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Sci-Fi Sizzlers
Sunset Stays
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the sun…
On their golden wedding anniversary, Lorraine Green and her husband made an unbreakable
As the surviving partner, her life insurance payout will fund a one-way ticket to the solar system's most exclusive retirement Sunset Stays .
Her children say she is too old. Too vulnerable. Too frail to face the many risks of space travel.
But Lorraine Green is nothing of the sort.
Though the real reason for the pact can never cross Lorraine's lips, she leaves no doubt that her mind is made up.
The adventure of a lifetime calls... but so does a burning thirst for justice.
Because millions of miles from Earth, in a tranquil paradise of blue skies and golden fields, a painful score lies unsettled.
And in her seventy-fifth trip around the sun, Lorraine Green will do whatever it takes to put things right…
__________
Sunset Stays is the latest in a new series of Sci-Fi Sizzlers : standalone short stories from international bestselling author Craig A. Falconer. These stories can be read in any order — dive in today!
On their golden wedding anniversary, Lorraine Green and her husband made an unbreakable
As the surviving partner, her life insurance payout will fund a one-way ticket to the solar system's most exclusive retirement Sunset Stays .
Her children say she is too old. Too vulnerable. Too frail to face the many risks of space travel.
But Lorraine Green is nothing of the sort.
Though the real reason for the pact can never cross Lorraine's lips, she leaves no doubt that her mind is made up.
The adventure of a lifetime calls... but so does a burning thirst for justice.
Because millions of miles from Earth, in a tranquil paradise of blue skies and golden fields, a painful score lies unsettled.
And in her seventy-fifth trip around the sun, Lorraine Green will do whatever it takes to put things right…
__________
Sunset Stays is the latest in a new series of Sci-Fi Sizzlers : standalone short stories from international bestselling author Craig A. Falconer. These stories can be read in any order — dive in today!
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
65 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 14, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 10, 2021
Not really scifi
Just a nice crime story in a backdrop of sci-fi but really nothing very impressive or mind boggling. Of all the sizzlers I read so far this is one of the weakest....
Just a nice crime story in a backdrop of sci-fi but really nothing very impressive or mind boggling. Of all the sizzlers I read so far this is one of the weakest....
August 31, 2021
Sunset Stays begins pretty strongly feeling like a slightly dark twisted version of the film Up, as a widower sets out on a revenge trip to a retirement community half way across the solar system. The melancholic tone and feeling of loss early on is the highlight of the book as Lorraine sets out to fulfil a promise made to her late husband leaving behind their home of fifty years in the process.
Unfortunately the story soon starts to fall apart under its own weight as a separate conspiracy plot is introduced that soon takes over the narrative. The writing here doesn't feel as tight and the air of mystery and intrigue is replaced by a lot of exposition to get the plot resolved. Something that also relies on too much sheer coincidence for any of it to work. The message of the ending is quite nice but doesn't really feel properly earned by how the story comes around to it, everything is just resolved a little too easily and the potential of the initial premise is lost.
Unfortunately the story soon starts to fall apart under its own weight as a separate conspiracy plot is introduced that soon takes over the narrative. The writing here doesn't feel as tight and the air of mystery and intrigue is replaced by a lot of exposition to get the plot resolved. Something that also relies on too much sheer coincidence for any of it to work. The message of the ending is quite nice but doesn't really feel properly earned by how the story comes around to it, everything is just resolved a little too easily and the potential of the initial premise is lost.
November 5, 2023
Sunset Stays by Craig A. Falconer is part of the Sci-Fi Sizzlers series of short stories. In this short story, Lorraine Green is moving to the solar system’s most exclusive retirement home Sunset Stays. Her kids think she is too old to travel into space at her age, but she is determined to go. She has a very specific reason for going and she knows that Sunset Stays holds the answer she is looking for.
I do feel this is a bit more mystery than Sci-Fi but it was still a fun and interesting read. For such a short story, I feel like the original mystery of the book was resolved so quickly, that they needed to add a quick conspiracy to fill out the remaining pages. Both storylines were enjoyable, but I would’ve preferred a bit more time spent on one of them instead of including the second plotline. This book ends with a lesson in the healing power of forgiveness.
3.5 stars
I do feel this is a bit more mystery than Sci-Fi but it was still a fun and interesting read. For such a short story, I feel like the original mystery of the book was resolved so quickly, that they needed to add a quick conspiracy to fill out the remaining pages. Both storylines were enjoyable, but I would’ve preferred a bit more time spent on one of them instead of including the second plotline. This book ends with a lesson in the healing power of forgiveness.
3.5 stars
June 30, 2023
Sunset Stays is short, and has in some ways the golden age sci-fi feel to it. I listened to it on the author's youtube page, and it is well performed. The story is pretty well done, give the reader the impression that it is going in one direction then takes a turn somewhere else. The ending wasn't that strong, but it works, so I might give some of his other works a change.
July 25, 2021
Cracking short
Falconer does well with these enticing shorts on how we all carry a burden but having more knowledge can perhaps help with your burdens and how far we need to go for forgiveness.
Falconer does well with these enticing shorts on how we all carry a burden but having more knowledge can perhaps help with your burdens and how far we need to go for forgiveness.
August 24, 2023
Sunset Stays
A retirement community based inside a man made planetoid diametrically located opposite Earth on the far side of the Sun. A septuagenarian widow who decides to go and live there but what she finds there is very different from what she anticipated.
A retirement community based inside a man made planetoid diametrically located opposite Earth on the far side of the Sun. A septuagenarian widow who decides to go and live there but what she finds there is very different from what she anticipated.
September 16, 2020
Don't know what to think about it the others in the series were better.
November 21, 2020
Very enjoyable
Very different to your usual Sci-fi but thoroughly enjoyable. A nice lesson in the healing power of forgiveness. Worth reading.
Very different to your usual Sci-fi but thoroughly enjoyable. A nice lesson in the healing power of forgiveness. Worth reading.
October 26, 2021
Enjoyed
Sometimes short stories are just what is needed for a just before bedtime read, guaranteed to be entertaining but not long enough to keep one from sleep.
Sometimes short stories are just what is needed for a just before bedtime read, guaranteed to be entertaining but not long enough to keep one from sleep.
January 5, 2022
Not as interesting as the earlier stories in this series and, basically, a crime story rather than SF. Interesting and well written, however, as always by Craig Falconer.
November 8, 2022
Short
The book was short, but good, if a bit too predictable. It would have benefited by being a bit longer, but I enjoyed it, none-the-less.
The book was short, but good, if a bit too predictable. It would have benefited by being a bit longer, but I enjoyed it, none-the-less.
May 25, 2023
Top Notch Science Fiction!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews