The Art of Space Travel

by Nina Allan, Linda Yan (Illustrator)

The Art of Space Travel by Nina Allan is a science fiction novelette. In 2047, a first manned mission to Mars ended in tragedy. Thirty years later, a second expedition is preparing to launch. As housekeeper of the hotel where two of the astronauts will give their final press statements, Emily finds the mission intruding upon her thoughts more and more. Emily's mother, Moolie, has a message to give her, but Moolie's memories are fading. As the astronauts' visit draws closer, the unearthing of a more personal history is about to alter Emily's world forever.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Novella, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult, Space

134 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Elena May · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I saw them, though. I saw them at night, when I couldn’t sleep. Instead of counting chickens I would count stars, picking them out from my memory one by one, like diamonds from a black silk handkerchief.”

I love this little novelette! Set in the backdrop of an astronaut mission preparing for a one-way trip to Mars, we see the story of one person who fleetingly meets the astronauts on their way. Emily works in a hotel next to Heathrow Airport where the astronauts are staying (somewhat by accident,) and the visit inspires her to investigate her own history. The past of her mother, of her mysterious father, it’s all interwoven with space travel and dreams of stars. All the pieces of the puzzle are right in front of Emily, but she refuses to see and her mind runs away in crazy directions. And it’s all beautiful.

The author shows us a realistically international London. That’s bothered me in other works – I’ve lived in London for over a year, and, honestly, among all the people I met, I could count the ones born in the UK on the fingers of one hand. This book creates a very realistic image in a natural way. All characters are deep, developed, interesting. Even if someone is fleetingly mentioned – Emily’s grandmother, or her boss’s high school teacher – they already get a solid personality within a few sentences!

Just two things didn’t ring true for me. First, Emily is constantly referring to all her colleagues by using both their first and last names. Okay, I understand using it once to introduce them, but then she kept on and on, and it felt unnatural. Who does that? The other thing I found strange was everyone constantly watching TV to learn the news. We are in the late 2070s. Every year I see less and less people using TV as their main source of news (most people I know my age don’t even own one,) and it felt to me as if TV was a bigger thing in the future then it is nowadays.

The narrative voice is extremely easy and comfortable. It pulled me in from page one! The book was really pleasant to read, even when it dealt with something tragic.

[Jokoloyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good heartwarming story, I like the ending.

But is it a SF? I have been asking this question more and more in my heart since 2015 where I started catching up reading some Hugo or Nebula nomination/winner stories.

I see the story as a family drama with setting in the future where space travel to Mars is possible. But SF stories is not the story of a fictitious technology, but how the technology affects the people's life. I see People's behavior in the story are the same as in real life.

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature.

This poignant science fiction novelette is set about 60 years in our world’s future, when space travel is still difficult and often ― as in the case of an excursion to Mars that provides the backdrop for this story ― a one-way trip. Emily is the head of housekeeping for the Edison Star, a large hotel near Heathrow Airport, where two of the astronauts slated for the lifelong Mars trip will be staying for one night before they leave for China to train for their mission. A media frenzy is erupting, and Emily’s boss Benny, the manager of the Edison Star, is completely uptight about making the astronaut’s stay as smooth and pleasant as possible.

This story is mostly about relationships, primarily between Emily and her mother, Moolie, a bright metallurgist, suffering from early-onset dementia caused by the toxic substances at an aeroplane crash site that Moolie was hired to isolate and analyze.

If you didn’t know her how she was before, you wouldn’t necessarily spot that there’s anything wrong with her.

It’s all still inside, I know it—everything she was, everything she knows, still packed tight inside her head like old newspapers packed into the eaves of an old house. Yellowing and crumpled, yes, but still telling their stories.

The relationship theme is also explored in Emily’s lifelong yearning to know more about her unknown father, which her mother evades, telling Emily various conflicting stories who her father might or might not have been. The Art of Space Travel is a book within this story (as well as the title and a commentary on the theme), imbued with additional significance because Moolie once told Emily that the book belonged to her father.

Not a whole lot happens plot-wise in this novella, and the very ending is one of those artsy non sequitur endings that irritate me when I don’t really get why the author chose to end on that particular note. But it’s well-written story with some interesting layers of meaning. For readers who are interested in an understated, literary tale that is more about ideas than events, The Art of Space Travel is worth the time to read.

Free online at Tor.com.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a story set in the future with elements that make it sound like it's going to have some decent reveal with the second great Mars expedition, this story remains firmly in the realm of a character study, only.

There are parts of this that I do like, such as the writing and the character development, the stream of consciousness bits, the ruminations about her family and where she might come from, it is only this, however.

After so much build up, I kinda wanted something a little more juicy to sink my teeth into. Maybe I'm a spoiled reader and I don't have so much patience for super quiet stories that ramble on without giving me anything more than distant but very real-feeling hard realities contrasted against a hopeless-feeling optimism.

Did I like this so much? No. Not really. It was good for what it was, but I suppose I don't really like being shown normalcy so starkly against distant dreams. I like my dreams a little closer to the page, dragging me out of the regular and into the truly beautiful.

That being said, this story was nom'd for the '17 Hugos and it does have beauty to it.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is very well connected to the story, but also very misleading. Apart from being in 2047 and a second mission on Mars on the way, it isn’t really sci-fi. It’s the story of Emily, her relationship with her mother who is affected by dementia and her quest in discovering who her father is.

Written in first person, with reliable characters, the story is good and the writing endearing and fluent. The ending is predictable but wrapped up nicely. All in all, a quick and enjoyable reading.

It can be read on Tor.com: https://www.tor.com/2016/07/27/the-ar...

[Beige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allan says on her website "I am particularly interested in work that tests the boundaries of genre". I am too. When I read reviews that questioned if this novelette should even be considered "SciFi", I was instantly intrigued.

While reading, I did not learn why, in the year 2074, cars and airplanes are still polluting and TV channels still exist. To my mind, this was not a failure of scientific imagination, it was Allan's subtle way of showing us how little progress had been made. Instead of details of this future, I experienced a vivid sense of Emily's inner life. I thought Allan produced an artful first person narrative, which I can only imagine, is not an easy feat.

Available to read for free on Tor.com...
https://www.tor.com/2016/07/27/the-ar...

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5★
Apart from the astronauts, not really SF-ish and clearly not about space travel, being more of a psychological/sociological work, about relationships and family and dreams, with a predictable but ok ending.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to Day 1 of my 2021 25 Days of Short Stories Christmas Advent Calendar. Each day I will be reading a short story from the collection of over 600 short stories and novellas available for free on Tor.com. This is a collection of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. I will be letting fate (and the random number generator decide what I read each day. I will add this intro to the start of each of my reviews.

Day 1: The Art of Space Travel by Nina Allan

What an amazing start to this challenge. I could not get over how emotional this story made me feel. Less about space travel than family dynamics, but still It makes me want to read The Art of Space Travel and Other Stories and isn't that one of the reasons why people read short stories. Emily was such a true character. I was feeling her emotions through this story. I figured out the mystery pretty quickly, but it was still a moving story.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quiet story about family ties and secrets set with the background of a space launch. Not particularly SF for an SF story, but an enjoyable character study nevertheless.

[Tudor Ciocarlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most down to earth story about space travel that you'll ever read. I've liked it very much.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

What did I expect from the story – a juicy space opera? I guess so. What did I get? A mother-daughter relationship story.
Full review at my blog

[Paul Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily is chief housekeeper at a hotel at Heathrow Airport at which two astronauts about to embark on a trip to Mars will be staying and giving their press conference. She was affected by the disaster of the previous, failed attempt - her mother was a materials scientist who both worked on the mission and investigated the failure - along with pollution of a further failed launch.



Whilst dealing with the ramping up of the hotel in readiness of the upcoming visit, Emily is also looking after her mother, who is now housebound and suffering from a disease that may have been caused by exposure to the rocket catastrophe; she suffers from lung problems as well as dementia, which exacerbates what we learn is her rather impish, even capricious, sense of humour. During a moment of apparent lucidity Moolie, as Emily calls her mother, drops a hint about the identity of Emily's father, which she has never revealed.



All these threads, along with talk of the almost certain death of the astronauts - even if they do reach Mars, it is likely a one-way trip - gives the tale a melancholy tone, however it is beautifully written and rich. Nina Allen fits a massive amount into the 40 pages, so much character and history and background. Another writer new to me who I shall be watching.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily is head of housekeeping at a prestigious London hotel, soon to play host to two astronauts who will be part of a manned mission to Mars. The previous attempt – thirty years earlier – ended disastrously, killing the crew. Emily's mum, whom she calls Moolie, was also the victim of a disaster. She was a physicist, hired to analyse materials found in the aftermath of an aeroplane crash. Among them were radioactive substances which have left Moolie's system, as Emily puts it, 'riddled with wrongness'; at 52, she has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's and a host of physical ailments.

The title of the story is also the title of a book. When I came to that detail, I knew I was really going to like this story. The Art of Space Travel (the in-story book) has been in the family since Emily was a child; she used to enjoy folding out the elaborate star maps. Then, one Tuesday, Moolie tells her that not only did the book belong to Emily's father, but that he was also an astronaut, part of the failed, fatal Mars mission.

This is a typically great short story from Nina Allan, and as ever, her focus is firmly on the characters and their relationships, with the science-fiction element merely acting as a backdrop. The narrative concentrates on Emily's bond with Moolie, and her efforts to identify her father. Perhaps the resolution is a little glib, but I didn't mind because I loved Emily's voice so much.

Read it here.

TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr

[Artur Coelho]

Tendo como pano de fundo uma expedição a Marte, uma jovem encarregada de limpezas de um hotel de aeroporto procura saber a verdade sobre o seu pai. A sua mãe, antiga cientista espacial, agora demente, em casa, vítima do rescaldo do falhanço da primeira missão marciana, nunca lhe contou quem era o seu pai. A jovem suspeita que poderia ter sido um dos astronautas da missão que se despenhou na superfície marciana, mas a verdade está surpreendentemente perto de si. Com tanto drama pessoal, quase passa despercebida a segunda missão a Marte, cujos astronautas pernoitam no hotel antes de partir para a órbita terrestre.

Vindo de quem vem, não surpreende este tipo de FC em que os seus conceitos e pressupostos sejam o pano de fundo para histórias de drama humano, com personagens de maior profundidade do que se espera no género. Nina Allan é uma das representantes britânicas de uma FC socialmente consciente, progressista, inclusiva, aberta à diversidade cultural e feminista. Deixa para trás alguns dos elementos que são queridos aos fãs. Há por aqui pouco sense of wonder no sentido clássico. No entanto, representa uma necessária evolução do género literário, para que não caia no paradoxo de se assumir como especulativo e progressista enquanto fossiliza nas suas estruturas narrativas.

[Silvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

A girl trying to find her dad. Like Mamma Mia but set in a hotel where astronauts preparing for their Mars trip. Well it is fiction and has two characters with scientific background and but is this SF? Not sure but the Hugo committee seems to think so.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Pleasant. But no wow factor nor point of view. The blurb sums it up: "As housekeeper of the hotel where two of the astronauts will give their final press statements...finds the mission intruding upon her thoughts...."

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was time to shut up. For the first time in my life I was feeling another person’s pain like it was my own.”

Ah. A refreshing short story, which takes the reader deep inside a character in a recognizably near future. No fantasy; very little science, but pretty of good storytelling.

“What did fathers ever do for the world in any case, except saddle unsuspecting women with unwanted children?”

Another markedly feminist tale. This year boasts a host of socially-relevant (and some irrelevant) topics. This tale was among the best of them.

“When she goes, all her stories will go with her, the ones she makes up as well as the ones that happen to be true. Once she’s gone, I’ll never know which were which.”

Quibbles: Apparently Allan doesn’t understand what the deleted in “depleted uranium” means. There are issues, but not so dramatic as portrayed. “… ends with the doomed one taking off his or her helmet, making a quick and noble end of it.” It’s really, really hard to take off your helmet in a vacuum; if you bleed the air out you’ll be dead before you get it off.

“In leaving this world, she makes me feel more properly a part of it.”

[kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my. Right in the feels. I love when a seemingly small story leaves me shattered.

[Teleseparatist · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, contemplative and thoughtful gem of a novella. I love this brand of no-fireworks sci-fi. It was a pleasure to read.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you didn't know her how she was before, you wouldn't necessarily spot that there's anything wrong with her.

It's all still inside, I know it—everything she was, everything she knows, still packed tight inside her head like old newspapers packed into the eaves of an old house. Yellowing and crumpled, yes, but still telling their stories.

For me, Moolie is a wonder and a nightmare, a sadness deep down in my gut like a splinter of bone. Always there, and always worrying away at the living flesh of me.

2017 Hugos nominee for Best Novelette. It's well-written, appropriately yearning and bittersweet, and the depiction of the MC's mother's deterioration and dementia was especially painful, ow, my heart. But the ending falls a little flat, the twist a bit too obvious & telegraphed. 3.5 stars.

Read it here.

[rivka · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is one of those layered-like-an-onion stories. And it has some great layers, especially some of the outer ones. But the ending is not nearly as surprising as the story telegraphs it should be, and there really is almost nothing there when we get to the center. It sort of ends on a whimper. Or maybe a whisper.

Nonetheless, worth a read for great lines like

It’s all still inside, I know it—everything she was, everything she knows, still packed tight inside her head like old newspapers packed into the eaves of an old house. Yellowing and crumpled, yes, but still telling their stories.

I saw them, though. I saw them at night, when I couldn’t sleep. Instead of counting chickens I would count stars, picking them out from my memory one by one, like diamonds from a black silk handkerchief.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75ish stars.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year I read and enjoyed Allan's The Race, so I was glad to see her on the Hugo list for Best Novelette. As with that novel, this novelette reads more like literary fiction (in a good way) with some light trappings of science fiction, which is odd because some heavily science fictional/fantastic stuff happens in both stories. A deeper question about why astronauts would agree to a one-way trip to Mars is raised, corresponding to the fact that we are all on a one way trip, whatever planet our grave will be on (strangely: this thought is not as depressing in the story as you'd think).

[Susan L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've picked up so many books centered around mysterious books lately, but what I really loved about this one was how the book in question wasn't a magical or supernatural object like many of the others. And yet it was described in such beautiful and enchanting way; I could see it clearly in my head. Even though the story is set far in the future, it tells a poignant and timeless story. However, even given its short length, it's a bit of a slow read with a lot of internal narration.

Grade: B+

[Yashima · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good story but I saw the end coming a mile a way and while I like the way how short stories often just hint at things happening here the Galaxy crash and the New Dawn are just one thing too many.

But reading context matters: Probably would have enjoyed this more when not reading at the same time as all the other hugo nominees.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a pleasant story that ends up feeling a bit inconsequential. The background is the build-up to a mission to send a group of astronauts on a one-way journey to Mars, but the main character plays a very peripheral role, being in charge of housekeeping in the Heathrow hotel some of the astronauts are staying in. The main plot focus is on her quest to discover who her father was, it's a nicely told story but it's quite a low-key plot, especially when it felt fairly obvious from early on what the result of her quest would be.

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the characterization and the premise here--I enjoy near-future science fiction that's more about the people than the gadgets--but I felt like the ending just sort of petered out, leaving character arcs waving loose in the wind and not really justifying the length. As a shorter, tighter story, I would have loved it.

[Libby Stephenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been a 4 star read if it has been half as long.

[jovena s · Rating 3 out of 5]

hooked on intro, but the ending fell flat. the twist of who her father is was slightly disappointing and ended abruptly.

[Ярослава · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Art of Space Travel's protagonist is a manager of a hotel supposed to host two astronauts during their last days on Earth before their one-way mission to colonize Mars. Space travel is not the core of the plot though, not as such, and I loved this slightly off-kilter quality of the novella: the plot mostly focuses on the protagonist's relationship with her mother, who's sliding ever deeper into dementia. But then, thematically, the space exploration plot and the family drama plot do eventually dovetail quite nicely: both are about the loss of continuity with the tradition. If the Mars colonization project succeeds, it would mark a decisive break with all the history we know for humanity. The protagonist muses on the hypothetical future generations of children on Mars who won't feel any connection to our history and culture, and at the same time, she's loosing the mooring in personal/family history as her mother retreats into her blank solitude, leaving her secrets untold: "[The memories are] all still inside, I know it—everything she was, everything she knows, still packed tight inside her head like old newspapers packed into the eaves of an old house. Yellowing and crumpled, yes, but still telling their stories."