Title: A Fighting Chance
Series: 2013 Daily Dose: Make a Play
Author: Laylah Hunter
Genre: Science Fiction/Post Apocalyptic
Length: Short Story
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 1st, 2013)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥2.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Luis Delgado, a boxer, and Davey Taylor, an artist, live in a future when Earth is home to the destitute and the only chance for a better life is found among the colonies that orbit the once-great planet. Davey has the opportunity to make a name for himself with an art sponsorship on the Luna Minor colony, but he needs to get there first. Luis may have the answer, but it means choosing between his career and his future together with Davey.
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3920
Review: Earth has become a place where only the ones out of luck are stuck behind. The entire future out there in the Colonies.
Luis is a boxer that barely makes his rent and his future doesn’t shine bright at the moment. Yes, he’s a winner and lately he’s been in a serious strike, but that still doesn’t afford the money to make the flight out of Earth. That escape is merely a dream he shares with his buddy/lover Davey.
When Davey’s chance to get out of Earth shows up when he wins a contest and a job in one of the Colonies, both men start to really give it a thought and make plans to go there together. But, even as Davey wins the job he still has to pay his journey there and there is simply not enough money even for one of them. Unless…
This Shorty could have been good, but somehow there were too many things lacking. First of all, the pair lacked chemistry and some kind of a bond. They seemed like fuck-buddies who just made a decision to leave the slums together and although there were hints of romance there it didn’t quite make a show.
And there was the boxing part that felt somehow detached. Here we had this guy who got high on winning. His entire life was just that and the intensity of the fight was a no-show. And there he was going against everything he knew, against every instinct he had, yet still there was a serious lack of blood-boiling tension that should be there. The entire thing was just… yeah, detached. Simply narrated, told with an almost boring voice. It just didn’t grip me the way I know boxing can.
In the end this story was yet another lukewarm one for me.