“I have no objection to truth,” I said, “but I enjoy untruths too, they’re the building blocks of human culture. Actors pretending to be kings, singers faking heartbreak or elation, novelists inventing heroes in their heads to escape the mindless dullards around them. Reality is a vast sea of tedium interrupted by brief flashes of the repugnant – why would anyone chain themselves to that?”
*
A spin doctor forced to deal with aliens who loathe lies.
A squad of soldiers torn apart by the fiction in their midst.
A hunting submarine with its dead captain strapped to the prow, the crew promising that one day they’ll revive him.
We all tell lies to get through the day, some of them to ourselves, some to other people. Now read the extraordinary lies of the future in these nine short science fiction stories.
Includes:
How We Fall – trapped behind enemy lines, faith and duty clash for Sergeant Grund’s squad.
So Cold It Burns – long cut off from home, Gandpa Jo must decide the future of his frozen wife.
Distant Rain – the submarine Promethean hunts a mutant whale through a polluted Pacific.
Our Man In Herrje – Julius Atticus lives by lies, but can he defend them to the alien Gatherers?
Day Labour – a dark secret waits for the farm labourers of a distant world.
Digits – a robot finds his humanity in a hand.
The Extra Mile – race driver Geordie proves how far he’ll go to win.
Second Skin – stock trader Eddy’s symbiont has all the latest apps, including one no-one told him about.
The Harvest – as aliens devour the Earth, an anthropologist recognises an unsettling truth.
Lies We Will Tell Ourselves is available now as a Kindle ebook via Amazon.
From reader reviews:
‘A collection of bite-size short stories ranging from heart-wrenching, through thought-provoking, to mildly disturbing. This book is a bit like a box of high-quality and experimental chocolates; you don’t know what you’re going to get when you start, you can’t even be completely sure you’ll like it, but you can be certain you’ll be impressed.’
‘The real strength of this collection is not necessarily the stories themselves, although each stands up well on their own, but the sheer breadth of imagination on display’
‘Some really lovely, quirky takes on human nature.’