Paying the Debt

Michael A. Burstein: Paying It Forward. I found this as an electronic text at the Fictionwise site. I bought it, to be honest, thanks to the price (I had an electronic "coupon"). I am, however, very glad that I bought it. It's a nice little narrative about a person who learns of the death of a favorite author. While cruising the information highway, he finds a website that the author maintained, and as a way of easing his grief, sends an e-mail into the aether. Oddly enough...it is answered. Hoax? A voice from the great beyond? An exchange starts, and the main character eventually learns the craft of writing thanks to the "ghost" of his favorite author.

O.K., that may not seem to be much. After all, there are a ton of post-Singularity tales out there that explore being downloaded, AI's and the like. But Burstein writes a tender little story of the relationship between a caring mentor and an attentive student. Highly recommended.

Counts as one (1) entry in the 2006 Short Story Project.