Clockwork

by Garon Whited

Daniel lost his daughter to a terrible disease.
He built a new one.

19 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2015

About the author

Garon Whited was supposedly born in 1970, but the original birth certificate is suspiciously unavailable and other records do not agree. After spending some years in college playing role-playing games, he finally settled down into a steady job working with computers—and still plays role-playing games. He finally joined a radicalized group of jellyfish-herding nomads. Having fought zombie dolphins, quasi-corporeal wine and spirits, as well as brain-sucking mole rats, he is uniquely qualified to write fantastic fiction. His subsequent attempts at professional salsa repairman and ley line salesman met with similar success. An affinity for science fiction and fantasy has condemned him to write whenever he has a chance, despite therapy involving shocks and rubber hoses. He claims he lives on this planet, but impartial observers have expressed some doubt. He currently lives in Texarkana.

Reviews

[Gina Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book in a post on the 52 Book Challenge 2023 group page on Facebook. It was someone's selection for the October Mini Challenge for a Steampunk style book. This book is so different. It fits the genre a bit I guess. It's not what I think of when I think of a steampunk book. They are typically set in Victorian times with steam engines being a big thing, they create a lot of mechanical devices powered by steam. They wear top hats, wear goggles, carry umbrellas, have pouches to carry all their little devices and things.

To me, this book is more of a Frankenstein story. But it's set in the right time frame and there is a lot of mechanical things so it does fit, in my opinion.

This book. WOW! How fun!

Can you imagine Edward Scissorhands trying to fix the Inventor after he died, without him EVER going down to the town? Never knowing humanity? Or if Commander Data had been left alone after Doctor Noonien Soong created him then died, him all alone on Omnicron Theta so he tried to "fix" Doctor Soong. Rebuilding him to live forever...

That's sort of what happens here. Creatures created, yet have no concept of the finality of death.

You should read this. It's only 17 pages long and it's VERY GOOD!!!

[Big Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so sad at the end it's almost laughable.

[Angel Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would make the perfect episode of the twilight zone. The irony of the creator being dead with his creations left to think for themselves was a very strange concept, but one that kept me turning the pages. I'm not much of a steampunk fan, but this short story is a good stepping stone for me to break into the steampunk genre. Also, the ending was anti-climatic, which in a normal novel is risky. However, here it is executed perfectly leaving me wanting to read more! One of the best short stories I've had the honor of reading!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept is very interesting. The context clues telegraph the twists and ending a bit too readily, but 17 pages isn't enough to really play coy.

My only complaint is that the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the story is nearly drowning with descriptive and flowery language. It reads a bit like a book report that was half a page short... only to lead to extra fluff descriptions to fill in the remainder.

Don't let this deter you!

Once you get past that, it keeps a more even pacing and is very much enjoyable.

I rather like that the potential horror aspect of the ending gets very little focus.

Overall, a fun read.

[Persnickety · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still one of my favorite authors.

The ending on this one was stunning... literally... It took me a few moments to understand what had happened amongst the characters. Then I noticed the publication date. Tricked! And yet, such a treat. Happy Halloween to you too, Mr. Whited!

This would have been a 'best' Twilight Zone episode. Actually... a few more short stories and there'd be enough for a full season tv series. Yoohoo! Pay attention, Amazon!