New Normal

by Jeffrey Ricker

What if doctors were able to transplant your mind into a new body after a terrible accident? What if, thanks to the process, you found you could no longer love the person you were with or live your old life? What would become your new 'normal?'

6 pages, ebook

First published August 2, 2010

About the author

Jeffrey Ricker is the author of Detours (2011), the YA fantasy The Unwanted (2014), The Final Decree (2020), and co-author (with ’Nathan Burgoine and J. Marshall Freeman) of Three Left Turns to Nowhere. His stories have appeared in Foglifter, Phoebe, Little Fiction, The Citron Review, The Saturday Evening Post, and others. A 2014 Lambda Literary Fellow and recipient of a 2015 Vermont Studio Center residency, he has an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and teaches creative writing at Webster University.

Reviews

[Red Haircrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ideas are simply presented and easy enough most any reader could visualize them: a person waking up disoriented after having died. I somehow found the tenses used a little strange, as sometimes it seems a memory, then at others, as if scenes were presently happening to the main character. The character was somewhat confused after their reawakening so descriptions naturally evidenced this.

The idea is interesting, yet it seemed to me like grasping for what you believe is solid or that a solidity will eventually occur, yet whatever it is still only flows as water through your fingers.

I felt it was designed to make a reader think about how they would feel, what they might do if presented with a similar situation and in that, I felt it suceeded. The “New Normal” is an excellent tale which could be expanded into a longer story or novel, a sequel of sorts, but there is enough there to be satisfying. It's an extremely thought provoking topic.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reminder that a short story can deliver a punch, "New Normal" brings a solid speculative edge to a fascinating question: if you could be returned to life, for all intents and purposes "rebooted," what might that be like? For Ricker's narrator, the question becomes paramount when feelings about vital parts of the old life seem to be as new as the second body.

Give this a read.

[Kassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeffrey Ricker tackles a fascinating futuristic concern in his short story New Normal. This story tries to show what could happen if your mind is given a new body after your death. A way to prolong life after the fragile shell has gone. Not only is this a unique and interesting question, it poses so many new concerns.

Ricker doesn’t get into those questions, concerns, concepts, and ideas and perhaps the story is better for it. Instead this is a glimpse into the life of someone that is transplanted and how it affects them. Told in first person, the narrator wakes up in a new body but feels different. He lacks the connection to his family, his friends, and most importantly his lover that he once had. Memories remain without the emotional context. He knows his lover but doesn’t feel love anymore. He’s not sure what he feels, if anything.

This story reminds me in some ways of the Stephen King creepy thriller Pet Sematary. Not the same premise but the same concept that once dead, the person is not the same no matter how they come back. This theme is repeated often in urban fantasy with vampires, werewolves, and other magical beings changing in small to significant ways. Running off that line of thinking, just changing the body in this instance changes the essence of the person; their feelings, thoughts, reactions.

With technology constantly racing ahead, this is a creepy but fascinating look into the idea of living past death that left me wanting to know more.

[Hannah Willkillsome · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this as an ebook from my library and was very disappointed that it was a short story. It feels more like a solid first chapter of a novel than a short story. The end doesn't resolve anything. I actually went on Google to make sure that my library didn't accidentally shelve the preview instead of the actual book. Despite it being a common theme in science fiction, the story shows promise and should have been more fully explored.

[Ebook Addict Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ideas are simply presented and easy enough most any reader could visualize them: a person waking up disoriented after having died. I somehow found the tenses used a little strange, as sometimes it seems a memory then at others, as if scenes were presently happening to the main character, but the character was somewhat confused after their reawakening so descriptions evidenced this.

The idea is interesting, yet it seemed to me like grasping for what you believe is solid or that a solidity will eventually occur, but it still only flows through your hand like water.

I felt it was designed to make a reader think about how they would feel, what they might do if presented with a similar situation and in that, I felt it suceeded. The “New Normal” is an excellent which could be expanded into a longer story or novel, a sequel of sorts, because it is an extremely thought provoking topic.

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Red

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