My Thoughts on the Short Story, “Slow Time Between the Stars (The Far Reaches Collection)” by John Scalzi, 1/29/2026…

I always appreciate a story that doesn’t pander to accepted story tropes, especially speculative fiction stories.

I’ve already vented my spleen on recognized science fiction motifs—White Time Syndrome, anyone?—but I found, in this short story by John Scalzi—a more than capable writer—such motifs, when presented properly, no longer stick in my craw.

One such motif is the aforementioned White Time Syndrome. The narrator and main character of this story is an AI that is in charge of an interstellar spacecraft. Its mission is to travel to different solar systems throughout the galaxy to find planets that contain conditions with which humans can prosper. The narrator says that it bases its time/year schedule on the planet Earth; this was suggested by the AI’s human inventors and engineers.

But the narrator’s interpretation of its mission objectives does not truly align with its human inventors.

I recommend this short story to those who like science fiction, and, of course, those who love John Scalzi.