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Self-Review – Glad All Over the Galaxy

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 20, 2025

Let’s Look at Glad All Over the Galaxy

The title for Glad All Over the Galaxy comes from the old Dave Clark Five hit: Glad All Over.

I wrote this story during the third quarter of 2021. The prompt word was jollity.

Background for Glad All Over the Galaxy

Because I was writing every single day in 2021, sometimes the stories (such as they are) are kind of thin. This is definitely one of those.

The essential premise is looking a kind of alien gift horse in the mouth, as it were.

Plot

A narrator who has probably suffered from clinical depression for most if not all of their life is suddenly happy. There’s just ‘something in the air’. That’s it. There is no other explanation.

But there is a hint of menace behind the narrator’s sudden change of heart. And when they refer to lights in the sky, it becomes abundantly clear: whatever is making them giddy was put there deliberately by actors from outside the earth.

Are they bad actors? I never actually say. As a result, the reader can use their imagination.

Characters

The characters are the unnamed narrator and certain people he or she refers to, including an ex with male pronouns.

Memorable Quotes

I’ve never been happy.

I’ve been… okay.

But never giddy, never pleased, and never contented.

Until now.

It’s the wackiest thing.

And it’s all due to the stuff in the air.

I don’t know who put it there, but I don’t care about that.

Nothing matters but this feeling.

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Takeaways for Glad All Over the Galaxy

Somewhat like with the far superior Killing Us Softly, I wanted to give an invasion a weird angle, and kind of turn it on its head. What if an alien species started to, quite literally, kill us with kindness?

So, I love the premise here, and I will most likely find some other place for it. I feel it’s just too good an idea to just let it sink into obscurity.

Or I could do my best to clip off eighteen words, and query it as a drabble. I don’t know just yet.

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.

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Published inWriting