The reviews (over on Amazon, where this review was originally posted) that mention the Lovecraftian flare of this piece are spot-on. This is Weird Fiction without the Pulp aesthetic and it works very well. (I'm a fan of the aesthetic of Pulp era fictions, but love & appreciate when some of the `weirder' parts of its spirit works into more contemporary pieces.)

It is a quick read, and the character's voice is consistent to the characterization. I did not experience any "fridge moments" and the only question I had at any point in the story had everything to do with knowing something that I couldn't know because the character couldn't know it. (Oh, first person stories, our torrid romance continues!)

Per the reviews of other readers, I imagine this story will be fairly unsettling - for me, it was pretty delightful. My tastes already lie firmly in Lovecraftian territory. And my mind often wanders in pretty lonely and isolated modes. ( )

Wowsers.

[b:Ansible 15715|22018832|Ansible 15715|Stant Litore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398660020s/22018832.jpg|41334947] is going to be hard to review without spoilers, but it so worth the read. Okay, let's see if we can give it a go...

If you've read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series, Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, or Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos, you've run into the concept of an ansible before. For the rest of you, an ansible is a fictional device that allows authors overcome the light speed barrier with instantaneous communication from point A to point B.

In Stant Litore's formulation, a person is merged with the power of an ansible to travel across space and, eventually, time. That journey leads to a world that is both dark and despairing, and more so because there is almost no one there to be aware of the sad imprisonment of its inhabitants, with exception of Ansible 15715.

[b:Ansible 15715|22018832|Ansible 15715|Stant Litore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398660020s/22018832.jpg|41334947] should be classified as science fiction, but Litore reminds us why science fiction has as much in common with horror as it does with the literature of wonder. He takes in loops of darkness, creating a sense of impossible terror limited only by the bounds of human comprehension. Indeed, it is perhaps because of Lovecraftian nature of his tale that it is chilling. Compared to what we know, the horror is incomprehensible.

[b:Ansible 15715|22018832|Ansible 15715|Stant Litore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398660020s/22018832.jpg|41334947] is the first in a series of tales, The Ansible Stories. I wanted to give it four stars, but wasn't quite satisfied enough to bump it up a notch. However, the tale was short (I read it while waiting for an appointment) and I was intrigued, so I'm game to try the sequel, [b:Ansible 15716|22457506|Ansible 15716|Stant Litore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402516817s/22457506.jpg|41891079]. ( )