New flash fiction: “Joyride” by James C. Clar

AntipodeanSF, an Australian website, has a new piece of flash fiction titled “Joyride,” by James C. Clar. It’s about a NASA rover that disappears after landing on Mars. Here is the opening line: “The excitement and anticipation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena were palpable.”

Tinkoo Valia of the blog Variety SF rates “Joyride” a B and notes that it may have been inspired by, but not plagiarized from, Larry Niven’s 1974 piece of flash fiction, “Plaything.”