Hard Fall

Teenager, Jerry Xiàng had always skimped on the safety rules of his family's dirigible farm, high in the skies of Venus. Today, bad luck caught up with Jerry in the form of a meteor. Suddenly, he found himself hurtling toward the scalding, hot surface of Earth's sister planet. What he learned on the way down could prove even more dangerous than his own hard fall.

"Hard Fall" is a 6,700 word short story by Carl Martin, author of novels, "Gods and Dragons," "Tales of Atlantis Lost," "Touch the Stars: Diaspora," and co-author, with John Dalmas, of "Touch the Stars: Emergence." Martin has also authored science fiction anthology, "Entropy's Children" (a collection of 12 stories). In addition, under his pen name, Rod Martin, Jr., he has published nearly two dozen non-fiction books, including #1 Weather Bestseller, "Climate Basics," and with geologist, Dr. Christopher Scotese, full-color picture book, "Pangaea Sister Sites: Jurassic Link to the Modern World."