The Sky Didn't Load Today and Other Glitches

by Rich Larson

Thirty ultra-short science fiction stories from Rich Larson, award-winning author of Ymir, Annex, and Tomorrow Factory.

The Sky Didn't Load Today and Other Glitches collects the best of Rich Larson's flash fiction, stories told in a thousand words or less, into a fusillade of futures. Within these pages, you’ll journey from a biolab bunker under the earth to a fungi forest on an alien planet, from possible tomorrows to the heat death of the universe. You’ll encounter emulated minds, rented bodies, hijinks in deep space and eldritch horror at the seaside.

Thirty new worlds await inside The Sky Didn’t Load Today and Other Glitches. Just be reality is not what it seems, and some glitches are more dangerous than others.

140 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Nathaniel R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of micro fiction with many standalone stories and some with recurring plot points, ideas and characters. Rich's talent in building worlds you can easily dive into with interesting ideas at play is always satisfying.

The drawings at the beginning of every story are also a fun teaser of what's to come.

A good, quick, 100 page variety read.

[Ai Jiang]

A big thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this collection! Blurb below:

THE SKY DIDN'T LOAD TODAY is a multiverse of stories, taking readers through time and space, spanning across cosmic body horror, post apocalyptic, new weird, cyberpunk, space opera, and depicting believable far future worlds with prose that often blends quirky and absurd humour with melancholy, exploring love, fear, survival, loneliness as well as extinction and evolution, along with the rise and fall of post-humans and pre-sapiens.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are flash fiction, which in an earlier time we used to call 'short-shorts', stories of a few hundred words, perhaps a thousand. Short, punchy, usually structured around a single event and often with a twist ending.

Rich Larson is especially good at this. His fertile imagination allows him to create endless science fictional scenarios that are clever, funny, and strange. Sometimes flash goes for effect and doesn't have a real resolution. These stories have a beginning, middle and end, even the ones running only half a page. Well done.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great flash fiction collection. Highly recommend if you like the gut punch feeling after reading a small story

[Peter Hollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich Larson is one of the best short story writers around, and while we wait for Changelog to drop next month, these flash fictions will do.
Sometimes stories this short can come over a little glib, but Larson is very good at giving weight to his little vignettes, giving verisimilitude to his futures. Great stuff.

[piratesPencil · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of micro-fiction. At times I wished some of these stories were a bit longer so they could spend more time exploring their premises, but generally I did enjoy the fast pace of these bite-sized stories. Some of the more noir/cyperbunk stories weren't really my thing, but I really enjoyed the stories that leaned more towards speculative sci-fi. "Someone Else" and "Won't You Stay Longer" were two of my favourites.

[Maria Haskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love science fiction, and if you love flash fiction, this collection is for you. Larson fits mind-bending ideas, interesting characters, and dark and compelling twists into each and every story.

[Sanjeev · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / Loved the Stories

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked “Skinned,” “Horseplay,” and “Ascension’s Eve”

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich Larson is great. I want more.

[Paul Morisset · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ratings:

Grin Minus Cat - 4 stars.
Someone Else - 4 stars.
Won’t You Stay Longer - 4 stars.
For All Your Rampage Needs - 4 stars.
123456 - 4 stars.
Horseplay - 4 stars.
We’re Talking About Practice - 4 stars.
Mind Blown - 3 stars.
Reproduction on the Beach - 3 stars.
Limping Towards Sunrise - 3 stars.
A Beginner’s Guide to the Hieronymus Box - 3 stars.
Treadmill - 3 stars.
Ascension’s Eve - 3 stars.
Molli’s Oggles - 3 stars.
Six Month Ocean - 3 stars.
Breathing For Two - 3 stars.
Lowlife Orbit - 3 stars.
Moving Day - 3 stars.
Some Of These Stars Might Already Be Gone - 3 stars.
The Sky Didn’t Load Today - 3 stars.
Get the Lights - 3 stars.
Pherobomb - 2 stars.
Always Personal - 2 stars.
Moose Trap - 2 stars.
Cues - 2 stars.
Skinned - 2 stars.
Playmates - 2 stars.
Pilgrim Problems - 1 star.
Caring For Your Damage Sponge - 1 star.
Define: Symbiont - 1 star.