“A Better Way of Saying” by Sarah Pinsker

Main Index / Reviews Index / On-line Reviews Index / On-line 2021 Reviews Index

Story can be read on-line: https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/a-better-way-of-saying/

Rating: 3/5 Stars

A light fantasy set in the early days of film when ‘talkies’ did not exist and people were hired to shout out the title cards of silent movies in cinemas, to aid the illiterate people in the audience.

But one teenager hired for the job grows upset with the way some title cards don’t work for the scene and shouts out his own versions. This has an unexpected effect that would become important when, years later, he shouts out words to change the result of an act he witnesses.

This act, by the way, would appear to have been a real-life incident. Whether the after-effects of the act are the result of the teenager is left as an exercise for the reader.

Story read from 2021/11/17 to 2022/11/17