Time out for an EMC story recommendation

It's been ages since I stopped by the EMCSA long enough to read anyone else's stuff, or stopped by the two EMCSA-related forums to see if I had any messages. You can chalk that up to my spending every free moment writing "Sleepwalkers." Anyway, last night I checked into the forums and found a PM from fembotheather, inviting me to read her story Inglorious 2. She said it was squicky, so right away I knew I had to read it.

Now, it's dangerous to ask me to read your work. I'm very picky. If it's full of grammar errors, poorly written, or just not up my alley, I'll stop reading and (if you're lucky and I'm not too embarrassed to write back) give you a polite "Thanks, but no thanks." But I didn't have to do that with fembotheather because "Inglorious 2" is very well written and dead center up my alley. It plays out like a science fiction action movie, maybe a mashup of Alien and Total Recall with a huge dose of EMC.

I don't want to say much about the plot because part of the fun for me was figuring out where Wilson's true loyalties were and whether her interpretation of her state of mind was correct. But I'll try to say enough to pique your interest. The story starts out with an escape from a prison run by mind controllers, turns briefly into Con Air, then into Pitch Black, and finally into something I don't have a reference for. fembotheather is intentionally riffing on the SF classics (count the in-jokes, if you can), but she's come up with something that's all her own. Wilson isn't quite like anyone else I can think of. She's a fantastic, extremely likeable anti-hero with a weakness that's so huge you won't know whose side she's on until nearly the end. I love that about her, and I'd love to know more of her backstory, too. I wonder if fembotheather has any prequels or sequels planned. "Inglorious 2", huh? Where's "Inglorious 1" (other than in Tarantino-land)? ;-)

I love Wilson, but of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the MC side of the story. It's so hot and so tempting that I don't see how the characters would even want to resist it. I certainly wouldn't. The Sundarans have a lot more fun than anyone else in the story. I don't blame them for wanting to share their bliss. ;-)