Ten Debut for The Winds of Khalakovo on Mad Hatter's Best of 2011
* Top Five Book for 2012 on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist for The Straits of Galahesh
* 2012 Most Anticipated for The Straits of Galahesh on Staffer's Book Review
* 2012 Most Anticipated for The Straits of Galahesh on The Ranting Dragon
* 2013 Most Anticipated for The Flames of Shadam Khoreh on The Ranting Dragon

Brad continues to work on his next projects, including an Arabian Nights epic fantasy and a Norse-inspired middle grade series. He also runs the highly successful science fiction & fantasy podcast, Speculate, which can be found at speculatesf.com.

Novels

THE LAYS OF ANUSKAYA
* The Winds of Khalakovo
* The Straits of Galahesh
* The Flames of Shadam Khoreh

Short Story Collections
* Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories

Novellas
* Strata (with Stephen Gaskell)

Contact Information
Website: www.quillings.com
Twitter: @bbeaulieu
Facebook: facebook.com/bradley.p.beaulieu

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid novella in the "man-vs-the-system" vein. Many characteristics of the story reminded me of its ancestors: a faceless persecutor backed by paramilitary; an underground movement seeking to undermine the dominant power structure; a few good men striving to realize political justice; and a few good women present for emotional outpourings and props for those good men to lean on. The notable differences between Strata and its predecessors are the variety of nationalities of the protagonists and the absence of any Cold War politics: the world posited here could be a logical extension of our present, complete with greedy corporations that farm out high-risk/low-paid work to people from developing countries.

I don't remember why I downloaded this, though I suspect a review lead me to. In any case I picked it up for a quick dose of science fiction, and for the most part I got that. The resolution was too pat, and the setting could have been built up more; then again, at novella-length these shortcomings are forgivable. If these two collaborate again, I'll sign up.

[Mihir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review originally at Fantasy Book Critic.


ANALYSIS: Bradley P. Beaulieu is an author who doesn’t exactly need an introduction, with his debut The Winds of Khalakovo, he definitely garnered attention from many readers. He had also attended the Clarion Workshop which was the common ground with his fellow collaborator Steven Gaskell. The kernel of the story came to Brad in 2008 and he wanted to explore more of the story however he needed someone with a more SF-tuned style to help him with it and so he turned to Steven whose works reminded him of Robert Charles Wilson and Robert J. Sawyer. They originally planned it to be a short story of around seven thousand words however the end result after three years was a novella of more than thirty thousand words.

The story begins rather quickly and introduces the reader to the racing team of Kawe Ndechi and Smith Pouslon, who as a pair shine spectacularly by combining Smith’s experience and Kawe’s natural racing brilliance. He’s a winning racer and a couple more races will get him off the Sun’s mining platform on a one way ticket back to Earth however Kawe’s not really aiming for just a win, what he has in mind will not only clash with Smith’s age-worn wisdom but also his heart felt desire. However if the thing is to be accomplished for the rights and lives of the workers on the solar mining platforms, it will only be possible when these two come together to pool their exuberant talents. The racing storyline runs parallel to a worker-management battle which has been silently raging for the past few years and Smith is one such casualty. He however does not wish for Kawe to emulate him in this unfortunate regard but fate and the Movement will not let Kawe go. Such are the travails which lie forth for both these determined racers whose skin color might be from the opposite ends of the color spectrum however the racer spirit is a kindred feeling which unites them with far more stronger bonds.

The novella idea is quite a simple and yet elegant one, in the forthcoming century with Earth’s gas resources being almost finished. The human race turns to the sun and so technology is developed to harness its power, this technology is not without its perils as the people who leave to work on the mining stations cannot afford their way back unless they gather a significant amount of money thus the birth of the racing pods and all the shenanigans which go along with it. Basically the story then simultaneously straddles the twin genres of SF and thriller whilst also touching upon some human social issues, the highlight of the tale being its superb pacing. At no time in the novella will the reader feel any pangs of boredom as the tale is carefully crafted and twists are inserted to make sure that the reader does stumble in his/her assumptions (I know I did with my thoughts in regards to the climax). The characterization is competent delivering the vastly different views of both protagonists and there is no disconnect in the cohesiveness of the plot. Despite it being written by different authors the seams of the collaborative effort are not to be found and this was a major plus.

Points against the plotline are that the technology and social spectrum described in the book aren’t really explored beyond what is told to the reader and some might find this to be the fly in their ointment. I personally didn’t mind it as it was not the focus of the story. The length of the story while delivering a nice compact read also robs the reader of getting to know the characters & the world they inhabit to the fullest degree.

CONCLUSION: This SF collaboration is the first between these two creative minds, however simply based on what I read. I think they ought to collaborate regularly and for longer pieces of fiction. Strata is a twisted, fast-paced SF novella for readers who yearn to read newer stories, Beaulieu & Gaskell set out to write a short story about racing on the sun but have delivered a very good novella which manages to be much more than what its blurb promises, very much recommended!

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 22nd century, resource depletion and Earth’s ever-increasing energy demands have led humanity to a brand new frontier: huge platforms circle the Sun and draw energy directly from its surface. In the past, corporations offered enticing contracts that included free transfer to the platforms in order to motivate workers to join the solar workforce and leave an often dire existence on Earth, but what they neglected to mention was carefully hidden in the fine print: transfer back to Earth is insanely expensive and not included. The result is a class of indentured servants, toiling away in unpleasant and dangerous conditions, trying to earn passage back to Earth while their corporate masters grow ever richer.

The downtrodden masses do need their entertainment, and this is provided by a spectacular new sport that involves racing skimmers along the Sun’s surface. Kawe is a star in this sport, known far and wide along the platforms, but what far fewer people know is that he is also a member of an underground resistance movement aiming to overthrow the platforms’ corporate rulers and gain fair working conditions for everyone. At the beginning of Strata, Kawe is racing his skimmer along the surface of the Sun, but he is also carrying a device that may trigger solar eruptions, as part of a plot by the resistance movement to cause chaos on the platforms and wrest control away from the corporations.

Please read the entire review here on my site Far Beyond Reality!

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but not great. It was rather confusing especially the descriptions of the racing and the kind of habitat the people lived on was not made very clear to me. But otherwise it was a decent read and my first by these two authors.

[Paul Madsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tale eludes terrior, devote re old code horror and honor

Good old boy shiny honor Over and above the call of duty. The trick is to realize when the real truth all the way

[Seregil of Rhiminee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I begin to write this review, I'll mention that Stephen Gaskell was an unknown author to me (I remember hearing about him, but this was the first time that I read something by him), but I've read Bradley P. Beaulieu's The Winds of Khalakovo. (I'll also mention that I'm glad that I had a chance to read this novella, because the story is good.)

Strata: A Story of the Future Suns is a fine self-published science fiction novella. It's a story about freedom, revolution, second chances, sacrifice and racing (skimming on the sun's surface). The events take place on the mining platform orbiting the Sun. This living and working environment is hostile and hard, because the workers are exploited ruthlessly and the management shows no mercy for those who begin to question how things are handled. The platforms are out of reach of Earth's legal system and that's why life can be extremely harsh for the workers, because the local management has lots of power and wants to control everything. The heat and the radiation also cause lots of problems for the workers. They try to struggle to get better conditions and more right for themselves, but their struggles seem to be in vain.

The characterization in this novella is excellent and even the small details are handled and described admirably. Smith Poulson and Kawe Ndechi are realistic and well portrayed characters. The relationship between Kawe and Poulson is handled in a fine and believable way.

Kawe and her mother, Mama, live on the platforms. His mother has signed a contract which keeps them on the platforms for a long time (they had left behind Kawe's abusive and angry father and fled to the platforms). Transfer to the platforms was free for them, but unfortunately transfering back to Earth is very expensive, so it's almost impossible for them to get back to Earth. Kawe has gradually found out how hard life can be on the platforms and how badly people are treated there.

Kawe is involved in the movement, which tries to make things better. He has principals and ideals, because he thinks that it doesn't matter where you are, but what you do. There has been several attempts to overthrow the management, but the attempts haven't been successful yet, because the management keeps tight control over what happens and tries to prevent mutinies.

Poulson was once involved in the movement too, but not anymore (the revelations about his past and what happened to him were interesting). However, things are changing and he has to face certain things.

The skimmer races are an important part of the story, because the racers may get a ticket back home. Racing is also good distraction and pastime for the workers. The managament is thinking of stopping the races, because they want more control. In my opinion this kind of racing is a brilliant idea and the authors have clearly spent a lot of time and effort on it. (The skimmer racing reminded me a bit of a song called "Dragonfly" by Blondie.)

Strata contains several elements from social issues to personal issues and all of them are handled surprisingly well. I was surprised how easily the authors created two different kind of characters who have to trust and respect each other. I was also intrigued by the way the authors combined action, adventure and certain space opera elements.

The story flows nicely from first page to the last page. Different themes (fight for freedom etc) are handled fluently within the story and the reader will gradually find out what has happened to the characters and what happens to them.

I enjoyed reading Strata: A Story of the Future Suns, because the characters have depth in them, the authors have combined different elements and the story is interesting. It was a pleasure to read this kind of intelligent science fiction. I'm sure that several other fans of quality science fiction will also like it.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel was pretty short and easy to get through. I wasn't exactly hooked in the beginning (despite the dramatic opening chapter), but about 1/3 of the way through I really couldn't stop reading. Very well designed dystopian novel.

There was one line that really got me thinking, "She'd be one of the losers in the brave new world they were planning." I was really curious as to if this was just a coincidental description, or actually a reference to the older dystopian novel. I actually e-mailed one of the authors to ask, haha. Let's see what he says!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tightly written novella with a decent plot. It went by a little too fast for as much as it had going on, but didn't make me feel like it was leaving too much out. It was more like 3.5 stars for me, but I'd rather round up. :) Nothing spectacular about it, but it was quite a nice, quick, action read.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there had been a little less technical jargon, I would have given this five stars. Excellent world building, very relatable characters, and a strong connection to the underground movement in a very small number of pages. Well worth the read!

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story seemed promising and the quality of the writing seemd good, but I felt as if I had opened a book in the middle of a story! It was too difficult to get into for me but I'm sure that if you perservere you wouldn't be disappointed.

[Tobias Wolter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting worldbuilding, but the storytelling is pretty weak, even going so far as to forgetting to mention things. Sadly wasted potential.

[Clare Deming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon!

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

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