Reckoning

by Mark Paul Jacobs

Humans have evolved to their present form in a few million years. And they have risen to prominence in just a few thousand; a mere speck in earth’s unfathomable timeline. Are we the first to gaze into the heavens contemplating our fate? Here, I present a short tale pondering the shortcomings of sentience. Once upon a time, sixty-five million two hundred and forty-two thousand years ago...

Nook

First published December 20, 2009

About the author

Mark Paul Jacobs lives in lovely Dauphin, Pennsylvania. He enjoys fishing the Canadian north, poker, and annoying his wife. He has authored two novels: How Teddy Roosevelt Slew the last Mighty T-Rex, a Historical Science Fiction tale set in 1914, and the hard science fiction novel: The Yaakmen of Tyrie, a powerful and mysterious tale of bravery, loss, perseverance, betrayal, and redemption. He is also quite proud of his awe-inspiring short story: The Day God Winked and his chilling novelette with the provocative title: The Watchers from within Moments Revealed, an almost universally well reviewed work for which he has written a screenplay suitable for an ‘Outer Limits’ episode. These and several other works are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, and Smashwords.com. How Teddy Roosevelt Slew the last Mighty T-Rex and The Yaakmen of Tyrie is available in paperback via Createspace.com. Mark is working on a movie screenplay tentatively called Stain which is a gritty murder conspiracy based in Central Pennsylvania similar to the movie ‘Fargo’ or ‘Reservoir Dogs’. Please enjoy his works and don’t be afraid to tell him what you think on his Facebook page, twitter account, or by email. And lastly, please take the time to leave him a review of his work; it doesn’t have to be long or long-winded, but it does make him feel that his hard word has touched someone’s life in some way. You can leave a review wherever his books are available.

Reviews

[Mark Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of a series of reflective, critical reviews of my own works listed on Goodreads. If you think about it, who better than the author himself/herself understands the weaknesses and the strengths of the material they produce? I promise to be brutally honest with my assessments, but always remember that I am the author.
‘Reckoning’ is a hard Science Fiction short story that postulates: What if Dinosaurs had developed an intelligent sub-species in the years previous to being wiped-out by the great asteroid at the K/T boundary 65 million years ago? Writing from the viewpoint of a non-human creature can be a tricky business, and I attempted to gather some tips from some Sci Fi legends such as James Tiptree, Jr. (Anne B. Sheldon) classic short story from the 1960’s ‘Love is the Plan the Plan is Death’—creepy stuff. That being said, I realize this kind of story is not for everyone.
But I give myself great credit for the originality of this tale, the idea of a sentient creature waiting for their demise and wondering if any of the surviving creatures would evolve to ponder like they have done. I possibly could have expanded some of the dialogue, but I did run the risk of making the creatures too ‘human’ and that would have ruined the premise and quite frankly make the story sound a bit more ‘campy’ and that was not what I wanted.
A clearly original tale for hard-core Science Fiction fans with an open mind. The story could have been fleshed out a bit more and the plot line could have been stronger, but all things being considered, worth the read. (3.9 of 5 stars)

[R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay for a very short and very free story. I think that the plot had/has lots of promise I'm just not a fan of the way that it was carried out. I think that it needs some work on the 2nd act, the long boring stuff in the middle I suppose.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting short story about awareness of the world before humans.