by Boris Glikman
Introducing Australian Author Boris Glikman
I’ve had the pleasure of calling Australian author Boris Glikman a friend for many years. After I met him through social media, his quirky, surreal, and speculative short stories captivated and delighted me. The Shadow of the Great Nebula of Orion remains one of my favourites. So, it’s the first one I’m sharing with you here on My Bodacious Blog. Boris writes with a brilliant, philosophical mind. If you enjoy fiction that challenges you as you read, his stories will be perfect for you.
The Shadow of the Great Nebula of Orion (A Powerful Cosmic Short Story)
One day, the nebula in the constellation of Orion, already the brightest nebula in the night sky, started to shine much more intensely, emitting a piercing blue-green light. Its luminosity was now so brilliant that it cast shadows during the daylight hours too, something that had always been the sole prerogative of the Sun.
Naturally, this generated great excitement, for never before had such an extremely bright celestial body been seen in the day sky. Everybody rushed outside to look at this heavenly wonder and to gawk at their double shadows, the old familiar one and the new one created by the Orion Nebula.
It was then that the world was hit by a very unpleasant surprise, for there was something quite peculiar about the shadows caused by the nebula. Instead of being mute, inert outlines of a person’s physical form, they revealed the shadow of a person’s character. Everyone’s inner anxieties, delusions, and insecurities were now exposed for all to see.
No one could be found who did not possess a nebula shadow. Even newborns had a shadow accompanying them; thus, coincidentally, vindicating some psychological theories and theological dogmas, while demolishing others.
The Consequences of This New Phenomenon
Naturally, the consequences of this new phenomenon were immense in their scope. Billions of lives were wrecked, relationships destroyed, and careers ruined as a person’s innermost complexes and most tightly guarded secrets were revealed to their spouses, family, friends, work colleagues, and complete strangers. The very structure of society was threatened, for its smooth running depended so much upon one’s true feelings and nature being suppressed and hidden, even from oneself. Consequently, these revelations came as a heavy shock to the many who didn’t know what apprehensions, self-deceptions, and self-doubts they had been concealing from themselves in the remotest reaches of their psyches or in the deepest substrata of their unconscious minds.
Humanity was in a dilemma over how to cope with this situation. It certainly couldn’t dim or extinguish the nebula’s brightness. It could have tried to adapt to a nocturnal existence, when the shadows would be less distinct, but surely that would have been too radical and onerous a solution. Yet who could have risked or put up with the shame, the disgrace, and the burden of walking around with all of their flaws and aberrations showing?
Cults Embrace This New State of Affairs
Inevitably, cults arose that chose to embrace with enthusiasm this new state of affairs. For them, the Orion Nebula was the Bearer of Truth, the Great Enlightener of Humanity. Just as the Sun brought outer illumination, so the Orion Nebula was deemed to bring inner illumination to the world. The adherents of these sects took pride in letting others see their most intimate neuroses, and experienced catharsis in coming face-to-face with their fears, self-delusions, and insecurities for the very first time. Having accepted their shadows, they felt more fulfilled and whole than they ever did before.
And then, just as suddenly as it flared up, the Orion Nebula dimmed to its usual luminosity. It didn’t take long for people to readjust to having only one shadow again. Lives, relationships, and careers wrecked by the nebula were quickly rebuilt, and almost everyone resumed living their old lives, maintaining total silence about that awkward period when their failings were revealed, the way a faux pas is ignored in polite company.
More Stories by Boris Glikman
In 2023, Gibbon Moon Books published twenty‑one of Boris Glikman’s short stories. Triple Obscura #1 is an anthology created to showcase overlooked and underrated writers. The volume brings together science fiction, fantasy, whimsical thought experiments, satire, and offbeat adventure stories.”It also features work by Jason E. Rolfe and Rhys Hughes. You can purchase Triple Obscura #1 on Amazon.
About the Author
Boris Glikman is a writer, poet, and philosopher from Melbourne, Australia. He says, “Writing for me is a spiritual activity of the highest degree. Writing gives me the conduit to a world that is unreachable by any other means, a world that is populated by Eternal Truths, Ineffable Questions and Infinite Beauty. It is my hope that these stories of mine will allow the reader to also catch a glimpse of this universe.”