Book Reviews and More: Distress Signal A Short Story - Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley

Monday, 29 January 2024

Distress Signal A Short Story - Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley - Sumire Book 3

Distress Signal: A Short Story

Sumire Book 3

Cedar Sanderson

Sanderley Studios.

ASIN B0CT4V2NTX

Distress Signal A Short Story - Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley - Sumire Book 3

This was the third story I have read that was written as Lilania Begley by Cedar Sanderson, and I picked it up the day it released and read it that day on my lunch break. It is a wonderful read, and is listed as book three in the Sumire series. Sanderson has indicated this is the end of stories on this planet, at least for now. I look forward to reading other works published by Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley, and seeing where things go on Sumire and other stories written under these pen names.

The description of this volume states:

“As Sumire reveals her secrets in an explosive climax, a young Patrolman finds that what really matters is taking him in hand and leading him towards danger. Now, he has a chance to prove himself... and find out what love really means.”

We are informed about the author in book 1 that:

“Lilania Begley is the open penname of Cedar Sanderson. The author has a long-held love for all things Western, having grown up in Oregon, Alaska, and finally settling in Texas after a lifetime of moving from coast to coast. As she is also a romantic soul, writing Western Romances came naturally to her pen. Now that she's inspired anew by the wide-open landscapes of North Texas with the horses and longhorns wandering the range, you can expect to see more from Lilania!”

And in the introduction Cedar lays the blame clearly at certain authors feet, when she states:

“To begin with, this is Dorothy’s fault.

And to go on with, it’s CV Walter’s fault, too.

Without them, I might never have become interested in writing romance again, at least, not seriously enough to start doing it again. But here it is, the third of the stories under my middle-and-married penname.

It is a short story (and for less money than a candy bar costs these days) and I don’t currently plan any novels. Maybe next year.

If you’d like to explore my work further, you will find much, much more under Cedar Sanderson. At least for now. Thanks to Dorothy and CV, I plan to make 2024 a year for love. Of a man for a woman, but also, for love of writing just to have fun again.

Enjoy!”

I greatly enjoy this third story set on Sumire. It is an excellent read and I can easily recommend it to you. I truly hope that at some point Sanderson returns to this world, either in other short stories or a fix-up novel using these three stories as a base for the story. But there are so many other stories that can be told here after reading this, stories about those we encounter in this volume, and stories alluded to at the end of this story. I find myself thinking about the 6 main characters across these three stories often. I plan to go back and reread the three stories from beginning to end. Before reading the second story in this trilogy I went hunting book books as Lilania and found that one is published as a short story like this one and one is in the Raconteur Press Anthology18 He Was Dead When I Got There. I had already picked up the anthology but had not read it yet, and then I grabbed the other story under this pen name. But back to this story.

This story is masterfully written. It can be read by itself and is greatly entertaining. But when you combine the events of the three books in the trilogy and it does an excellent job of tying the three together and providing resolution of elements of each. The characters are very well written. The story fast paced and full or surprises. It is a wonderful story with a bit of mystery and a bit of romance and some sleuthing. Replying to a distress beacon has seldom resulted in such a tale.

I will be honest I desperately hope we get more stories with these characters and set in this world. But as mentioned it might be some time before that happens. I said it before and I say it again these stories sort of feel like they could be a story in the Firefly universe or even Babylon 5.

The cover by Sanderson has such a classic Science Fiction look and feel to it. Just looking at the cover took me back to learning to read 40 years ago after overcoming my dyslexia and all the Sci-Fi I read back then. Science Fiction that that I appreciate again now with stories by Sanderson, Declan Finn, Richard Paolinelli and others I have discovered over the last few years.

This is an excellent short story. Writing short stories is a very different skill and craft than writing novels. From what I have read by Sanderson she is a master of both. I have greatly enjoyed everything from Sanderson’s pen that I have read and look forward to reading more offering by her under the name of Lilania Begley. Another excellent short story that I can easily recommend! Pick this or other stories by Sanderson or Sanderson as Begley I am certain you will be entertained.

Books by Cedar Sanderson:

Lab Gremlins

Warp Resonance

The Dwarf's Dryad

One-Eyed Dragon

Memories of the Abyss

Little Red-Hood and the Wolf-man

The Violet Mouse

Stargazer

The Eternity Symbiote

Plant Life

Sugar Skull