Deep

by Philip Plait

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction

ebook

About the author

Philip Cary Plait, Ph.D. (aka "The Bad Astronomer") is a US astronomer, skeptic, writer and popular science blogger. He is a well known author and public figure in the fields of astronomy and science.

Plait gained his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Virginia in 1994. He began his career with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His first foray into public life was with his blog that described "bad astronomy" in movies and in public perception in general. This led to Plait's first book Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax" (2002). In 2008, he became President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, serving in that position until January 1, 2010.

Dr Phil Plait remains a popular and well known figure popularising science and astronomy.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

last year, amy(other amy) tipped me off to this cool thing she was doing: the short story advent calendar, where you sign up to this thingie here and you get a free story each day.

i dropped the ball and by the time i came to my senses, it had already sold out, so for december project, i'm going rogue and just reading a free online story a day of my choosing. this foolhardy endeavor is going to screw up my already-deep-in-the-weeds review backlog, so i don't think i will be reviewing each individual story "properly." i might just do a picture review or - if i am feeling wicked motivated, i will draw something, but i can't be treating each short story like a real book and spending half my day examining and dissecting it, so we'll just see what shape this project takes as we go.

and if you know of any particularly good short stories available free online, let me know! i'm no good at finding them myself unless they're on the tor.com site, and i only have enough at this stage of the game to fill half my calendar.

DECEMBER 8



Time is long. Idiot.

i swear, i read this on the correct day - i just didn't have a chance to add it to the goodreads yesterday because holiday-mania and work-exhaustion. (i hope i will be able to read my daily story today - fingers crossed or the project will be RUINED!) but this one - this is just a superduperdupersuper short one, so it's hard to rate. it all hinges on a zinger of an ending, and it's a funny reveal, but it's not the kind of story that's going to stay in your heart or be dragged out to read at gatherings on an annual basis. still - short is good, and if any of you are feeling anxiety about reaching your reading goals for the year, it's a winky little cheat, since it will take you all of 2 minutes to read. so go get on it!

read it for yourself here:

http://ficly.com/stories/1456

DECEMBER 1: FABLE - CHARLES YU
DECEMBER 2: THE REAL DEAL - ANDY WEIR
DECEMBER 3: THE WAYS OF WALLS AND WORDS - SABRINA VOURVOULIAS
DECEMBER 4: GHOSTS AND EMPTIES - LAUREN GROFF
DECEMBER 5: THE RETURN OF THE THIN WHITE DUKE - NEIL GAIMAN
DECEMBER 6: WHEN THE YOGURT TOOK OVER - JOHN SCALZI
DECEMBER 7: A CHRISTMAS PAGEANT - DONNA TARTT
DECEMBER 9: COOKIE JAR - STEPHEN KING
DECEMBER 10: THE STORY OF KAO YU - PETER S. BEAGLE
DECEMBER 11: THE HEEBIE-JEEBIES - ALAN BEARD
DECEMBER 12: THE TOMATO THIEF - URSULA VERNON
DECEMBER 13: THE JAWS THAT BITE, THE CLAWS THAT CATCH - SEANAN MCGUIRE
DECEMBER 14: ROLLING IN THE DEEP - JULIO ALEXI GENAO
DECEMBER 15: ANTIHYPOXIANT - ANDY WEIR
DECEMBER 16: THE AMBUSH - DONNA TARTT
DECEMBER 17: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A TRAITOR AND A HALF-SAVAGE - ALIX HARROW
DECEMBER 18: THE CHRISTMAS SHOW - PAT CADIGAN
DECEMBER 19: THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS - PAUL CORNELL
DECEMBER 20: THE TRAINS THAT CLIMB THE WINTER TREE - MICHAEL SWANWICK
DECEMBER 21: BLUE IS A DARKNESS WEAKENED BY LIGHT - SARAH MCCARRY
DECEMBER 22: WATERS OF VERSAILLES - KELLY ROBSON
DECEMBER 23: RAZORBACK - URSULA VERNON
DECEMBER 24: DIARY OF AN ASSCAN - ANDY WEIR
DECEMBER 25: CHANGING MEANINGS - SEANAN MCGUIRE
DECEMBER 26: SHOGGOTHS IN BLOOM - ELIZABETH BEAR
DECEMBER 27: THE CARTOGRAPHY OF SUDDEN DEATH - CHARLIE JANE ANDERS
DECEMBER 28: FRIEDRICH THE SNOW MAN - LEWIS SHINER
DECEMBER 29: DRESS YOUR MARINES IN WHITE - EMMY LAYBOURNE
DECEMBER 30: AM I FREE TO GO? - KATHRYN CRAMER
DECEMBER 31: OLD DEAD FUTURES - TINA CONNOLLY

come to my blog!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a super-duper short story (183 words, according to my GR friend David): so extremely short I feel a little silly giving it 5 stars. But you know what? It kind of blew my mind and, months reading it, I still think about it when I think about the idea of eternal youth, and whether you should go for it if it were ever available to you. It sounds great, doesn't it?



You can read "Deep" online here. Take 2 minutes and do it!

Thanks to David for recommending it while we were discussing Tuck Everlasting.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha!

I laughed/snorted which is the desired reaction I assume. Previously I have only read nonfiction from Plait, so it was interesting to see something different. Well, not different in some regards.

This short story courtesy of karen's 2016 advent calendar. I'm loving this because no free time except for a couple of minutes.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is certainly the shortest story I have ever read. I had to read it twice before it began to sink in. I ended up giving it five stars because it packed quite an emotional punch. Read it and you will understand.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not marking dates because I don't want this to count as a read for the year.
Short but effective.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be careful what you wish for.

[Tym · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love imagination provoking little flash fiction like this.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

So short. So Intriguing.

[Pamala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read it twice to get it.

[Maggie]

So short it's barely a story.

https://ficly.com/stories/1456/