stickmaker | Almost Famous

Hoo! A story I sent to a competition on orbital beanstalks hosted by Arthur C. Clarke is being published in a small-press anthology. I get a free copy, with a slight chance of some actual money. "If there does look like there will be a profit worth sending out we will work to get each of you a royalty but split so many ways we expect it will be minimal."

My only regret is that I've revised the story since submitting to that contest and it's better now. (Yeah, and what author doesn't think one more edit would make their work perfect? ;-)

The main scene in the story would make a great cover illo. A guy in a flight suit is sitting on a small climber, high enough to be on supplemental oxygen. He's literally hanging from the sky, on a strap about a meter wide, extending to the vanishing point both up and down. Below is the ocean, and a dot of silver which is the launch rig. Above the sky is getting dark.