Cli-Fi Shorts

Six science fiction short stories set in the Anthropocene Epoch.

The title story, Big Six, refers to a sixth mass extinction many scientists now say is underway.

Each story stands alone but all share ‘Big Six’ as a fictional backdrop.

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About the Book

The introductions below set the scene to each story but contain no spoilers.

Is there Still Life on Mars?

Only one man, a Martian, survived the colony’s mysterious collapse.

Brought to Earth and exiled to a remote island, Theodore struggles with the effects of terran gravity and loneliness.

But when his obsession with the painter, Paul Cezanne, brings him to the attention of New Planetary Futures Inc., he must make an agonizing choice.

A short story about art, beauty and the meaning of life on a disappearing world.

Big Six

A bizarre warning about planetary ecocide. The loss of all satellite links to Earth.

For Lunar Base One commander, Richard Peacock, his problems mount when the unscheduled arrival of a resupply shuttle coincides with a catastrophic incident at Lunar Base Two.

A short story that poses the simple question: what if hiding off-world is no escape from hell on Earth?

Cars and Chinese Cuisine

Mickie, a former delivery van driver on vacation finds it impossible to relax behind the wheel of a self-driving hire car.

Teased by his Chinese girlfriend to go with the flow, Mickie must deal with culture shock in a 21st century smart city where the world moves too fast and he is not at the locus of control.

No More Nono

Rin repairs licensed sexbots by day and moonlights at night to pay off bad debts.

Hired by a reclusive trillionaire, he stumbles upon a secretive world of powerful people who act without scruples.

Rin faces a terrible choice—do what they want and get well paid or defy them and end up dead.

A standalone story set in the world of ‘Big Six’ and featuring a new hybrid-human species.

Summer Solstest

Before civilization crashed, Jamie had it all.

Now she survives on the surface with a group of female misfits.

But the June Solstest approaches and the dimming Sun must have her sacrificial offering.

Barking at the Moon

Dr. Judy Watson’s search for aliens takes her shuttle to a faulty radio telescope array on the far side of the Moon.

Mysterious footprints, a jammed airlock and a demented robotic assistant spell trouble with a capital T.

Trapped on the lunar surface, and with less than one hour to live, Judy must get back inside the shuttle.

A story that asks: what if Asimov’s laws of robotics no longer apply?

Author: Mark McClure
Genre: Science Fiction
Tags: Science Fiction, Short Stories
Publisher: JFR Publishing
Publication Year: 2019
Length: Six Short stories
ASIN: B081RY3YVQ

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