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Mayake Chronicles #1.5
The Gaijin Girl
A Mayake Chronicles Short Story
Twenty years ago the Gaijins lost the battle against the deadliest and most infectious bacterium ever engineered. To save themselves, the few survivors retreated to complete isolation, surrendering their lives and all human interactions to computers and artificial intelligence.
Now, two decades later, a sixteen-year-old girl eagerly awaits the New Queen’s ending of the mandatory quarantine, allowing the Gaijins to finally step out a of their forced segregation. Lilun longs to start a new life, away from the sterile prison of her virtual world and the control of her robotic mother. But what she doesn’t know is that the outside world has irreversibly changed …
Twenty years ago the Gaijins lost the battle against the deadliest and most infectious bacterium ever engineered. To save themselves, the few survivors retreated to complete isolation, surrendering their lives and all human interactions to computers and artificial intelligence.
Now, two decades later, a sixteen-year-old girl eagerly awaits the New Queen’s ending of the mandatory quarantine, allowing the Gaijins to finally step out a of their forced segregation. Lilun longs to start a new life, away from the sterile prison of her virtual world and the control of her robotic mother. But what she doesn’t know is that the outside world has irreversibly changed …
- GenresScience Fiction
25 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 14, 2015
6 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
E.E. Giorgi
18 books122 followersE.E. Giorgi is a scientist, an award winning author, and a IPA awarded photographer. She spends her days analyzing genetic data, her evenings chasing sunsets, and her nights pretending she's somebody else. Sign up for my newsletter here.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 15, 2015
A futuristic fairytale that's hard to put down. I won't say much because it's such a quick read and I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that it takes on themes of theory vs. reality. Literature, social networks, and even people's self-conceptions are veiled in questions about what's real and what's not. Against this backdrop, we watch a girl named Lilun as her lonely, restrictive childhood approaches its end.
Whether or not you've read other books in the Mayake chronicles, this story is an intriguing window into a perspective that's been kept hush-hush in the rest of the series. It's always fascinating to see "villains" in their day-to-day life, and even better when this perspective challenges our preconceptions of what they're like.
Whether or not you've read other books in the Mayake chronicles, this story is an intriguing window into a perspective that's been kept hush-hush in the rest of the series. It's always fascinating to see "villains" in their day-to-day life, and even better when this perspective challenges our preconceptions of what they're like.
November 4, 2015
This short story completely captured my imagination, and Lilun, the main character, captured my heart.
Lilun has grown up in virtual--albeit comfortable- prison. She's lived in sensory deprivation--white everything, walls, furniture, clothing...The story goes through the build up of days leading to the coronation of the new queen. It's all supposed to change. People will mingle, not be kept in isolation. And she'll get to see the real world, not what the simulators have allowed her to experience. And than it comes, that crazy twist at the end of the story. Outstanding!
Part of the Mayake Chronicles, this is a glimpse at the other side of existence, far different than the inhabitants of the book "Akeila". This is fine as a standalone, but I can't imagine you wouldn't want to read the rest of the series. Aethel is up next for me. Can hardly wait.
Giorgi is one of the most underrated and unsung writers today. Her science background shines through in everything she writes (I've read most).
Lilun has grown up in virtual--albeit comfortable- prison. She's lived in sensory deprivation--white everything, walls, furniture, clothing...The story goes through the build up of days leading to the coronation of the new queen. It's all supposed to change. People will mingle, not be kept in isolation. And she'll get to see the real world, not what the simulators have allowed her to experience. And than it comes, that crazy twist at the end of the story. Outstanding!
Part of the Mayake Chronicles, this is a glimpse at the other side of existence, far different than the inhabitants of the book "Akeila". This is fine as a standalone, but I can't imagine you wouldn't want to read the rest of the series. Aethel is up next for me. Can hardly wait.
Giorgi is one of the most underrated and unsung writers today. Her science background shines through in everything she writes (I've read most).
October 15, 2015
I'm a huge fan of Giorgi's work and her background in science shines through once again. This short story, a prequel of sorts to her Mayake Chronicles, focuses on a young girl who has been contained in what she can only describe as a prison. The arrival of the New Queen and the end of the quarantine that plagues her people is upon her, but will she be able to handle the world outside? What awaits her may be more than she bargained for and just who is this New Queen?
November 8, 2015
Consider this sort story 1.5 of the Mayake Chronicles. It isn't required, but makes a lot more sense out of part 2 of the series, as it introduces us to the Gaijin girl, who appears in the next book.
99 cents or free on Kindle Unlimited
99 cents or free on Kindle Unlimited
October 28, 2015
I was really looking forward to reading this short story and I admit I wish it had been longer. I was sucked in fast by the character Lilun. This is the story I had been waiting for, what had happened to the other people from the Mayake Chronicles. Lilun’s character is simple and so unassuming which is why it is easy to see the world so easily through her eyes and with her excitement at the new possibility of freedom and life beyond what feels like a prison but has been a quarantine for these humans. People like her are the ones we want and need (I am being deliberately obtuse so I don’t spoil the story) but I felt her heartache so deeply because freedom will never be hers. I am greedy: I want more of her story. Will we be seeing more of Lilun? Will the Gaijin and the Mayake be able to find a peaceful co-existence? I can’t wait to find out…
October 24, 2015
The short story really gave an good insight into the other side of the Mayake world, that is the Gaijins. The first book Akaela, was about the Mayake and their struggle with their enemies, the Gaijins. This made the readers believe they are tech advanced and evil too. This short story gave an insight into a sweet girl who just wanted to break free from her world , her prison and explore the outside world. I would call Lilun similar to Akaela too. Hope there is a story about the Gaijins too.
October 23, 2015
Another wonderful taste of this world
Yet again I'm left wanting more of these incredible tales told by E. E. Giorgi. As with all of her stories, I didn't want this one to end either. Well done.
Yet again I'm left wanting more of these incredible tales told by E. E. Giorgi. As with all of her stories, I didn't want this one to end either. Well done.
November 3, 2020
Some twenty years ago as time is calculated in the year 2214, Yersinia Pestis 3.0 [better known as the New Plague] drove the remnants of the world’s survivors into isolation where they existed with the aid of technology, specifically computers and artificial intelligence.
Lilun, a child of the Quarantine Era, raised for sixteen years within the white walls of her sterile isolation unit, is excited. Today, June 19, 2214, begins the reign of the New Queen . . . and the end of the Quarantine. She knows there are other people in the world, perhaps as many as three thousand; she longs for humans to be humans again, to interact with each other, to be free from their isolation. She knows the world is different, but she longs to touch, to listen, to smell, to see.
Today, the New Queen will terminate the Quarantine Package. But Lilun has no idea of what awaits her . . . .
This short story follows “Akaela,” the first story in the Mayake Chronicles, and precedes the second in the series, “Athel.” The story is straightforward, or so it seems, until the unexpected ending that changes everything the reader believes.
In this glimpse of a new order in a post-apocalyptic world, the pandemic feels all too real; readers are certain to find themselves sharing the young girl’s dreams.
Recommended.
Lilun, a child of the Quarantine Era, raised for sixteen years within the white walls of her sterile isolation unit, is excited. Today, June 19, 2214, begins the reign of the New Queen . . . and the end of the Quarantine. She knows there are other people in the world, perhaps as many as three thousand; she longs for humans to be humans again, to interact with each other, to be free from their isolation. She knows the world is different, but she longs to touch, to listen, to smell, to see.
Today, the New Queen will terminate the Quarantine Package. But Lilun has no idea of what awaits her . . . .
This short story follows “Akaela,” the first story in the Mayake Chronicles, and precedes the second in the series, “Athel.” The story is straightforward, or so it seems, until the unexpected ending that changes everything the reader believes.
In this glimpse of a new order in a post-apocalyptic world, the pandemic feels all too real; readers are certain to find themselves sharing the young girl’s dreams.
Recommended.
June 19, 2018
If you like post-apocalyptic worlds with heart and a vivid world well-described world then you will enjoy this short story. The writing is rich and the story grabbed me from the first page set the world of Mayake Chronicles. A world change by plague and redefined in its limits the world, the people and one girl who still dreams. Love this series definitely recommend.
December 19, 2015
I am quite familiar with E.E. Giorgi's stunning photography, a little less with her science background, but this is the first of her written works I've read. It certainly won't be the last.
She's a masterful writer, creating vivid images without over-writing, and allowing emotional connections rather than compelling them. While I predicted one aspect of the ending fairly early in the story, I suspect the author intended that. The other aspect ambushed me. Even so, I'm optimistic that wherever hope seems lost, a Queen's strength can create hope not only for her people, but for herself as well.
She's a masterful writer, creating vivid images without over-writing, and allowing emotional connections rather than compelling them. While I predicted one aspect of the ending fairly early in the story, I suspect the author intended that. The other aspect ambushed me. Even so, I'm optimistic that wherever hope seems lost, a Queen's strength can create hope not only for her people, but for herself as well.
March 1, 2016
Claustrophobic?
If you are , this may not be the book for you?
Yet again reading of what our lead character endures may brighten you day! It's a tale that keeps the reader's attention
With a happy ending!
If you are , this may not be the book for you?
Yet again reading of what our lead character endures may brighten you day! It's a tale that keeps the reader's attention
With a happy ending!
June 20, 2016
Great YA or younger story. After living all her life in a sterile, all white enclosed and never changing environment, Lilun, a girl who dreams of flying, finally gets a small change for a special day.
wont-read
October 17, 2015Ugh! How is this more acceptable than a title like "The Nigger Girl"?
November 6, 2016
great short story.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews