Past Imperfect

Life in the first permanent Mars colony

by SI CLARKE

Part of the White Hart series:

Isolated on Mars, anyone could start going stir crazy…

Katya should be on top of the world. She’s overcome a traumatic past and now she’s part of the first permanent settlement on Mars.

So why do things feel so wrong?

The colonists are confined to a small base on the surface of a hostile planet, so perhaps it’s only cabin fever. After all, she’s got great friends, an exciting career, and an ex-girlfriend who – she’s sure – would do anything to have her back…

But with cracks appearing in the relationships between the crew and nothing but empty Martian desert beyond the safety of their domes, it’s far too easy for the mind to drift. And when it does, it can be difficult to tell what’s real, and what’s pure imagination…

Past Imperfect is a short story set during Livid Skies, SI CLARKE’s second novel. It’s written for people who enjoy science fiction that challenges their preconceptions.

This is a work of neurodiverse, culturally diverse, gender-bendy, socio-politico-economic, drunken-arguments-in-the-pub science fiction – not bang-bang-pew-pew science fiction.

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Published: August 31, 2020
Editors:

Gail La Carbonara, Lucy Rose York

Genres:

Sci Fi, Sci Fi - Colonization, Sci Fi - Hard Sci Fi, Sci Fi - LGBTQ+, Sci Fi - Near Future

Tags:

author - british, author - canadian, format - free, format - short story <15K, identity - bisexual, identity - pansexual, potential trigger - traumatic past, when - period - near future, where - Mars

Word Count: 4000
Setting: Mars
Word Count: 4000
Setting: Mars

About the Author

SI CLARKE is a Canadian misanthrope who lives in Deptford, sarf ees London. She shares her home with her partner and an assortment of waifs and strays. When not writing convoluted, inefficient stories, she spends her time telling financial services firms to behave more efficiently. When not doing either of those things, she can be found in the pub or shouting at people online – occasionally practising efficiency by doing both at once.

As someone who’s neurodivergent, an immigrant, and the proud owner of an invisible disability, she strives to present a diverse array of characters in her stories.

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Summary: What would you do if you let slip information that could start a war? What if the person you divulged said information to is a rebel queen with a thirst for blood? In a world where metal is rare, you probably wouldn’t make matters worse by revealing a map showing the location of the hoard of steel you just told her about. Steel she could turn into swords, spears, and axes. Steel that will destroy her foes with their pathetic hardened glass weapons and leather armour. Unfortunately, Drome isn’t the most gifted of people when it comes to discretion. Or thinking things through. The consequences hurl him down a path riddled with folk keen to boil him alive, stick pointy objects in his tender flesh or blow him into tiny pieces. With the real queen gunning for him too, Drome reluctantly embarks on a secret mission to fix the mess he started. The civilised world depends on him. All he has to do is end a savage war. With a princess and a sorcerer on his side, what could possibly go wrong? If you like Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Joe Abercrombie, you won't be able to put down the addictive Hollow series.