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Carolyn: Before Converging Trajectories
Carolyn Abernathy designs settlements on the Moon. Now she has been asked to help design a society for the stars. The trouble is, she has done the math. Long before the ship reaches its new world, the people aboard will tear each other apart, and there is no piece of engineering that fixes human nature.
No one who could stop it wants to listen. The last expert who tried was buried under a smear campaign.
The launch clock is ticking, and it does not care who is right.
A standalone prequel novelette to the science fiction epic, Through.
No one who could stop it wants to listen. The last expert who tried was buried under a smear campaign.
The launch clock is ticking, and it does not care who is right.
A standalone prequel novelette to the science fiction epic, Through.
99 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2026
About the author
Martin Irvo Jaros
2 books1 followerMartin Irvo Jaroš is an Austrian writer of hard science fiction and space opera, born and raised in Slovakia. He started young, and a cyberpunk novella he co-wrote, Stena (The Wall), was shortlisted for the Karel Čapek Award, the leading SF prize in the former Czechoslovakia.
In his late teens, while studying in the UK, he fell in love with physics, which he went on to read at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Comenius University in Bratislava.
He dropped out when telling other people’s stories became his profession: first as a journalist for national broadsheets and a business magazine, later as a spokesperson and media advisor at the Slovak Ministry of Finance, and more recently in corporate communications for multinational companies.
He never stopped being a science nerd, wondering what could be and what other worlds might exist. A fascination with co-orbiting bodies — Saturn’s moons Janus and Epimetheus among them — grew into his first novel, Through, and the prequel novelette, Carolyn.
He lives in Gattendorf, Austria, with his large dog, somewhat smaller wife, and two medium-sized children.
In his late teens, while studying in the UK, he fell in love with physics, which he went on to read at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Comenius University in Bratislava.
He dropped out when telling other people’s stories became his profession: first as a journalist for national broadsheets and a business magazine, later as a spokesperson and media advisor at the Slovak Ministry of Finance, and more recently in corporate communications for multinational companies.
He never stopped being a science nerd, wondering what could be and what other worlds might exist. A fascination with co-orbiting bodies — Saturn’s moons Janus and Epimetheus among them — grew into his first novel, Through, and the prequel novelette, Carolyn.
He lives in Gattendorf, Austria, with his large dog, somewhat smaller wife, and two medium-sized children.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 12, 2026
A little novella/novelette I've heard (or rather, read) of from the author himself through one of the few sci-fi related subreddits I subscribe to, so I won't lie when I say I went into it not expecting much.
Boy, was I in for a surprise. This was actually pretty engaging and enjoyable read. Just what I needed after a really mediocre novella from a traditionally published and "recognised" author I'd finished earlier today.
The story seems believable, at least to my layman brain, the exposition is woven into the plot rather than assaulting you with nasty infodumps and, thankfully, there isn't crazy amount of it either. And while the plot itself is rather simple (well, it's a novella, after all,) it's written in such a way that kept me entertained for the whole length of it. There were no sugary-sweet plot turns/endings, which I appreciated a whole lot.
The characters are interesting, especially the MC's mentor, who just has no fucks left to give and acts accordingly. But the MC herself and some other side characters were fun to read about too.
I do have a few minor gripes, however! First, the prose, while competent, took some awkward turns here and there, almost as if the author feared it might be too simple and built those long sentences, where splitting them into smaller chunks, thematically, would've made more sense. There weren't a lot of them though and it's nothing a decent editor wouldn't catch.
Another is that the MC gets referred to as "Ms. Abernathy" and I found that quite jarring. I mean, isn't she some sort of scientist/engineer, doesn't she have a phd or three? (Her exact academic background isn't actually mentioned, but you'd expect some sort of advanced education from someone working on the Moon, no?) Or at least a job title?
But as I said, these were fairly minor and didn't detract from my enjoyment of this work. I am definitely going to give the full novel a try, especially since I have the ARC of it already waiting.
Boy, was I in for a surprise. This was actually pretty engaging and enjoyable read. Just what I needed after a really mediocre novella from a traditionally published and "recognised" author I'd finished earlier today.
The story seems believable, at least to my layman brain, the exposition is woven into the plot rather than assaulting you with nasty infodumps and, thankfully, there isn't crazy amount of it either. And while the plot itself is rather simple (well, it's a novella, after all,) it's written in such a way that kept me entertained for the whole length of it. There were no sugary-sweet plot turns/endings, which I appreciated a whole lot.
The characters are interesting, especially the MC's mentor, who just has no fucks left to give and acts accordingly. But the MC herself and some other side characters were fun to read about too.
I do have a few minor gripes, however! First, the prose, while competent, took some awkward turns here and there, almost as if the author feared it might be too simple and built those long sentences, where splitting them into smaller chunks, thematically, would've made more sense. There weren't a lot of them though and it's nothing a decent editor wouldn't catch.
Another is that the MC gets referred to as "Ms. Abernathy" and I found that quite jarring. I mean, isn't she some sort of scientist/engineer, doesn't she have a phd or three? (Her exact academic background isn't actually mentioned, but you'd expect some sort of advanced education from someone working on the Moon, no?) Or at least a job title?
But as I said, these were fairly minor and didn't detract from my enjoyment of this work. I am definitely going to give the full novel a try, especially since I have the ARC of it already waiting.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review