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Nataliya's Reviews > Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math
Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math
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Maybe it’s the extreme brevity of this flash fiction story that makes it impossible to convey much more than just a pointed message as there is no room for worldbuilding or characterization. It’s simplistic because it has no room to be anything else other than a creative moral lesson. A few more pages would have done it justice and added some flesh onto the bare bones.
2.5 stars.
Read it here:
—ĔĔ�
A similar-ish concept, but done better: Probably Still the Chosen One by Kelly Barnhill: /review/show...
—ĔĔĔ—�
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: /review/show...
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“She hopes to find a portal to a world with a warm patriarchal figure who will encourage her to spend long days in a library without any housework duties.�It’s a very short story presented as four vignettes showing Penny at different ages (13, 16, 20, 30), overlooked and unfairly judged for being a woman. She is hoping to find a portal away from the world that is not fair to her. At the end of each vignette there is a portal math(-ish) problem to ponder. How the last one gets solved is where the question is.
“Using only paper and pencil, estimate the equivalency of one pair of leggings to nylons and one lip balm to lipsticks, if l = lipsticks and n = nylons, and then calculate the nearest portal's location and extrapolate why Penny was unable to find it.�
Maybe it’s the extreme brevity of this flash fiction story that makes it impossible to convey much more than just a pointed message as there is no room for worldbuilding or characterization. It’s simplistic because it has no room to be anything else other than a creative moral lesson. A few more pages would have done it justice and added some flesh onto the bare bones.
2.5 stars.
Read it here:
—ĔĔ�
A similar-ish concept, but done better: Probably Still the Chosen One by Kelly Barnhill: /review/show...
—ĔĔĔ—�
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: /review/show...
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Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math.
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June 2, 2021
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June 5, 2021
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June 5, 2021
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Claude's
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Jun 05, 2021 01:14PM
Despite the limited stars, it sounds interesting, Nataliya. Thanks for the links.!
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Claude's wrote: "Despite the limited stars, it sounds interesting, Nataliya. Thanks for the links.!"You are welcome! It’s so short that even if you end up not liking it (like me), it’s still not a waste of time. It takes about 3 minutes tops.
Brilliant. I'm looking for scifi short stories to give NZ Y12 and Y13 students for a particular assessment. Hopefully these will be suitable.
Claude's wrote: "Hmmm... You're review is spot on."I guess you read this one then.
Yip and you are right about the other one doing it much better! I have so much washing to do I could use a portal right about now! I'll use the second one for that assessment. Thank you again!
Claude's wrote: "Yip and you are right about the other one doing it much better! I have so much washing to do I could use a portal right about now! I'll use the second one for that assessment. Thank you again!"You are welcome! Another good portal story (that also includes librarians) is Alix Harrow’s “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies�:
Nataliya wrote: "Claude's wrote: "Yip and you are right about the other one doing it much better! I have so much washing to do I could use a portal right about now! I'll use the second one for that assessment. Than..."Thank you, Nataliya! Will check it out shortly!
