Gonquin Empire Battlebot (“A Lonesome Speck of Home” by Beth Cato)Read about another entry on the list.
Beth Cato’s inspired sentai/Power Rangers riff begins humorously, with cranky old man Victor Lynch haranguing the military to help him deal with the two gigantic robots fighting in front of his house, and bugging his tech-savvy son to help him learn to pilot the giant alien robot permanently parked by his home. As the story goes on, Cato looks deeper into the lives of Lynch, his family, and the teenage pilots of the Mega Robot, fleshing out their lives and stories. By the end, when Lynch finally hops into the cockpit of the alien fighting machine for a final duel with the Mega Robot, the result is a battle equal parts melancholy and triumphant, as the old man and his unwilling teenage opponents pull one last desperate plan to stop the invading alien force and save Lynch’s home. This is a fantastic story: thoughtful and heartfelt, when it could’ve settled for simple parody.
--Marshal Zeringue
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