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Commissioned to hunt down straggler MICs (Mechanized Intelligence Cruisers) in the outer reach of the great Commonwealth, the starship Pequod sets sail only to find out their captain has his own agenda.
38 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 24, 2019
Voyage of the Pequod is a short story sci-fi adaptation of Moby Dick.
If that idea sounds strange, let me pose it this way: Space whales. Hardy, well-seasoned spaceship crew. Breathtaking panoramas of vibrant galaxies. Thoughtful, unhurried portraits human nature.
In short, "Voyage of the Pequod" is everything you desperately wanted from sci-fi, and even several wonderful things you never dared dream of.
If I'm being honest, I've been feeling rather let down by sci-fi recently. I've been bored by predictable stories, dry character development, and a lack of imagery that leaves me floating untethered in the suffocating vacuum of space. Dawson's short story changed all of that and helped me fall back in love with the genre.
In just a few thousand words, she crafted one of the most vibrant fictional worlds I have ever encountered. She wields a more classic diction and syntax with what feels like ease but can only be careful, thoughtful, loving hard work. This choice of narration made the story feel old, rooted, and familiar, even as we floated about in an asteroid-belt-spaceship-dock and fought mechanical space whales. Her insight into the characters, their relationships, the themes, and the settings took my breath away.
If this sounds too much like fangirl gushing, I apologize—but nothing I say quite captures the beauty of this story. I want more. I want all sci-fi to be written with the care and style of classics now, and I want more sprawling space battles and personal scenes of spaceship crew rapport.
In short, go read this story. You are in for the greatest treat of your year.