ink.

“Faith in a .44”
This story uses the framing conceit of a Twilight Zone-like intro and outro, which works well as an homage and to set the tone. There are many nods to Rod Serling and the show itself scattered throughout the story, which further reinforces what type of story the author wants to tell. While the story draws inspiration from the Twilight Zone, it maintains its own distinctive voice, plot, and characters. As the best speculative fiction stories often do, this one uses the tropes and trapping of genre to explore big questions, in this case, the question of destiny and free will. The main character is a hitman who abhors the idea of killing and believes in second chances. He uses an uncanny motel that gives him access to the past to dump his targets, giving them a second chance to better their lives. As time goes on, he finds his own present changed, his life slowly erased with every person he dumps in the past. The motel gives him a second chance of his own, but it appears that he’ll have to lean into killing his targets to save himself, meaning at least for himself free will does not seem to exist and he must follow in his father’s footsteps if he wants to live. The story is well-written and balances a grounded feel against its speculative concept. The concrete answer regarding free will works within the context and style of the story as a Twilight Zone-style piece that ends with a clear message or moral. The story manages to take its inspiration as a jumping off point to create something fresh that works as an interesting character study and an evocatively written tale.