“Mercurio D. Rivera’s ‘In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty’ is a captivating story of revenge on the Neptunian moon of Triton. Alien technology has opened up space colonization for humans, the enigmatic white-skinned Wergens asking mainly for human companionship in return. This sets a wondrous stage on which to play out Rivera’s story, the plot of which pulls you along as each new facet of the story unfolds to its appropriately bittersweet conclusion.” –John Denardo, SF Signal, 5 stars
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“Mercurio D. Rivera’s ‘In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty’is set in the same universe as his ‘Longing for Langalana, which won the Interzone Reader’s Poll in 2006. Humans are endlessly fascinating to the alien Wergen, two of whom accompany narrator Max on his quest to recover his wife Miranda, who has been drugged and abducted by their friend Rossi. The reader needs to study the story carefully to avoid feeling cheated by a twist that on re-reading is signposted for the diligent. It’s fascinating, despite none of the characters being particularly sympathetic.” –Colin Harvey, Suite 101
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“Also good here is Mercurio D. Rivera’s ‘In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty’ about a man obsessively following his ex-lover to the ends of the solar system, convinced that she’s been stolen from him by the application of a mind-altering chemical aphrodisiac; this turns out to be both true and not true. The motivations of the human-obsessed aliens here, the Wergens, who are willing to do almost anything for the humans they’ve become fixated on (and who remind me a little of Al Capps’ Shmoos, who will invite you to eat them and obligingly fall over dead if you look even the slightest bit hungry) may be a bit hard to understand if you haven’t read Rivera’s other story in this sequence, ‘Longing for Langalana’” –Gardner Dozois, Locus
“In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty — a story about Mercurio D. Rivera’s aliens that adore humans — an impressive depiction of the pain and self-deception that surround an affair.” —Three Beautiful Things
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“Maxwell is traveling the solar system in pursuit of his abducted wife. He’s joined by a pair of Wergen, aliens who have granted humanity access to immense amounts of new technology, and also follow humans about with an unexplained cloying devotion. Maxwell is part of a team that discovered a chemical that induces a similar unconditional love in humans. This sets up a neat counterpoint between the Wergen-human relationship and his personal relationship with his wife. Well done. –Matt Bruensteiner, Garbled Signals
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“Mercurio D. Rivera’s “In the Harsh Glow of Incandescent Beauty” is told from the viewpoint of Max, a man looking for his wife, Miranda, who has run off with his former friend, Rossi. He has come to Titan to look for her and is aided by an alien race, the Wergens. They have given a lot of alien tech to humanity (wormholes for intergalactic travel, force fields that help them colonize places like Titan, etc) all in exchange for their companionship. Max and Rossi had been studying Wergen DNA and found that they could synthesize a neuromone, that would affect the amygdala and cause humans to fall in love. Max is convinced that Rossi used this on Miranda. Rivera has shown great invention here and written something that will touch you deeply.” –Sam Tomaino, SF Revu
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“In the Harsh Glow of Its Incandescent Beauty’ from Mercurio D. Rivera sees us in the depths of the outer solar system as Maxwell finds himself on Triton searching for his wife Miranda and academic partner Rossi. The latter had infected the former with a nanotech love gene derived from humanity’s partners, the Wergans. Rivera plays a bit with the format of the story, taking us to one point then going back until we catch up again and he does manage a couple of twists.” –John Fair, John’s Readings
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“The setting is the moon Triton for ‘In The Harsh Glow Of Its Incandescent Beauty’ by Mercurio D Rivera. Travelling across the solar system, a researcher attempts to track down his kidnapped wife in this realistically-rendered image of human colonisation. The alien Wergens provide an intriguing backdrop and some light relief along the way, balancing the story nicely between drama and humour.” –Gareth D. Jones, SF Crowsnest
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“Mercurio D. Rivera reworks the “love potion gone awry” plotting previously used most notably by Shakespeare and John Collier’s “The Chaser.” The narrator has set off to another planet to find his wife, who he believes has fallen in love and gone off with his former best friend because she’s been drugged into loving him. In addition to a nice twist on the notion of who has been drugging whom, and why, the source of the drug’s chemistry is an alien race — the Wergens — that is infatuated with humans (hence the ability to induce artificial amore). The Wergens of ”In the Harsh Glow of Incandescent Beauty” play a counterpoint for the misplaced affections of humans. Seeing as how they appear in at least one previous Rivera story, “Longing for Langalana,” I’m intrigued enough that I hope there’ll be future installments about the Wergens.” –David Soyka, Black Gate
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“Set on Triton, “In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty” by Mercurio D. Rivera is an SF story about a love triangle. The protagonist with two alien companions in tow pursues his kidnapped, drugged wife to rescue her from a conniving coworker. The charm of the story overcomes some fairly flat human characters. The mystery of love’s origins and endings are universal for humans and aliens alike, something that transcends mere biochemistry.” –Kathleen Kemmerer, Tangent Online
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“In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty by Mercurio D. Rivera, illustrated by Jim Burns: against a strange background in which humanity’s access to space is aided by aliens who believe we are just wonderful, an abandoned husband chases across the solar system after his drugged wife and her abductor.” –Anthony Williams, Science Fiction and Fantasy
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Jason Sanford’s early picks for his favorite story of the year include “In the Harsh Glow… “: A continuation of Rivera’s “Longing for Langalana” story about an alien species deeply in love with humanity. A fascinating idea backed up by great storytelling.
Read Jason’s picks