Aphelion

The thing that bothers me the most about this story is its air of preachiness, despite the truth of its message. Maybe that could have been handled with a bit more subtlety.

Big plot hole: the Valash, being without any arts or even the concept of art, are truly alien, but then I have to wonder, why do they respond at all to our art? They've met other species as well; were they not exposed to art from those other cultures? Why, all of a sudden, do they think we've got something wonderful that they've never experienced before?

I'm at least glad the story didn't end with some Valash officer pushing the Big Red Button -- or being told not to. And the presence of Sutu Lamat next to Wes in the very last moments seems to indicate hope, which then would mean that Wes may have killed himself for nothing. Kind of a let-down.

The whole package was less than satisfying. I choked a little on the notion of a rock star being buddies with the President. Quite a stretch, and I had to consciously accept that, but it took me out of the story. The style of the piece was rather flat, and Mr. Britto needs to look to his punctuation, too; a missing comma here and there made me have to backtrack in a few spots.

I think this could have been an enjoyable story; it did show some good work in the way the different nations were portrayed, such as the Chinese. Maybe stereotyped, but it worked in context. Also, the way individuals bickered over recognition for the works (artistic ego; we know what that
is).

vates wrote:

Jaimie wrote:I didn’t enjoy the ending. It’s such a downer. But that’s my personal preference.

I did like the ending - mainly, I think, because after all the high morals of the story the author has refrained from passing final judgement on humanity.

Jaimie wrote: Could you imagine if Wes was about to commit suicide and composes a song for his daughter? What if the aliens heard the song and it was enough to change their minds?

One man to earn grace before the aliens? Yes, I can imaine. I already see Wes turn into Noah. Also, he could be a little less successful and the story could turn into that of Ziusudra.

Not what you meant? Let me try again:

One song by one man to turn the minds of then aliens? After all the emphasis the story puts on the merits of cooperation that would certainly qualify as a surprise ending. Also, I believe, it would be quite contrary to the authors intentions.

A friend of mine has stated that he dislikes movies like "2012", not only because of their SFX-dependent over-the-top plots, but because the audience is supposed to be happy that a select few survive while everyone else dies horribly. (Any resemblance to the Rapture, or the Heaven's Gate cult, is purely coincidental.)

Another point of comparison for this story: the Twilight Zone (or was it Outer Limits) episode, "A Small Talent for War". Same idea, with a twist.