“A pair of human scientists visit a world occupied by the Kawkawroons, sentient bird-like creatures. They communicate with one through a translation device, and ask to see its nest — but what is their real motive? I found this a breezy, enjoyable story: Rivera tells the tale from both human and Kawkawroon viewpoints; the contrast of mentalities is interesting and nicely evoked — and there’s a neat twist at the end. A fun read.” –David Hebblethwaite, Follow the Thread
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“Mercurio D. Rivera returns for his fifth appearance in the magazine, and the second in consecutive, with what may be his best story yet. Humans draw Inspiration from the eggs of the alien Kawkawroons and in hunting them seem to threaten their very survival. But Rivera adds subtlety to his aliens and his world-building, and things are not as they may seem. Highly Recommended.” –Colin Harvey, Suite 101
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“Dance of The Kawkawroons’ from regular contributor Mercurio D. Rivera sounds initially like it may be an environmental campaigning story, but slowly develops into something more intricate. The viewpoint shifts between the humans and the avian Kawkawroons adds an extra intriguing dimension.” –Gareth D. Jones, SF Crowsnest
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“A story about boorish, exploitative, and ignorant humans exploiting a fragile alien ecosystem and its beautiful, mysterious, harmless, and highly-valuable fauna gets turned on its head when … well, I’d better not say, but Rivera may have been reading Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire when he thought this one up. A solid story.” –Matt Bruensteiner, Garbled Signals
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“The second drug story involves the exploitation of aliens in order to obtain a substance called Inspiration, found in the eggs of the Kawkawroons, who may be the descendants of a lost, advanced civilization. It is by using Inspiration that the humans develop the means of acquiring the eggs; the substance vastly increases intellectual abilities in those who take it. But there are other consequences.
The Kawkawroons are a colorful and exotic alien creation. But this story is grounded more firmly in scientific principles than it first appears to be, although they are never openly discussed….” –Lois Tilton, Locus Online
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“Mercurio D. Rivera returns to the magazine with Dance of the Kawkawroons, a subtle and effective contact story which ends on a twist that had me going back and reading the story all over again.” -–Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill
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“’Dance of the Kawkawroons’ by Mercurio D. Rivera is a sort of first contact story as humans sneak out to the Kawkawroons’ home planet in order to steal their eggs in order to breed them back on Terra for the source of the elixir so nicely named Inspiration that could give anyone the ability to have an inspired idea. Now while this may seem to be a typical exploitation story, you will find yourself changing your thoughts just to who is exploiting whom by the end. The Kawkawroons were a nicely realised alien race and I did find the ending fun.” –John Fair, John’s Reading
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“Dance of the Kawkawroons” by Mercurio D. Rivera starts out on a planet we only know as Kawkworld, named for the winged intelligent natives called Kawkawroons. We first get the point of view of our human narrator and Annie, his girlfriend. Our narrator had sipped a thimbleful of something called Inspiration, a few months previously and had been able to develop a cloaking device that allowed them to avoid the patrols that would have stopped them from landing on the planet. Annie, by way of Inspiration, had developed a translator which would allow then to speak to a Kawkawroon. We also get the point of view of a Kawkawroon who does not quite understand who these invaders are. We eventually find out what the humans are after and we also get a hint of the consequences of their actions. This was another well-crafted story.” –Sam Tomaino, SF Revu
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“Dance of the Kawkawroons by Mercurio D. Rivera, illustrated by Jim Burns.
A couple of fortune hunters manage to bypass the quarantine patrols around a planet populated by some exotic intelligent flying creatures living among the ruins of an ancient alien civilisation. They steal some eggs which have characteristics which are incredibly valuable to humanity; but who is exploiting whom?” –Anthony Williams, Science Fiction and Fantasy
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“Dance of the Kawkawroons’ by Mercurio D. Rivera is a sweeping, powerful tale told through the eyes of the humans and an ‘alien’ Kawkawroon. A great example of how to do dual narrative view points and a twist ending.” –Dan Powell
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“Two humans manage to land on a planet under quarantine, to steal from the supposedly protected avian race. We get the alien perspective on their meeting, as well as the human, as it at first offers, then has taken away brutally, it’s eggs. The eggs contain a chemical that is used to create the drug Inspiration, that humanity is increasingly using to make new breakthroughs. However, it’s not quite that simple… A short, clever piece.” –Mark Watson, Best SF
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