My Jim Baen Memorial Award-winning story Letting Go is now available to read for free on the Cosmos Magazine web site. The award was given by Baen Books and the National Space Society for the story of the year that best depicted the exciting future of near-term space development. Here’s a teaser to whet your appetite:
—
I NEVER WANTED RACHEL TO GO INTO SPACE. Space was my passion, but for my daughter I wanted a normal American life: Barbie dolls and pony rides, make-up and boys, the senior prom. A good college, a good career, marriage, kids.
Only I wasn’t there, most of the time, to see it happen. When she played Mary in her Sunday School pageant, I was on the ISS.
When she graduated high school, I was on the Moon, already starting the Gravity Train project. But there must be some truth to the argument for nature over nurture, because despite my long absences she took after me instead of her mother. Joined the academy, earned her pin and followed me to the Moon.
The morning of the accident, we were all ready to celebrate. We gathered in the control room, Rachel holding my hand, Commander André Gretzsin, Jr. beside her, and the rest of the crew pressed in close behind.
On screen, a Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine named Big Betsy churned through the lunar rock at the bottom of The Hole, as it had been doing without stop for almost eight years.
Read the rest of the story here.
—
And while you’re at it, here are two other David Walton short stories available online at Futurismic Magazine:
davidwaltonfiction.com 
Thank you, David. This is a wonderful story.
I’m writing a story for the Jim Baen competition myself at the moment, so it’s perfect timing.