Mooncake

by Ray Hecht

It is Mid-Autumn Festival in Lunar Colony 01111001's Chinatown, a holiday celebrated by eating mooncake and regaling with tales of Chang'e flying to the moon.


Little Xiao Yue asks her grandfather what it all means. There is always a generation gap. How can precocious children in the future understand the metaphor?


Enjoy this short short, a taste of one writer's science fiction and Sino overlap..

ebook

First published September 6, 2013

About the author

Ray Hecht was raised in America, from the Midwest to the West Coast, on a starchy diet of movies and comics and science fiction paperbacks. Mostly writing about such states as California and Ohio, and such provinces as Guangdong. Lived in Shenzhen, China since 2008, that Special Economic Zone & Hong Kong-bordering chaotic city of the future, occasionally partaking in freelance journalism for various local publications. Ray now lives in Taiwan.

Reviews

[Vedrana · Rating 4 out of 5]

great short story

[Jonathan Antony · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting little story this one. I liked the way the modern day moon generation found it hard to grasp the common things (such as phrases and euphemisms) we ourselves as earthlings take for granted.

In fact the whole story is basically one big clash of old and new, but dealt with in such a way as to leave the reader contemplating such a future. And I quite liked that about it...Good stuff indeed.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is great. Mid-autumn festival celebrates the moon goddess Chang'e. In the distant future, even human moon colonies now have Chinatowns. How do they celebrate and explain this story while living on the moon? A very cleaver premise and an enjoyable story to read.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually refrain from reading science fiction however, I thought I would give this book a try. I thought it was interesting that Ray spoke of the 'moon' in a habitable sense, while 'earth' was seen as inhabitable, with the main character looking out into the sky to the 'earth' as opposed to the 'moon' (possibly a prediction of what is to come?) I liked how Ray described why 'Mid-Autumn Festival' was given its name, while speaking of various other cultural references in relation to the Lunar Colony of 01111001. Definitely a short but touching story about how those in the distant future may see the world in a totally different light (literally).