I could see where Scalzi was going with this one but it was still a compelling, inexorable slide toward the inevitable conclusion. It was a fascinating glimpse of a man enslaved by obsession and unwilling or unable to break free, and an author unwilling to give in to easy answers. (I prefer happy endings but it is instructive to remember there are more unhappy endings and learn from the mistakes of those who failed.) A muse of fire. A woman that lives inside fire. She can only be seen and heard by one guy. Together they come up with some very difficult math that translates into big success for the guy at his job: making a plasma forcefield (plasma being the more general term of fire).Along the way the guy meets a girl and a small battle ensues as to who the guy has true feelings and devotion for: his new girl that has shown great interest as of recently to his deformed self (accident left him with a stump on his hand and scars elsewhere), or his long time muse and love who he has devoted his career towards trying to get her on to the proper world.On travel for testing his new maths, the new girl romance and the old girl romance come to a very swift head with a rather dark and surprising twist that is most uncharacteristic of Scalzi and his usual writings.Overall it was a good story with a good twist that ended with the reader wondering what happens now?
Definitely a different feel than Scalzi's usual stuff, but still a great read...
—Gilly
Excellent short story. The more Scalzi I read the more I love his writing.
—sanime
Fun short story. Ending is kinda expected though.
—chloe
Twisted!
—shelbell
