eBook, 128 pages
FR language
Published April 8, 2020 by Editions Gallimard.
Elma York est une célébrité sur la planète rouge, suite au rôle déterminant qu’elle a joué lors des colonisations lunaires et martiennes. D’après les médecins, son mari, Nathaniel, n’a plus que six mois à vivre. Officiellement toujours astronaute, Elma est toutefois clouée au sol à cause de son âge. Elle brûle de repartir dans l’espace, mais peut-elle abandonner Nathaniel ? Les cinq textes qui composent ce recueil appartiennent tous, comme le roman Vers les étoiles, à la série de la Lady Astronaute. La nouvelle "La Lady Astronaute de Mars" a reçu le prestigieux prix Hugo.
I’m so glad I read Calculating Stars before the story that started it all.
Elma and Nathaniel live on Mars. They should be enjoying their golden years — but instead Nathaniel’s dying and Elma’s dreaming of the stars.
I got to know both Elma and Nathaniel well in the books. The pair we meet here are pale shadows of them.
This story is very good, but not as good as the books.
Well that explains some of the odd aspects of the novels.
This short story looks at Elma and Nathanial at the end of their lives, but it was written first and refers back to several key moments in their lives. It's now obvious these were used as way markers of some sort and I imagine had I read this first certain scenes would have seemed more poignant than they were without this context.
You could read this and skip the novels or skip this and probably be better off for it, but they almost feels like vaguely related stories from parallel timelines. It's funny how these things work out sometimes.
I can see how this might have been more compelling if it was your first introduction to the series, but after having read both books and the other short story, this just seems short and under-developed.
Oh my, I have no idea how I missed this. Can't wait to read the novels.
Short novelette that won the Hugo in that category this year. In few words it manages to tell the life story of a female astronaut in an alternate history where humans colonized Mars in the 1950s. I love the ending, it's sad and not-sad at the same time somehow.
