The Light Between Stars | Book Review

Thank you to Catherine Fitzsimmons and Brain Lag for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.

 Book: The Light Between Stars. Edited by Catherine Fitzsimmons
Release Date: July 17th 2020
Tags:  Adult | Anthology | SciFi  | Fantasy | Romance

Charging selflessly into danger, facing the mortality of an artificially extended life, plumbing the deepest depths of space, fighting to expose truths others want to keep hidden… This collection of all-new stories from Brain Lag authors features never-before-seen glimpses into favourite worlds as well as new characters and places to love. From starkly beautiful to brashly funny and everything in between, these stories showcase the range of voices Brain Lag has been proud to publish over the years.
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Why do we tell such tales of hardship and bravery, honesty and reflection?
Because in the darkness between the stars, there are no heroes. There are only regular people who step up

The Light Between Stars is an anthology by Brain Lag authors. Brain Lag is an Indie publisher created by Catherine Fitzsimmons 10 years ago. Initially just to publish her own books but later she started accepting outside submissions. The Light Between Stars is a great celebration of that.

As with many anthologies some stories will work for you and others will not. Different authors have different writing styles. However I do feel that the downside to this anthology is that many are stories that are attached to series by this author. This can work great to create interest for the overall series but it is a fine line to walk. I feel that I was missing too much background information for some of these stories to become interested and that is a shame.

Other stories, like Other London: Ella’s Birthday manages to standalone and create interest for the authors coming novel.

Overall though there are many great and interesting ideas in these stories that might capture your attention.

Short Thoughts on Each Story

2 stars 

Tinker’s Toxin by Stephen B. Pearl 
I felt that I wasn’t giving enough background on the tinkers in this story to be really engaged.

The Rapture of Batoon Hayes by JD DeLuzio
It had an interesting start but it lost me halfway through as there was just too much to digest for such a short story.

3 stars 

Life in the Universe by Dale E. McClenning 
An interesting story about finding life on planets. However I did not find the boss or the team to be very professional.

Untitled by J.D. Dwornik
I felt that I missed a lot of background here. But the writing in itself was good.

Nowhere to Nowhere by Hugh A.D. Spencer 
What bothered me about this story was the age gap between the characters. There are no ages mentioned however guessing from the life choices and still living with her mom I’d guess our main character was at the very early part of her twenties. I’d guess the love interest between 40 to 60 but because the mc wonders how he hadn’t fallen death yet I’d say he’s at least over 50. I just didn’t feel quite comfortable with this.

John Davis at War by David Rae 
Interesting take on a war casualty but I missed the emotions.

Falling Feathers by Catherine Fitzsimmons 
This story stars us off by telling that it has spoilers for a second book in a series and I find that off putting. However the writing and the story in itself were good.

4 stars 

The Coward and the Thief in Paradise by Gary Girod 
This had a very interesting start and idea.

Other London: Ella’s Birthday by Erynn Q. 
This was just such a cute story and hints at an interesting world.

Awakening by Simon A.G. Spencer
This has a great idea on travelling through space without hyperspace and how that influences ones life.