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Crossed Spaces - Short Stories in Other Worlds
A handsome clockmaker fixes a broken time machine to help a cursed lady. A young scientist betrays his people to protect an alien species. A girl bonds with her new technological helper and sees in him a personality and a soul. A boy finds his whole life changing when his best friend writes in a mysterious notebook. A crew aboard a settlement spaceship discover that sleeping passengers have gone missing.
Come on a journey of exploration with aliens, spacecrafts, bewildering technology and even ghosts. There’s friendship, strong families and romance. In these seventeen stories humanity is pushed to its limit and forced to question what is most important in life.
Lynne Stringer and RA Stephens bring together a collection of fantasy and science-fiction stories based in worlds that are not quite our own.
Authors include Penny Jaye, Emily Larkin, Janeen Samuel, Stephanie Martin, Catriona McKeown, Rosanne Hawke and many more.
Come on a journey of exploration with aliens, spacecrafts, bewildering technology and even ghosts. There’s friendship, strong families and romance. In these seventeen stories humanity is pushed to its limit and forced to question what is most important in life.
Lynne Stringer and RA Stephens bring together a collection of fantasy and science-fiction stories based in worlds that are not quite our own.
Authors include Penny Jaye, Emily Larkin, Janeen Samuel, Stephanie Martin, Catriona McKeown, Rosanne Hawke and many more.
228 pages, ebook
Published March 1, 2021
12 people want to read
About the author
Lynne Stringer
12 books342 followersLynne Stringer has been passionate about writing all her life, beginning with short stories in her primary school days. She began writing professionally as a journalist and was the editor of a small newspaper (later magazine) for seven years, before turning her hand to screenplay writing and novels. Lynne currently works as a professional editor and proofreader. She lives in Australia with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 30, 2021
Full disclosure: I am one of the authors featured in this short story collection.
It's hard to pick a favourite, since I found my current top-pick being shunted aside constantly in favour of my latest read. All the stories were classy and thoughtful, many of them featuring journeys to distant worlds. Just pipping out an excellent selection of others were Jonathan Furneaux's Endymion and Adele Jones' Over and Out.
It's hard to pick a favourite, since I found my current top-pick being shunted aside constantly in favour of my latest read. All the stories were classy and thoughtful, many of them featuring journeys to distant worlds. Just pipping out an excellent selection of others were Jonathan Furneaux's Endymion and Adele Jones' Over and Out.
April 7, 2021
I've never tried reading a science fiction anthology before and I can say I enjoyed this but not as much as I typically enjoy science fiction novels. In this collection, there are 16 short sci-fi stories. I rated most stories in this collection 3-stars, which is why its overall rating was 3 stars, although there was a range of 2-4.5 stars across all the stories. Inside you will find time travel, aliens, ghosts, friendships and more! Overall, I think it is worth a read as there is something for everyone and it's a lot of fun to read something short and fast-paced.
May 11, 2021
What a treat! Sixteen stories by different Australian authors, all so different and every one of them fascinating and well-written. Almost all dystopian (what does that tell us about our sense of the future?), they include fast action, thoughtful human interaction, hints of allegory, astonishing imagination, and through them all we see the age-old stories of people dealing with challenges: problem-solving, loving, discerning and growing.
February 26, 2021
I’m always up for an anthology, especially a science fiction one. This is a collection of sixteen short stories by Australian authors. While there were some I didn’t care for, on the whole this was a very enjoyable collection with a few stand-out favorites. Just a note that the only place you seem to be able to buy this is from the publisher’s website. I’ve linked it above using the Bookshop logo!
“Traitor” – Geraldine Borella – ★★★. An exploratory mission to determine the habitability of a planet leads one scientist to contemplate the meaning of “traitor.” Told from the POV of the scientist, the story is generally framed by the testimony of the mission’s captain during an inquiry.
“Endymion” – Johnathan E. Furneaux – ★★★★. The last sleeper colony ship is slowly closing in on its destination when it encounters something that may change everything.
“Arrogance Is Death” – Lynne Stringer – ★★★★. A destroyed world’s only hope is to time travel backwards to steal resources. But one young person asks why they’re not doing more.
“Ebenezer’s Cafe” – Catriona McKeown – ★★★. Interesting story about returning to an abandoned Earth, but a weird focus on intelligent design.
“Fetching the Flame” – Janeen Samuel – ★★★. Imagining what would happen if the only way to make fire was by bargaining with a fire lizard. They’ve forgotten how to make fire, which I thought was weird and unlikely.
“The Clockmaker and the Time Machine” – Jo Hart – ★★★★. A mysterious gentleman and his daughter bring a time-traveling device to a village repairman.
“Over and Out” – Adele Jones – ★★★. A hacker works with a team to defeat an AI overlord, but all is not as it seems.
“The Rocksway Flight” – Russell Hume – ★★★. A steampunk airship trade route goes awry when the pilot has to deal with a spoiled “helper.”
“The True Written Life of Ed Specolta” – Penny Jaye – ★★★★. A silly way to use up an extra school notebook ends with Ed’s best friend almost writing him out of her life.
“Romano’s” – Jack Garrety – ★★★★. Classic ghost story starring a violin shop and a young girl.
“The Seeking of Javan” – Rosanne Hawke – ★★★. The confession of a girl who left her insular community to explore the dystopian outside.
“Faulty Connection” – Jennifer Horn – ★★★. A well-written premise (everyone spends all day connected to their virtual worlds) but a bit over-moralizing.
“Light Club” – Jennie Del Mastro – ★★★. I have no idea what happened in this story, but it was an enjoyable confusion, at least.
“The Choice” – Anne Hamilton – ★★. More confusion, but lyrical confusion this time.
“Luminescent Love” – Stephanie Martin – ★★★. Cute story about a mechanic keeping a big secret from his girlfriend.
“Designer Ghost” – Emily Larkin – ★★★★. A very inventive story about animal “ghosts” that are assigned to teens based on their deficits.
Overall, I’d give the collection as a whole three stars, with my favorites being “Endymion,” “Romano’s,” and “Designer Ghost.” I feel like there was a good variety between futuristic and fantasy stories, and they certainly met their goal of taking my mind off the pandemic!
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“Traitor” – Geraldine Borella – ★★★. An exploratory mission to determine the habitability of a planet leads one scientist to contemplate the meaning of “traitor.” Told from the POV of the scientist, the story is generally framed by the testimony of the mission’s captain during an inquiry.
“Endymion” – Johnathan E. Furneaux – ★★★★. The last sleeper colony ship is slowly closing in on its destination when it encounters something that may change everything.
“Arrogance Is Death” – Lynne Stringer – ★★★★. A destroyed world’s only hope is to time travel backwards to steal resources. But one young person asks why they’re not doing more.
“Ebenezer’s Cafe” – Catriona McKeown – ★★★. Interesting story about returning to an abandoned Earth, but a weird focus on intelligent design.
“Fetching the Flame” – Janeen Samuel – ★★★. Imagining what would happen if the only way to make fire was by bargaining with a fire lizard. They’ve forgotten how to make fire, which I thought was weird and unlikely.
“The Clockmaker and the Time Machine” – Jo Hart – ★★★★. A mysterious gentleman and his daughter bring a time-traveling device to a village repairman.
“Over and Out” – Adele Jones – ★★★. A hacker works with a team to defeat an AI overlord, but all is not as it seems.
“The Rocksway Flight” – Russell Hume – ★★★. A steampunk airship trade route goes awry when the pilot has to deal with a spoiled “helper.”
“The True Written Life of Ed Specolta” – Penny Jaye – ★★★★. A silly way to use up an extra school notebook ends with Ed’s best friend almost writing him out of her life.
“Romano’s” – Jack Garrety – ★★★★. Classic ghost story starring a violin shop and a young girl.
“The Seeking of Javan” – Rosanne Hawke – ★★★. The confession of a girl who left her insular community to explore the dystopian outside.
“Faulty Connection” – Jennifer Horn – ★★★. A well-written premise (everyone spends all day connected to their virtual worlds) but a bit over-moralizing.
“Light Club” – Jennie Del Mastro – ★★★. I have no idea what happened in this story, but it was an enjoyable confusion, at least.
“The Choice” – Anne Hamilton – ★★. More confusion, but lyrical confusion this time.
“Luminescent Love” – Stephanie Martin – ★★★. Cute story about a mechanic keeping a big secret from his girlfriend.
“Designer Ghost” – Emily Larkin – ★★★★. A very inventive story about animal “ghosts” that are assigned to teens based on their deficits.
Overall, I’d give the collection as a whole three stars, with my favorites being “Endymion,” “Romano’s,” and “Designer Ghost.” I feel like there was a good variety between futuristic and fantasy stories, and they certainly met their goal of taking my mind off the pandemic!
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
May 23, 2021
I was one of the editors of this book and I am very happy with the variety of stories!
December 31, 2022
Crossed Spaces is a great anthology from Rhiza with tales of science fiction, fantasy, time travel and dystopias.
January 26, 2021
3.5 stars
This is an anthology of short stories by Australian writers. A handsome clockmaker fixes a broken time machine. A young scientist betrays his people to protect an alien species. A boy finds his whole life changing when his best friend writes in a mysterious notebook. A crew aboard a settlement spaceship discovers that sleeping passengers have gone missing. These are some of the stories that are collected in this book. I think my favorite stories were Endymion by Jonathan E Furneaux, The True Written Life of Ed Specolta by Penny Jaye, and Faulty Connection by Jennifer Horn. An enjoyable book with good stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rhiza Press for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This is an anthology of short stories by Australian writers. A handsome clockmaker fixes a broken time machine. A young scientist betrays his people to protect an alien species. A boy finds his whole life changing when his best friend writes in a mysterious notebook. A crew aboard a settlement spaceship discovers that sleeping passengers have gone missing. These are some of the stories that are collected in this book. I think my favorite stories were Endymion by Jonathan E Furneaux, The True Written Life of Ed Specolta by Penny Jaye, and Faulty Connection by Jennifer Horn. An enjoyable book with good stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rhiza Press for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
January 25, 2021
I love Lynne Stringer's idea for this COVID project., giving people the space and opportunity to hopefully escape the stress of the current state of the world and write stories. I was drawn to this because I love short story collections and space/sci-fi also appeals to me. I loved the variety of stories and some that really stood out to me were Endymion, Fetching the Flame, and The Clockmaker and the Time Machine. It's so fun to see the variety in topic that these authors came up with.
January 1, 2025
I really enjoyed this collection of sci-fi stories from Australian authors.
It was a strong collection with each story well written.
Some authors I had heard of, some I hadn't, so it was nice to be introduced to new authors I am looking forward to reading more of.
I don't read a lot of sci-fi, but this collection reminded me how much I do like it, and made me want to read more if it.
Though I enjoyed all the stories, 'Ebenezer's cafe', 'Over and Out', and 'Arrogance is Death', were some of my favourites. I liked the humor in 'The Rocksway Flight'.
'Romano's' surprised me the most. I don't generally like ghost stories, but this one was quite touching.
Although this is a collection of young adult stories, I believe adults will enjoy this too. If you enjoy fantasy and sci-fi stories, this is a collection not to be missed.
Rhiza edge has more short story anthologies and I am looking forward to reading more of them.
Content warning:
It was clean with nothing too violet, and no sexual content.
The story 'Endymion' had the word 'hell' in it a few times. And 'Over and Out' had the A-word twice. No other stories had swearing.
It was a strong collection with each story well written.
Some authors I had heard of, some I hadn't, so it was nice to be introduced to new authors I am looking forward to reading more of.
I don't read a lot of sci-fi, but this collection reminded me how much I do like it, and made me want to read more if it.
Though I enjoyed all the stories, 'Ebenezer's cafe', 'Over and Out', and 'Arrogance is Death', were some of my favourites. I liked the humor in 'The Rocksway Flight'.
'Romano's' surprised me the most. I don't generally like ghost stories, but this one was quite touching.
Although this is a collection of young adult stories, I believe adults will enjoy this too. If you enjoy fantasy and sci-fi stories, this is a collection not to be missed.
Rhiza edge has more short story anthologies and I am looking forward to reading more of them.
Content warning:
It was clean with nothing too violet, and no sexual content.
The story 'Endymion' had the word 'hell' in it a few times. And 'Over and Out' had the A-word twice. No other stories had swearing.
November 21, 2024
Inventive, well written, beautifully crafted short stories. Some are better than others but they all transport you to a truely futuristic time.
If you’ve ever see “Love, Death Robots” or “Black Mirror” this is the same experience but in book form.
Some of my favourite were
Endymion by Jonathon E Furneaux. It is written in a way that doesn’t make time travel confusing and has this daunting feeling throughout the story.
The Rocksway Flight by Russel Hume. A more lighthearted story of the beauty of airships and the faulty of training newbies.
Light Club by Jennie Del Mastro. I don’t even know how to describe this story other than the light and darknesses reimagined
If you’ve ever see “Love, Death Robots” or “Black Mirror” this is the same experience but in book form.
Some of my favourite were
Endymion by Jonathon E Furneaux. It is written in a way that doesn’t make time travel confusing and has this daunting feeling throughout the story.
The Rocksway Flight by Russel Hume. A more lighthearted story of the beauty of airships and the faulty of training newbies.
Light Club by Jennie Del Mastro. I don’t even know how to describe this story other than the light and darknesses reimagined
March 17, 2021
This is a sci-fi anthology that includes 16 short sci-fi stories by Australian authors.
This was just ok, but I’m saying it was just ok there were multiple stories that I throughly enjoyed but others I didn’t like. I would say that there is a story for everyone in this book, we have so many different kinds of sci-fi stories in this, ranging from exploring other worlds- to our own world in years to come, time travel and ghost are just a few things to mention. Overall this book is just ok but is worth the read because of how many different stories you get.
This was just ok, but I’m saying it was just ok there were multiple stories that I throughly enjoyed but others I didn’t like. I would say that there is a story for everyone in this book, we have so many different kinds of sci-fi stories in this, ranging from exploring other worlds- to our own world in years to come, time travel and ghost are just a few things to mention. Overall this book is just ok but is worth the read because of how many different stories you get.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews