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End of Line
Lonely assassins. Moon vacations. Consciousness transfers. What do all of these have in common? Not much, except for the characters in this collection of science fiction short stories, they mean the end of the line.... From Twilight Zone-style twists to a romping space-western adventure a la Firefly, these award-winning stories are now presented together as a complete collection science fiction lovers of all types can enjoy.
- GenresScience Fiction
64 pages, Paperback
Published November 11, 2016
3 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
J.R. Frontera
22 books26 followersJ. R. Frontera has been telling stories in some form or another since she could hold a crayon and draw. Her love of science fiction and fantasy originated with her early exposure to the worlds of Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and Dune. Exploring the potential and pitfalls of humanity in future or fantastical worlds is a temptation she's just never been able to resist. She writes dark scifi, funny scifi, weird westerns, romantic fantasy, and pretty much every other genre in-between under the same name.
She co-founded a local writing group known as The Wordwraiths and is co-owner of their publishing imprint Wordwraith Books. In January 2017, after noticing a lack of writing resources tailored to fit within the specific restraints of motherhood, she helped start the Writer Mom Life podcast alongside fellow author Daphne James Huff.
She has been writing and learning the craft and business of writing for over twenty years, and fully embraced indie authordom in 2013. She has taken writing workshops with Stephen Mertz, Angela James of Carina Press, and the late Ann C. Crispin. She has short stories published in five anthologies, and her science fiction and fantasy shorts have placed in three out of four years in the Story in a Bag contest at the ConQuesT convention held in Kansas City, Missouri.
When she's not writing, momming, podcasting, or working at her full-time day job, she's often horseback riding, playing videogames, or cosplaying. She lives in rural Missouri with her husband, son, four ducks, three cats, one horse and one dog. You can find out more about J. R. Frontera and her books by visiting her website at jrfrontera.com.
She co-founded a local writing group known as The Wordwraiths and is co-owner of their publishing imprint Wordwraith Books. In January 2017, after noticing a lack of writing resources tailored to fit within the specific restraints of motherhood, she helped start the Writer Mom Life podcast alongside fellow author Daphne James Huff.
She has been writing and learning the craft and business of writing for over twenty years, and fully embraced indie authordom in 2013. She has taken writing workshops with Stephen Mertz, Angela James of Carina Press, and the late Ann C. Crispin. She has short stories published in five anthologies, and her science fiction and fantasy shorts have placed in three out of four years in the Story in a Bag contest at the ConQuesT convention held in Kansas City, Missouri.
When she's not writing, momming, podcasting, or working at her full-time day job, she's often horseback riding, playing videogames, or cosplaying. She lives in rural Missouri with her husband, son, four ducks, three cats, one horse and one dog. You can find out more about J. R. Frontera and her books by visiting her website at jrfrontera.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 12, 2019
I devoured every science fiction themed short story in this collection by J.R. Frontera. Each of the stories were also themed around the idea of it being the end of the line for the characters involved. The premises were varied, the stories have clean and clear prose and I loved the twists of each one, which blew me away. Another thing I liked is after each story, Frontera explains the origin of each of the stories, from the start of a novel to flash fiction. This is a must read if you like science fiction, and I look forward to more from Frontera.
December 17, 2019
I'm giving 4 out of 5 stars because 4 out of 6 stories were exceptional to brilliant. The other two were, IMO, extremely not up to the level of this authors true abilities.
All of these stories are quite short. This author has used her ability to do fun, rich descriptions of events and settings nicely in this collection. Each story is followed by a short note about the origin about the story. I'll talk about the 4 stories I liked first:
BLACK-MARKET BODY is about a life extension program. It's very entertaining and has a fun ending.
GRAY is about a son who chooses not to continue a generations long family business. It's quite unique and has a truly surprising ending.
IN COMPENSATION is about a woman who is about to take the trip of a lifetime. It's very short but packs a punch with it's unexpected ending.
P.U.P.P.E.T. is my favorite and I consider it to be brilliance in a compact package. It's about a mechanical but sentient astronaut on a rescue mission when earth's population is being decimated by a plague with no cure. There is a little precursor to the end that is easily overlooked. The ending is fitting and dramatic.
A.N.G.E.L.s starts out with a prisoner in a straight jacket who is able to get up from the floor unaided even though he can't use his arms and overtakes two muscular prison guards while wearing the straight jacket (no arms). To me these things seem impossible and a massive flaw which pretty much ruined the story for me. However, the good news is it's short, and it has a fun, twist ending that makes it worth the read.
A LOVELY DAY FOR A PARADE is about a criminal's attempt to elude capture. Despite a creative and entertaining situation, I think the implied end was arguably not logical.
All of these stories are quite short. This author has used her ability to do fun, rich descriptions of events and settings nicely in this collection. Each story is followed by a short note about the origin about the story. I'll talk about the 4 stories I liked first:
BLACK-MARKET BODY is about a life extension program. It's very entertaining and has a fun ending.
GRAY is about a son who chooses not to continue a generations long family business. It's quite unique and has a truly surprising ending.
IN COMPENSATION is about a woman who is about to take the trip of a lifetime. It's very short but packs a punch with it's unexpected ending.
P.U.P.P.E.T. is my favorite and I consider it to be brilliance in a compact package. It's about a mechanical but sentient astronaut on a rescue mission when earth's population is being decimated by a plague with no cure. There is a little precursor to the end that is easily overlooked. The ending is fitting and dramatic.
A.N.G.E.L.s starts out with a prisoner in a straight jacket who is able to get up from the floor unaided even though he can't use his arms and overtakes two muscular prison guards while wearing the straight jacket (no arms). To me these things seem impossible and a massive flaw which pretty much ruined the story for me. However, the good news is it's short, and it has a fun, twist ending that makes it worth the read.
A LOVELY DAY FOR A PARADE is about a criminal's attempt to elude capture. Despite a creative and entertaining situation, I think the implied end was arguably not logical.
August 26, 2017
End of Line is a brilliant collection of science fiction short stories, each one refreshingly original and well-written. I would love to see every single one of these expanded into full-length books, mostly for the interesting characters introduced and the shocking twists that some of the stories end with.
July 21, 2017
This book is a nice group of short stories that are an easy and fun read.
December 31, 2018
My second read from author J.R. Frontera was a collection of shorts that were well-written with fresh storylines. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.
December 17, 2018
This is a boxset of short stories, primarily with a scifi theme, most of which were written by the author as part of competitions. They're fun reads that are short enough to read during your commute or while eating, and I'd definitely recommend them, even if you're not a huge scifi fan, just for the fun of seeing how the author has managed to weave all the strands together.
Individual Stories:
Black-market Body
The story of a body swap that doesn't exactly go as planned. Creepy!!
Gray In Compensation
A story about a hitman and his father.
A.N.G.E.L.s
A story about what happens when a prize isn't all it seems... And why you should always read the small print!
P.U.P.P.E.T
An encounter between a Privatized Utilitarian Patrol and Preparation of Environment Tank (or PUPPET) and aliens on a planet while on a mission of vital importance to the human race.
A Lovely Day for a Parade
A chase between Marshals and a fugitive through a parade... Including werewolves, who join the chase!
Individual Stories:
Black-market Body
The story of a body swap that doesn't exactly go as planned. Creepy!!
Gray In Compensation
A story about a hitman and his father.
A.N.G.E.L.s
A story about what happens when a prize isn't all it seems... And why you should always read the small print!
P.U.P.P.E.T
An encounter between a Privatized Utilitarian Patrol and Preparation of Environment Tank (or PUPPET) and aliens on a planet while on a mission of vital importance to the human race.
A Lovely Day for a Parade
A chase between Marshals and a fugitive through a parade... Including werewolves, who join the chase!
September 20, 2017
On a world not so far, far away, these events could be happening on a colony near you!
This quirky, clever collection of sci-fi shorts will satisfy all lovers of the genre, as well as earth-bound fans of Tales of the Unexpected-type tales everywhere.
I enjoyed the broad spectrum of topics,the never-quite-knowing what's to come just over the page, which gives the reader a frisson of excitement that's hard to beat in this, (free download) collection, assembled by the wit and wisdom of author J R Frontera.
This quirky, clever collection of sci-fi shorts will satisfy all lovers of the genre, as well as earth-bound fans of Tales of the Unexpected-type tales everywhere.
I enjoyed the broad spectrum of topics,the never-quite-knowing what's to come just over the page, which gives the reader a frisson of excitement that's hard to beat in this, (free download) collection, assembled by the wit and wisdom of author J R Frontera.
November 10, 2017
I have read this book as an ARC reader. This is my freely given review.
This is a set of short stories of the Sci-Fi decription. Perfect to read through either a lunch break at work, a quicky before bed.
All of the stories are well written, and could easily be made into full lenth books. I would honestly be more than willing to read them!
All in all, a pure delight to read, and one I would recommend to others to read.
Ruth Newton
This is a set of short stories of the Sci-Fi decription. Perfect to read through either a lunch break at work, a quicky before bed.
All of the stories are well written, and could easily be made into full lenth books. I would honestly be more than willing to read them!
All in all, a pure delight to read, and one I would recommend to others to read.
Ruth Newton
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews