Access

by Andy Weir

Original Fiction, Short Story

Holding a cup of coffee in one hand and several folders in the other, he dragged his chair out from behind his desk and plopped down in to it.
Sipping the all important morning brew, he opened the first of the folders and read the summary on the front page. It was a minor matter, but something he’d need to deal with eventually. Some things just couldn’t be delegated to subordinates.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction

5 pages, ebook

First published July 29, 2010

About the author

ANDY WEIR built a career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, THE MARTIAN, allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California. Andy’s next book, ARTEMIS, is available now.

Reviews

[Aj the Ravenous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

My standard response after reading Andy Weir’s stories. Creased forehead, a few minutes pause in serious contemplation then a grin after considerable length of time when the light bulb in my head lights up in comprehension. Lol.

But really, I’m just using this as an avenue to greet a special friend a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Happy Birthday, Hayat! (You can read the story by clicking on her name.^^). I hope your special day brings you everything your heart desires. I’m sure that include books and surely, cakes!^^

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy Weir is the sci-fi guy who in 2011 wrote The Martian, which was made into a movie in 2015. I didn't do the book or movie, but I keep running across teensy stories of his—so teensy you can read them in 3 minutes. I've read three or four, and each one has a cool twist ending.

I completely and utterly loved one of his stories, Annie's Day, and this makes me open to others, forever in search of another gem like that. Besides, who doesn't have 3 minutes?

Most of Weir’s shorties are just so-so for me, this one included. It seems like Weir comes up with a really cool gotcha, but the little scenes and conversations leading up to it don't seem necessary or exciting enough. Since these stories are so short, it seems like every single word should count.

This story, Access, is about a girl with a super power. The subject is a little gaggy to me, but I did like the twisty end.

It will probably take you less time to read the story than it did to read this review, which is just all wrong--so I'm stopping right now.

Here is the link to the story--thank you, Carol, for your brilliance! (Though I still don't know how to hide the ugly link letters and put on a nice face.)

http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/acce...

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

HA! Not sure Rachel's "super powers" would work in the real world, but ACCESS is another little fun free read by Andy Weir with his usual format of providing a twisty end.

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.

this is the SIXTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.

GR has deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. i have tried to restore the ones i could, but my to-do list is already a ball of nightmares, so that's still a work-in-progress. however, because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case GR decides to scrap 'em again.

i am doing my best.
merry merry.

DECEMBER 28: ACCESS - ANDY WEIR

“My parents were drunks. Both of them. They didn’t beat me or anything, but they were drunks. Lowlifes. You know?

“Anyway, Mom liked hard liquor at home. Dad was more of a social drunk, so he’d head down to the bar. Everyone liked him.

“He’d bring me along. He knew Mom would be passed out soon, and he figured a bar was safer for a ten year old girl than an apartment with no supervision. It was cool. I was kind of a mascot there.

“One time, the bar got raided by the cops for letting the local high school punks in without checking IDs. I was there at the time. Nobody cared about me being there, but they wrote up the bar for all the teen-agers. Technically, the cops should have written them up for me, too. That should have been a clue, but I was too young to pick up on it.”

“Pick up on what?” He interrupted.

“You’ll see,” she said.

He rolled his eyes.

andy weir has a BONCH of shorties on his site, some that are part of ongoing or completed story cycles, and some that are standalones. over the years, i've read enough of his one-offs to know what to expect from them: a single page or a handful of breezy paragraphs building to a gotcha twist, which knowledge is kind of a bummer for reasons.



i liked this one more than i've liked some of his others, and even though i was braced for that POP, i was trying not to anticipate its direction, so it was a quiet pleasant surprise when it came.

read it for free here

THE STORIES:

DECEMBER 1: NIGHT STAND - DANIEL WOODRELL
DECEMBER 2: MR. DEATH - ALIX HARROW
DECEMBER 3: THE FRUIT OF MY WOMAN - HAN KANG
DECEMBER 4: THE TINDER BOX - KATE ELLIOTT
DECEMBER 5: BABYCAKES - NEIL GAIMAN
DECEMBER 6: HIS MIDDLE NAME WAS NOT JESUS - NOVIOLET BULAWYO
DECEMBER 7: SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE - LILLI CARRÉ
DECEMBER 8: DARK TIDE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 9: DARKER TIDE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 10: BREAK - MISHELL BAKER
DECEMBER 11: A RUMOR OF ANGELS - DALE BAILEY
DECEMBER 12: THE ENGLISHMAN - DOUGLAS STUART
DECEMBER 13: IT CAME FROM CRUDEN FARM - MAX BARRY
DECEMBER 14: NO MOON AND FLAT CALM - ELIZABETH BEAR
DECEMBER 15: A STUDY IN SHADOWS - BENJAMIN PERCY
DECEMBER 16: ART APPRECIATION - FIONA MCFARLANE
DECEMBER 17: THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS - SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA
DECEMBER 18: WE HAVEN'T GOT THERE YET - HARRY TURTLEDOVE
DECEMBER 19: THE DUNE - STEPHEN KING
DECEMBER 20: THE WORTHINGTON - EMILY CARROLL
DECEMBER 21: SUNBLEACHED - NATHAN BALLINGRUD
DECEMBER 22: BLOOD DAUGHTER - MATTHEW LYONS
DECEMBER 23: THE LINE - AMOR TOWLES
DECEMBER 24: PIGEONS - NIBEDITA SEN
DECEMBER 25: WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED, WHAT WE WILL FORGET, WHAT WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FORGET - EUGENE LIM
DECEMBER 26: ONE/ZERO - KATHLEEN ANN GOONAN
DECEMBER 27: MATINEE - ROBERT COOVER
DECEMBER 29: UNNECESSARY THINGS - TATYANA TOLSTAYA
DECEMBER 30: HOOK - DANIELLE MCLAUGHLIN
DECEMBER 31: HE'S VERY WELL READ - CATHERINE LACEY

previous years' advent calendars (what's left of 'em):

2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

come to my blog!

[رزی - Woman, Life, Liberty · Rating 3 out of 5]

امتحانات به رزی یک دم امون دادن تا ترجمه‌ی جدید آپلود کنه🤲

داستان «دسترسی» درباره خانمی‌ای به نام ریچله که یه جور اَبَرقدرت داره؛ و وقتی داستان زندگیش رو تعریف می‌کنه قراره حدسش بزنی...🌚
[image error]

فایل ترجمه‌هام رو اینجا می‌ذارم:
https://t.me/TranslationZahra

اینم بگم که صفحه‌ی فارسی داستان‌های کوتاهی که ترجمه کردم به لطف آقا فؤاد توی گودریدز هستش و بیاین در خوشحالی من شریک باشین :>

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entertaining short story by the talented Andy Weir. I've gotta say though, I think that this one would be better as either a novella or full length novel...it has some great potential.

To read this short story, click here

[Hayat · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is always a trick, a brilliant twist in Andy Weir novels and I'm starting to see a pattern in his short stories. The premise for Access is intriguing, it needs to be explored and made into a full novel and then a movie staring Scarlett Johansson! You can read this free short story here

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

Why isn't this a full length book? This should be a full length book

[Matt Lillywhite · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story was okay, but not amazing.

There was too much dialogue for my taste. However, the ending was great and it was a quick read.

Three stars.

[rae ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

WOW OKAY😂😂😂😂 I WANNA KNOW MORE THO!!!

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quick and cute.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story had me drawn in and once I knew all about her, I wanted this story to continue. This was too good to be a short story. Flesh it out after the reveal at the end. It is worth reading. You can read it here

[Nadin Doughem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mindtwisting .. I am still not sure I fully got it!

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whoo! That twist at the end!

[Hamed Manoochehri · Rating 5 out of 5]

ترجمه که معلوم بود قرار بی نقص باشه اما داستان از سه تای قبلی یه هوا بهتر بود.

[Bash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm starting to like Andy. 😏

[Sina · Rating 3 out of 5]

۲۱ تیر ۱۴۰۳
جالب بود
مرسی از ترجمه زهرا

[Ankit Saxena · Rating 1 out of 5]

So much puzzling for me. Relation between them is still a question to me? Very confusing. I hope something will let it solve it for me in end but nope. I guess secretary to President is what makes her feel super-powered.

[Mahdie · Rating 4 out of 5]

خیلی جالب بود

[Alondra Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

All I want to know is why?? Why could she do what she did?? Who is she or shall I say, What is she??

Interesting. *ponders*

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these. They're fun little short stories that always have a twist at the end. In this case, it's a girl who has a super power. She can go anywhere, even places she isn't technically allowed--as long as she acts normal.

Fun, easy, twisty enough even if you see where it's going fairly early on

[Todd Coburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm. The best part, is that it makes you think. I felt growing confusion, a little intrigue, then back to confusion. Then the punch line, a pause.... huh?? ...oohhh.

So, there you have it.

...but it is short, and different. So why not?

[Danyel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy Weir sure likes a twist ending. Some are much more successful then others. For this one, i liked the pace of the story and i really wanted to know what her super power was.

[Aliki (semi hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want more

[Annica ⚡️ annica_reads_books ⚡️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another short, thought-provoking story from Andy!

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going to go with a 3.5 for this one. I really, really love this idea. A friend stated that she would like to see this fleshed out and made into a novella or even full length novel - I'd gladly read it. Very interesting idea. I started to see the twist coming towards the end, but it still made me smirk when I got to it. Worth a read.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good little short story. Very enjoyable.

[Gina Gallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was neat. Four stars, not five, because I just didn't like her. However, excellent ending.

[bookaholic_kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very intriguing read indeed. The details are quite vague that i want more of it. It seems like a summary of a novel and I really want to read it if ever there is one.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een grappig kort verhaal. Niet het beste werk van Andy Weir maar leuk voor tussendoor.