I came across some positive feedback of “The Fifth Zhi” podcast over at Bartbooks. The reviewer called it “an impressive short story” and wrote that “three concepts (short life, wetware-telepathy, and being unable to get the attention of an alien) are explored wonderfully in…“The Fifth Zhi,” by Mercurio Rivera.” You can read the full, comprehensive analysis of the story here.
Meanwhile, over at the Escape Pod forum, one listener made the following observation:
“I did like this story, except for a imagination glitch that was my own fault. For some reason, I imagined the protagonist as a monkey. I have no idea why. I tried to change him into a human, but he stayed a monkey, ever since I read the title. Have I been listening to too much Jonathan Coulton? Anyway, great story, although it makes my head hurt to imagine something not mass-based.”
Hmm, monkeys, you say? Monkeys?!? This somewhat unique take on the story certainly made me laugh out loud. A slew of both raves and a few not-so-positive reactions can be found over at the comments section and forum discussion at the Escape Pod site. It’s always great to get so much feedback on a story.
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