A stranded overweight geologist must find her way out of a Martian sandstorm without asking for directions
An overweight Martian geologist copes with day-to-day harassment as the sole woman in a prospecting team, while the specter of an all-out war looms over the red planet.
To endure the lonely hours of exploration, Ligia dreams of the floating cities of Venus, scientific havens where she could never go.
When a freak accident leaves her stranded far from base camp, she must draw upon her willpower, her anger and her scant resources to face the incoming sandstorm. But what is mere survival worth on a dying world where low-wage females outnumber available males three to one?
This quirky and sarcastic story features a proud woman squeezed in a narrow-minded society.
on Can. Lit. Reviews, no 200:“…a story about human resourcefulness in the face of an otherwise certain death on the surface of Mars.”
…an account of a resourceful fat (this is a plot point) female protagonist stuck on Mars.”
9000 words
Originally published in TESSERACTS 10 (Edge Publishing), 2006 Translated from the French by Sheryl Curtis
No Comments Yet