I recently read The Oldest Man in the Universe by Tuan Ho. This is a short story available on Amazon Kindle and it is free for the next 5 days.
This is a very quick read, so I can’t go into any plot details. I’m talking 10-15 minutes, so it’s worth giving a look for free. Tuan Ho creates a deep world that I would hope gets used in future series. This story showed his imagination and talent, but there isn’t a lot of meat to it. One can see so many stories in here that you finish wanting more from him, especially with the twist ending.
One thing that was off-putting is that there are a few gross items mentioned that seem out of place. This all personal preference and assumption, but it felt like they were added to shock instead of evolve the story. Also, there are a few areas of extraneous detail that one would mistake for foreshadowing if it was a longer work. In the shorter work, they are kind of there.
Overall, it was a fun, quick read and introduced me to Tuan Ho’s writing style and world. I think this is a great showcase and teaser for a bigger story or a series. So, I hope he puts out more stories from his galaxy.
Legends of Windemere 
Thank you very much, Charles! I appreciate it greatly!
I’m assuming the gross items you mentioned are the ‘fried baby fingers’ and ‘diarrhea smoothies’ ?
lol
LikeLike
Those would be them. For the somber, fantasy mood you were developing, they were a little jarring. Maybe for more adventures of Carlos though. 😉
LikeLike
Haha yes. The original draft of this story was beta-read by about ten of my fellow writers at university. They all mentioned that they liked the tone of it and that kids would love the story, yet not a single person mentioned the “fried baby fingers” section as being somewhat ‘weird’ or as you pointed out, ‘jarring’, even though I was expecting them too.
So I guess eating baby fingers is considered a norm around my area…
So as a heads up to you Charles: If you come to Melbourne, Australia, it’s best not to bring your kid. 🙂
LikeLike
Yeah. A lot of the people that read my stuff in college told me nothing, but good things. Unless it was in a writing class and then it was like a room full of serial killers. Big battle to be the last writer standing in the room.
LikeLike
Just downloaded this onto my Pad, cheers for the heads up…
Looks a decent read..
Shaun
LikeLike
It was certainly a fun, quick read.
LikeLike
Yeah I noticed it was not a big read,, Tuan Ho just said “If you don’t like it, I will refund your money”
Free? lol
LikeLike
He’s joking around. A lot of authors with a free book make the joke. In fact, it’s mandatory to make this joke once in your writing career.
LikeLike
ha ha …I didn’t notice till I hit “Reply” lol..
Cheers bud..
LikeLike
Thanks Shaun! I hope you enjoy it. But if you don’t, I’ll be glad to refund the money… 🙂
LikeLike
It was free…
Never took cash out my bank or asked for my card…
Why you say this?
LikeLike
Your the Author 🙂
Sorry..
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Danielle Taylor and commented:
Freebie alert!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on The parasite guy and commented:
Free short story over an Amazon. You know what to do…right? 😉
LikeLike