D.A., by Connie Willis (2007, Subterranean Press, 76pp) is a short, snappy, and funny science fiction novella for teenagers. When I first got my copy back in the day, I put off reading it for a while because I vaguely thought D.A. stood for District Attorney. Happily, it does not.A Special Assembly is called at Theodora's high school. It appears that a student has been selected for the incredibly great honor of becoming an IASA space cadet--one of the chosen few who will head off beyond the earth...Theodora isn't too interested--she has no interest in space travel, and was deliberately rude and provocative to the recruiter. But then her name is called.
Frantically Theodora tries to tell someone it was all a mistake. But before she knows it, she's one of a happy band aboard a space craft.
She's not going to take it lying down. And fortunately she has a friend back on earth who's one of the best computer hackers around....
I already called this short, snappy, and funny. I'll add smart, fast, and fun as all get out. Willis is on top of her form here, and I just wish the book had been longer....
Thanks to Colleen for mentioning this in the comments of a post over at Finding Wonderland--I'd read it when it came out, and was glad to be reminded of it again.
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Me too - I think I only forgot about it because of the length. This is really a short story! I wish she'd have six or eight in the same universe and then had Subterranean bind them all up at once. LOVED this one.
ReplyDelete...but won't reread it now, since I'm trying to write Science Fiction for that age group, and I don't want to poach from her universe. It's weird, but some poaching is inevitable; we grew up with Star Trek and Star Wars and Frederik Pohl... bound to happen, but I'm trying to limit the overlap.
How exciting, Tanita! I hope it goes well!
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