Remembrance Day - three science fiction short stories

by Simon Kewin

The Twisted Way
A bounty hunter finds that pursuing their quarry to the lawless Möbius Strip doesn’t work out as well as they’d hoped.

Remembrance Day
Magnus is a broken-down veteran of the Basilisk war, running a bar on the Möbius Strip. Most of his customers are trying to forget their pasts. He spends his time trying to remember his.

A woman he once knew comes seeking his help on a dangerous mission. When Magnus finds out who is really involved it’s time to reach for his blaster. But then he begins to discover just how unreliable his memories of the war actually are…

Repairs
Zana spends her nights piecing the Strip’s rage room victims back together, but when one of the gynoids in her care is beaten beyond repair, it’s Zana that feels it worst.

30 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2013

About the author

Simon Kewin is a fantasy and sci/fi writer, author of the Cloven Land fantasy trilogy, cyberpunk thriller The Genehunter , steampunk Gormenghast saga Engn , the Triple Stars sci/fi trilogy and the Office of the Witchfinder General books, published by Elsewhen Press.

He's the author of several short story collections, with his shorter fiction appearing in Analog, Nature and over a hundred other magazines.

He is currently doing an MA in creative writing while writing at least three novels simultaneously.

Reviews

[Jeff Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Kewin's The Genehunter will find a lot to like in this tale about a broken-down war veteran's encounter with his ex-girlfriend. Magnus suffered a horrific injury during the Basilisk War but some doctors managed to put him back together. He literally has more implants than brains and as the story unfolds, it's not clear whose memories he has either. He now runs a bar on the Möbius Strip, an old space station orbiting Mars that thrives on vice and operates just outside the law. When his old girlfriend shows up, he suspects she wants a favor, and she does. She needs his help to smuggle someone dangerous out of the system. Against his better judgement, Magnus agrees to meet the person to be smuggled. The meeting will change everything he believes about himself and his past.

Kewin delivers another deep tale about the nature of identity. My only quibble with the story is that it ends too soon. There's another chapter or two in Magnus's story. I'm hoping we don't have to wait too long.

[Christine Rains · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magnus, a grizzled war veteran, is tending his bar when a face from his past comes in. Life before the Basilisk War is unclear in his head, but he remembers her as someone who had been there for him. So when she asks for his help, he takes a walk along the Mobius Strip with her to see her mystery friend in her ship. What happens there will change his life completely once again.

A well-written short science-fiction tale focusing on the ravaged psychological state of Magnus. He lingers in his bar because he isn't certain who is any longer. The only one he trusts is his Mech which he has a telepathic link to, the one who went through the war with him. Fantastic characterization, and a nice introduction to what I hope is more.