Soft Star Recommended Reading: Vol III

Guest-curated by Soft Star first reader Elly Campbell

Elly Campbell is a first reader for Soft Star Magazine. She lives in her hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah. Her livelihood is construction; however, her personal life is enriched by literature, reading her cat’s tarot, and short story writing.

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Happy December!

I’m pleased to be a guest author for this month’s recommended reading. As a lover of Russian literature, I’m often drawn to stories of the compassionate transversing bleak landscapes, whether physical or psychological. In speculative fiction, optimism is on easy mode when the utopia ceaselessly flourishes and the spaceship rides an uninterrupted course. But what happens when the utopia’s power grid runs on something human or mid-journey the spaceship must ration out oxygen? In my favorite stories, despite the plot escalating all doubts, the characters will continue to believe in an inherent goodness and justice. To me, this is where optimism becomes otherworldly.

Below are three stories where the main characters maintain that shard of sheer humanity. Even more exciting, not all the characters are exactly human, and yet they exude the warmth and relatability characteristic of excellent writing. I hope you get cathartically lost in these stories like I did.

Cheers!