The Moment is a 10-page Science Fiction short story. The story begins with an archaeocaster named Cwaliheema who seeks to broadcast about the Mark and the long lost story of its origin and the race of people involved, but before it can complete its transmission, it is snuffed out. Over time, others come to the same moon to witness the Mark and try to understand all that has occurred on the moon since the discovery of the Mark – a race of clones known as the Krenn, mere specks who eventually kill themselves in a horrible war; Seela, a broccoli-stalk king of the Vegetable World who sucks up the remnants of the dead Krenn, only to be poisoned by them and dies; a peer review chorus from the Trindle Journal of Medical Profundities who complete their job and disperse; a library protocol who fails to recognize it has become obsolete in its pursuit of the Moon, the Mark and all who’ve come before it to that place, and is eventually erased from lack of interest and funding; auditing particulates who arrive after no trace is left of the events on the Moon with the exception of the Mark, and whose audit takes far too long and yields nothing of significance, but stories of it later become folklore; and lastly, a coterie of proto-godlings led by a liquid hydrogen tutor. The Mark creates The Moment, an event of extreme importance, as explained by the tutor.
Schoen is a masterful story-teller. He weaves words like fine cloth, creating intricate, detailed suits of events. He takes seemingly unlikely things and creates believable beings out of them full of life – lives that end in tragedies and disappointments.
The story is told like an unfolding folktale, rich in poetic language that will leave you in awe. This is a story to be read again and again, to slowly savor bit by bit until you’ve devoured it completely, satiated by its beauty.
Rating: 5 Stars
Genre: Science Fiction
To Read: If you’d like to read the story, please contact and follow Lawrence on Twitter @klingonguy. He will gladly direct you to a free copy of it.
