Never the Same

by Polenth Blake

"When I was younger, people assumed I was nice. I knew when to smile and when to cry. They never believed it was me who stole the biscuits or set the cushions on fire. Until they ran the routine scans and I failed. Then every tear was viewed with suspicion. Every smile was cause to check for smoke. My sister was the only one who disagreed."

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

ebook

First published September 8, 2014

About the author

I'm a fantasy and science fiction writer. When I'm not writing, I enjoy walking and art. I live in England with my pet cockroaches.

Reviews

[iam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Never the Same is an intense, atmospheric short story freely available to read here and to listen to here.

Content warnings include: dehumanization, pyromancy, planning to murder a sibling, frequent use of the word "psychopath"

The narrator lives in what I suppose is an off-planet world where the terraforming went wrong, or at least isn't going forward. They have a brother who is running a bird saving station (or so he claims) and a sister who is running for president, while they themselves are "the world's only psychopath" ever since they failed the routine scans.

The narration is fascinating, chilling at times, and always deeply engaging. The cast is casually queer.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good -- the kind of short story that makes you want to know more about the world and what's going to happen.