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Tear Tracks
Flur traveled across the stars to make first contact with the Cyclopes, hoping to forge a peace treaty between humanity and the first sentient aliens they've discovered. She's undergone careful training and study to prepare for this moment. But what if her approach is too human?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
25 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 21, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
December 7, 2016
Another short story from tor.com (3 read so far for my personal challenge); I was wondering here this story was going, with its interesting aliens and first face-to-face contact, then Malka Older gets you with a nice final line.
January 23, 2021
When I began reading this I realised I'd read it before, and remembered that I'd enjoyed it, so I read it again. It's an alien contact story, with the difference that it places the aliens as neither so alien that humans can't understand them, nor just humans in different costumes. I did find the ending a little too abrupt and somewhat trite (it contains a kind of moral lesson) and would have liked to have learned more about the aliens' worldview.
November 3, 2016
What a nice short story questioning our societies habit of suppressing pain and always presenting ourselves as "fine" to the outside.
November 18, 2015
That last line though. Wow.
Engaging short story, which puts a spin on pre-conceived notions of power, wisdom & strength.
Engaging short story, which puts a spin on pre-conceived notions of power, wisdom & strength.
September 20, 2018
This one just really resonated with me.
September 21, 2020
Rep: Black side character
February 20, 2021
Beautiful, touching, and original
October 23, 2015
Very well written. The author plays with the assumptions of everyone - the scientists, the protagonists, the reader. The climax of the story is actually the end of the story, and there's no denouement. I don't see that often.
December 16, 2015
Great take on the standard first contact story and the last line packed a punch. I'd love to see more from this world.
January 7, 2018
I think this is longer than it needs to be, but man, what a gutpunch of a closing paragraph.
January 31, 2020
This short from Tor Books is about a mission to make contact – and attempt to draw up a peace treaty – with the first newly discovered alien race. It has many hallmarks of classic sci-fi, and is a quick, engaging read, but it’s the subtext that helps this one stand out – even if it does become a little heavy-handed by the end. Essentially, the story is a riff on the idea of what constitutes power, and where, as a society, we place credence. Chiefly, Older asks the reader to consider why we feel compelled to supress pain.
The lack of a proper denouement is interesting. It certainly left me wanting more, but I can’t quite decide if it did so in a good way or not. Still, I enjoyed the quieter, more contemplative approach to a sci-fi/first contact narrative, and would read more from the author.
The lack of a proper denouement is interesting. It certainly left me wanting more, but I can’t quite decide if it did so in a good way or not. Still, I enjoyed the quieter, more contemplative approach to a sci-fi/first contact narrative, and would read more from the author.
May 22, 2021
A first contact story of the remarkable similarities and differences that can occur between races, imagined or not. I loved the idea of grief and sorrow as a hallmark of leadership.
July 4, 2017
An interesting take on first contact.
January 12, 2016
This tight little short story deals with some deep questions, like: What if humans are the "aliens" to a different world? What if, when we visit this non-space-faring world, we bring some of our own cultural biases and assumptions with us? Is there value to maturity and patience, or is ambition and inventiveness more important?
December 22, 2017
A good first-contact story. Recommended.
https://www.tor.com/2015/10/21/tear-t...
https://www.tor.com/2015/10/21/tear-t...
March 21, 2024
Eeeeehhh not sure I can really get behind the concept of this. In my experience, all trauma does is make you traumatised. In this world and probably every other.
October 21, 2015
Would love to read more in this universe!
December 18, 2018
A história composta por Malka Older é uma releitura do tema do primeiro contato entre humanos e alienígenas. A autora trabalha-o de uma forma muito elegante e criativa. Nós somos enviados a um planeta em uma missão de alto custo para a Terra para fazer contato com os Cyclopes. Acompanhamos Flur e Tsongwa nessa missão diplomática onde eles precisam também a tudo observar e reportar. Mas, lidar com os cyclopes pode ser um desafio já que a maneira como eles encaram determinadas noções comuns aos seres humanos pode ser muito diferente.
Logo de cara, a Malka já quebra a nossa expectativa e coloca os cyclopes como humanóides. Eles pouco tem de diferentes em relação a nós. Então para quem imagina aqueles alienígenas verdes e com tentáculos, já toma na primeira página o seu primeiro susto. E a partir dessa definição de que eles são pouco diferentes em relação aos humanos, o leitor é obrigado a reavaliar os seus pré-conceitos. Esse choque inicial também afeta os dois personagens. Todos os procedimentos e rituais necessários para a formulação de um tratado de paz entre as duas civilizações se torna o mote da narrativa.
A escrita da autora é bem detalhista e complicada em alguns pontos. Dá para perceber bem que ela é da linha de hard scifi (ficção científica dura). Porém, ela puxa para um lado sociológico que é surpreendente. A maneira como ela insere sutilezas para diferenciar os dois lados tende a uma bela originalidade. O próprio cenário alienígena parece ser familiar até o momento em que ela insere alguma modificação simples que altera toda a nossa percepção sobre o mundo em que os cyclopes vivem. Gostei das descrições, gostei dos dois personagens (já falo a seguir) e do rumo que a história toma. Aliás, fica aquele aviso básico que essa é uma narrativa de ideias: quem está esperando por ação e combate, saia fora. Não é a história para você. É algo mais reflexivo.
E aí temos a grande temática da narrativa que é uma polarização entre o poder pela força e a fraqueza pelo poder. Nós sempre imaginamos os nossos líderes como homens fortes e bravos, capazes de fazer enormes sacrifícios em prol de uma ideal. A liderança quase sempre vem da força ou da bravura. Nunca paramos para pensar que essa equação é socialmente imposta. E se pensássemos ao contrário? E se uma vida de adversidades, o sentimentalismo exacerbado ou a capacidade de demonstrar a fraqueza como uma construtora de sabedoria fossem os pré-requisitos necessários para um grande líder? Vivemos hoje em um país que buscou na força extrema e até em uma certa arrogância a solução para os problemas. Mas, será que paramos para pensar que talvez a sabedoria para sair de uma situação difícil esteja nas flores e não nas armas? Malka Older nos coloca para refletir esse tema usando uma imagem linda que é a capacidade dos Cyclopes de construir estradas na pele para que as lágrimas possam correr livremente. Uma imagem poética e bela para esse mundo tão estranho em que vivemos hoje.
Logo de cara, a Malka já quebra a nossa expectativa e coloca os cyclopes como humanóides. Eles pouco tem de diferentes em relação a nós. Então para quem imagina aqueles alienígenas verdes e com tentáculos, já toma na primeira página o seu primeiro susto. E a partir dessa definição de que eles são pouco diferentes em relação aos humanos, o leitor é obrigado a reavaliar os seus pré-conceitos. Esse choque inicial também afeta os dois personagens. Todos os procedimentos e rituais necessários para a formulação de um tratado de paz entre as duas civilizações se torna o mote da narrativa.
A escrita da autora é bem detalhista e complicada em alguns pontos. Dá para perceber bem que ela é da linha de hard scifi (ficção científica dura). Porém, ela puxa para um lado sociológico que é surpreendente. A maneira como ela insere sutilezas para diferenciar os dois lados tende a uma bela originalidade. O próprio cenário alienígena parece ser familiar até o momento em que ela insere alguma modificação simples que altera toda a nossa percepção sobre o mundo em que os cyclopes vivem. Gostei das descrições, gostei dos dois personagens (já falo a seguir) e do rumo que a história toma. Aliás, fica aquele aviso básico que essa é uma narrativa de ideias: quem está esperando por ação e combate, saia fora. Não é a história para você. É algo mais reflexivo.
E aí temos a grande temática da narrativa que é uma polarização entre o poder pela força e a fraqueza pelo poder. Nós sempre imaginamos os nossos líderes como homens fortes e bravos, capazes de fazer enormes sacrifícios em prol de uma ideal. A liderança quase sempre vem da força ou da bravura. Nunca paramos para pensar que essa equação é socialmente imposta. E se pensássemos ao contrário? E se uma vida de adversidades, o sentimentalismo exacerbado ou a capacidade de demonstrar a fraqueza como uma construtora de sabedoria fossem os pré-requisitos necessários para um grande líder? Vivemos hoje em um país que buscou na força extrema e até em uma certa arrogância a solução para os problemas. Mas, será que paramos para pensar que talvez a sabedoria para sair de uma situação difícil esteja nas flores e não nas armas? Malka Older nos coloca para refletir esse tema usando uma imagem linda que é a capacidade dos Cyclopes de construir estradas na pele para que as lágrimas possam correr livremente. Uma imagem poética e bela para esse mundo tão estranho em que vivemos hoje.
December 27, 2019
A Tor e-short about a carefully choreographed first contact with sapient aliens.
Biophysicist Flur and her partner shuttle down to the alien planet and spend several hours negotiating a framework for future interaction with the extraterrestrial diplomats.
The author won me over with the first paragraph, in which she carefully acknowledges the improbability of extraterrestrials being conveniently humanoid before delivering exactly that. She handles the Star Trek problem gracefully.
I love that nothing terribly dramatic happens but that the events are filled with tension anyways. It's a tension rooted in the thirst for knowledge and in the incredibly complex, delicate, landmine-laden introductory diplomacy between cultures that are literally alien.
Those final few lines pack a punch.
Biophysicist Flur and her partner shuttle down to the alien planet and spend several hours negotiating a framework for future interaction with the extraterrestrial diplomats.
The author won me over with the first paragraph, in which she carefully acknowledges the improbability of extraterrestrials being conveniently humanoid before delivering exactly that. She handles the Star Trek problem gracefully.
I love that nothing terribly dramatic happens but that the events are filled with tension anyways. It's a tension rooted in the thirst for knowledge and in the incredibly complex, delicate, landmine-laden introductory diplomacy between cultures that are literally alien.
Those final few lines pack a punch.
September 14, 2022
When I finished it, I immediately had to read it again to see Flur's thoughts and reasoning in a new light.
Only in the second read did I really experience her behavior as slightly autistic and lacking empathy. Here we are on a first contact and she's focusing on diplomatic goals and collecting samples, and not paying attention to the actual contact with the alien life.
Interesting insight into Flur's way of thinking, I will remember this when meeting new people 🙂
Only in the second read did I really experience her behavior as slightly autistic and lacking empathy. Here we are on a first contact and she's focusing on diplomatic goals and collecting samples, and not paying attention to the actual contact with the alien life.
Interesting insight into Flur's way of thinking, I will remember this when meeting new people 🙂
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2025
It should have been a routine meet and greet, despite the fact that this was a first contact mission, but there are some things which do not translate well and some things which are just misunderstood.
Unsurprisingly for a story called "Tear Tracks", this is very sad, with disappointment and regret tightly woven into the fabric of the narrative.
Unsurprisingly for a story called "Tear Tracks", this is very sad, with disappointment and regret tightly woven into the fabric of the narrative.
November 6, 2017
An interesting take on the first-contact trope, that's really a commentary on how we devalue showing any weakness and don't really expect anyone to give an honest answer to the question "How are you?".
October 6, 2018
TT was a quick read and in some ways interesting enough, but the end to me was a total let-down. Yet, I have to admit that it had me thinking about the concept (won't give a ploiler) a few times since. So maybe the story has done what it was intended to do, and me liking it is not so important.
July 17, 2017
A good, short, First Contact story.
September 30, 2018
An interesting idea. I figured out what was going on with the alien society really early, and was surprised/confused by the fact that the main character didn't seem to get it as fast.
January 27, 2019
Nice and short, filled with irony.
June 17, 2022
Really good... a touching tale.
March 12, 2024
really enjoyed this, just wish it was longer!!
November 19, 2015
Tear Tracks presents the journey to negotiate a peace treaty between humanity and a sentient alien race through Flur and Tsongwa, two scientists who had been selected to gather information as well as to have the treaty signed.
The overall writing and particularly the depiction of a recently discovered alien world was deftly carried out. The story aims at the absurdity of a world that tends to praises aplomb and self-assurance over sensitivity or vulnerability in various settings. Tear Tracks attempts to show a world in which a person who has suffered would be respected, rather than left apart.
I enjoyed most of the story until it was evident what lay behind, which I found unnecessarily populist and unsophisticated. I'd have liked it more if the non-underlying meaning had stayed between the lines, as it had most of the time. I also found the feminist component a little bit out of place. It might be a gift from the author to her mother for Mother's Day, otherwise I'm missing something. Older creates an outstanding aesthetic new world which could definitely make for a larger story since the premise is interesting. To sum up, I did like the elements that shaped the story, although the main theme did a naughty job spoiling the story at the end.
The overall writing and particularly the depiction of a recently discovered alien world was deftly carried out. The story aims at the absurdity of a world that tends to praises aplomb and self-assurance over sensitivity or vulnerability in various settings. Tear Tracks attempts to show a world in which a person who has suffered would be respected, rather than left apart.
I enjoyed most of the story until it was evident what lay behind, which I found unnecessarily populist and unsophisticated. I'd have liked it more if the non-underlying meaning had stayed between the lines, as it had most of the time. I also found the feminist component a little bit out of place. It might be a gift from the author to her mother for Mother's Day, otherwise I'm missing something. Older creates an outstanding aesthetic new world which could definitely make for a larger story since the premise is interesting. To sum up, I did like the elements that shaped the story, although the main theme did a naughty job spoiling the story at the end.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews