Totality

Totality: a story collection examines the choices with which we are faced every day. How do we choose to see the world? When do we sacrifice convenience for intentionality? Where can we find meaning and purpose, and are they a worthwhile pursuit? Written by mathematician and first-time fiction author Samuel Cogar, this collection features seven stories that discuss how these choices shape the world around us and, most importantly, ourselves. We are what we decide to...
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Totality: a story collection examines the choices with which we are faced every day. How do we choose to see the world? When do we sacrifice convenience for intentionality? Where can we find meaning and purpose, and are they a worthwhile pursuit?

Written by mathematician and first-time fiction author Samuel Cogar, this collection features seven stories that discuss how these choices shape the world around us and, most importantly, ourselves. We are what we decide to be.

"Totality"
An alien tourist finds new perspective on his life when he visits Earth to see one of its famed total solar eclipses.

"Letters of Last Resort"
The crew of the Earth frigate Savior awakens after an emergency with no memory of what happened, relying on the ship's artificial intelligence and a message from the Earth Government to guide their path forward.

"Midlife Crisis"
A soldier fighting in an interstellar war struggles to reinvent himself after his first battle goes horribly wrong.

"We Are Dust"
A miracle fell in the form of a meteor in an Oklahoma cornfield; a decade later, an astronaut returns to Earth from a long-duration deep space mission to find that not every miracle is worth the price.

"To Get to the Other Side"
An exoclimatologist joins the first mission beyond Earth's solar system in search of a way to save his planet, but his own obsession with finding purpose in life slows his progress.

"Life of the Party"
Two colleagues debate the worth of the intelligent species that have developed in the universe. They also talk about humans.

"What We Find in the Ashes"
When planets across multiple systems are inexplicably destroyed, a pair of translators from formerly warring species work together to decipher the mysterious messages that are left behind.