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Voyage: Embarkation #2 Longing
Kal is ready to leave his strange home and is about to embark on a journey to even stranger worlds.
After four years of exile, he can finally escape into the metaxia, the unspace between universes, and explore alternate Earths.
Supremely advanced cultures and natural wonders of immeasurable beauty await him. However, there exist also worlds mired in social decay, and those filled with dangerous, exotic forms of life.
Armed only with defensive nanotech and a computer pad, Kal travels from one alternate Earth to another. Navigating the infinity of possibilities, he embarks on a new kind of voyage, a voyage along the catastrophe of notions.
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Kal has been having the same dream every night for the past week. Fed up, he searches for an alternate Earth to match his dream's setting, and discovers Ydora. It is the first alternate Earth he will visit inhabited by humans, and in doing so, will be forced to reveal secrets he would rather remain hidden.
Voyage: Embarkation Episode #2 "Longing" is about 14,000 words long.
After four years of exile, he can finally escape into the metaxia, the unspace between universes, and explore alternate Earths.
Supremely advanced cultures and natural wonders of immeasurable beauty await him. However, there exist also worlds mired in social decay, and those filled with dangerous, exotic forms of life.
Armed only with defensive nanotech and a computer pad, Kal travels from one alternate Earth to another. Navigating the infinity of possibilities, he embarks on a new kind of voyage, a voyage along the catastrophe of notions.
------------
Kal has been having the same dream every night for the past week. Fed up, he searches for an alternate Earth to match his dream's setting, and discovers Ydora. It is the first alternate Earth he will visit inhabited by humans, and in doing so, will be forced to reveal secrets he would rather remain hidden.
Voyage: Embarkation Episode #2 "Longing" is about 14,000 words long.
56 pages, ebook
First published February 14, 2013
3 people want to read
About the author
Zachary Bonelli
32 books28 followersI grew up in a small town in northern Illinois, west of Chicago. After graduating high school, I dual majored in English Literature and German Language at a small, Midwestern liberal arts college. After undergrad, I turned my eyes towards exploration, and spent many years in Japan, Thailand and Hawaii.
Nowadays, I live with my partner near Seattle, Washington, where I work in the gaming industry.
I love stories. I’ve long been fascinated by video games as a storytelling medium, and I love exploring different cultures, discovering the different underlying stories that different groups of people tell themselves, the stories that define who they are and how they perceive the world.
Nowadays, I live with my partner near Seattle, Washington, where I work in the gaming industry.
I love stories. I’ve long been fascinated by video games as a storytelling medium, and I love exploring different cultures, discovering the different underlying stories that different groups of people tell themselves, the stories that define who they are and how they perceive the world.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 22, 2013
Zachary Bonelli's Voyage episodes are fantasy shorts with sci-fi elements served up light and quick, like a mid-morning snack or a 30 minute TV show. I've only read two so far, but his writing style and storyline remind me of the Saturday morning kid shows I watched in the 70s after the cartoons were over. Like the Marshalls in Land of the Lost, Kal (our protag) is on a quest to get back to earth - his particular earth, the one among an infinite number of universes he's able to travel to. While seeking a cure of what's preventing him from returning home, Kal strikes out from his base on Felis (an alternate earth) and experiences various adventures while encountering new friends and, I assume as the series progresses, dangerous foes.
Back to my Land of the Lost analogy. Rick, Will, and Holly Marshall also landed in an alternate universe, one populated by dinosaurs and other (possibly) alien creatures. Each week brought an adventure and a series of subplots that weaved nicely into a larger whole (as does Voyage). Although 'Land of the Lost' may have suffered from cheesy production (tho kids didn't notice that back then), with writers like Ben Bova, D.C. Fontana, Larry Niven and other stalwart SF writers, the concepts were engaging and often profound - the befriending and evolution of Cha-Ka being one of the more obvious metaphors for embracing diversity and acknowledging our mutual interdependence as living beings.
Likewise, Voyage can seem 'cheesy' at times (not meant in a disparaging way) in that Kal comes across as somewhat juvenile and naive in his relationships and conversation. But this only serves to underscore a more overarching theme, that of finding our place in this world and the importance of traveling with others in mutually beneficial ways along that path. For certain readers, this series of stories will be a delight (and so I've given it 4 Stars - worth checking out). For others the plot might drag a bit and lack tension (and so as a plot-driven reader, I might give this episode 3 Stars - good but not gripping). That being said, I'll definitely give the next few stories a read just to find out where Kal is off to next!
Back to my Land of the Lost analogy. Rick, Will, and Holly Marshall also landed in an alternate universe, one populated by dinosaurs and other (possibly) alien creatures. Each week brought an adventure and a series of subplots that weaved nicely into a larger whole (as does Voyage). Although 'Land of the Lost' may have suffered from cheesy production (tho kids didn't notice that back then), with writers like Ben Bova, D.C. Fontana, Larry Niven and other stalwart SF writers, the concepts were engaging and often profound - the befriending and evolution of Cha-Ka being one of the more obvious metaphors for embracing diversity and acknowledging our mutual interdependence as living beings.
Likewise, Voyage can seem 'cheesy' at times (not meant in a disparaging way) in that Kal comes across as somewhat juvenile and naive in his relationships and conversation. But this only serves to underscore a more overarching theme, that of finding our place in this world and the importance of traveling with others in mutually beneficial ways along that path. For certain readers, this series of stories will be a delight (and so I've given it 4 Stars - worth checking out). For others the plot might drag a bit and lack tension (and so as a plot-driven reader, I might give this episode 3 Stars - good but not gripping). That being said, I'll definitely give the next few stories a read just to find out where Kal is off to next!
January 4, 2014
This episode picks a week or so after the events of Setting Sail. Up to this point, Kal has explored only uninhabited worlds. However, a reoccurring dream that shows Kal getting what he is searching for drives him to explore the inhabited world of Ydora.
What is he searching so desperately for? Why can't Kal travel back to the Earth of his birth? That is the main theme this episode resolves around.
This episode also serves to highlight Zachary's strengths - he is an amazing worldbuilder! There was obviously a lot of thought put into the world and culture of Ydora. Again, the descriptions were perfect - just enough information to visualize it, but overdone.
Kal meets a friend in this episode, Sprig'g, a girl from Ydora. I really like her character, although I know from reading further on that she does not appear again in the Embarkation series.
I don't want to give away too much, but this episode really drew me into the story more. It answers a lot of questions about why Kal is stuck on Felis, what he is searching for, and the rules of metaxic travel. I think Kal really grows as a person alot in this episode, which is nice to see.
Like the first, this episode is mostly about worldbuilding and moving the story along. It is sci-fi, but it is not action adventure. The climax of the story is not what you would expect, but it fits the story and the characters, and is not a letdown in the slightest.
What is he searching so desperately for? Why can't Kal travel back to the Earth of his birth? That is the main theme this episode resolves around.
This episode also serves to highlight Zachary's strengths - he is an amazing worldbuilder! There was obviously a lot of thought put into the world and culture of Ydora. Again, the descriptions were perfect - just enough information to visualize it, but overdone.
Kal meets a friend in this episode, Sprig'g, a girl from Ydora. I really like her character, although I know from reading further on that she does not appear again in the Embarkation series.
I don't want to give away too much, but this episode really drew me into the story more. It answers a lot of questions about why Kal is stuck on Felis, what he is searching for, and the rules of metaxic travel. I think Kal really grows as a person alot in this episode, which is nice to see.
Like the first, this episode is mostly about worldbuilding and moving the story along. It is sci-fi, but it is not action adventure. The climax of the story is not what you would expect, but it fits the story and the characters, and is not a letdown in the slightest.
June 9, 2013
I thoroughly enjoyed the second installment of this serial, in fact much more than I enjoyed the first one. Less confusing in its depiction of technology, the tech that is covered here is better explained and integrated into the chapter itself. In other words, I found myself less concerned with understanding the tech and was able to simply enjoy the story and the discovery of this new world as they unfolded.
I tend to prefer my characters with a little more ‘meat’ on them so I did find that, at times, Kal came off as immature and some of his reactions to things were a little simplistic, or his acceptance of things a little too easily won. Then I remembered that he is only 18 and has lived in isolation for years, so I figured this might partially explain this. Still, this hiccup was not enough to deter me from reading through to the end, nor did it make me like the character any less.
Overall, the writing remains exceptionally clear and easy to read, and most descriptions of the alternate world are also easy to imagine.
I am looking forward to see what other interesting world Kal comes across next.
I tend to prefer my characters with a little more ‘meat’ on them so I did find that, at times, Kal came off as immature and some of his reactions to things were a little simplistic, or his acceptance of things a little too easily won. Then I remembered that he is only 18 and has lived in isolation for years, so I figured this might partially explain this. Still, this hiccup was not enough to deter me from reading through to the end, nor did it make me like the character any less.
Overall, the writing remains exceptionally clear and easy to read, and most descriptions of the alternate world are also easy to imagine.
I am looking forward to see what other interesting world Kal comes across next.
November 28, 2013
(Full disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of Voyage: Embarkation)
A frustratingly intangible dream teases Kal with a solution to the problem keeping him from returning home. This threadbare hope drives Kal to the verdant jungle world Ydora, where he encounters his first real danger since passing through the metaxia: other humans.
With an intriguing exploration of a culture considerably foreign to Earth's, and the further development of the motivations that spur Kal towards his ultimate goal, Longing expands the rich setting of the Embarkation universe and humanises Kal with a well-paced and engaging character arc. Mentally stimulating and very entertaining. Bring on the next chapter!
A frustratingly intangible dream teases Kal with a solution to the problem keeping him from returning home. This threadbare hope drives Kal to the verdant jungle world Ydora, where he encounters his first real danger since passing through the metaxia: other humans.
With an intriguing exploration of a culture considerably foreign to Earth's, and the further development of the motivations that spur Kal towards his ultimate goal, Longing expands the rich setting of the Embarkation universe and humanises Kal with a well-paced and engaging character arc. Mentally stimulating and very entertaining. Bring on the next chapter!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews