Dear Stupid Penpal, by Rascal Hartley
15 Nov 2025The Book
Synopsis:
Atticus “Finch” Davani does not want to be an astronaut. He hates space, he hates the ship, and he strongly dislikes his fellow crew members. He makes that painfully clear in his letters to Aku, his corporate-assigned penpal back on Earth.
Soon, Aku becomes much more than a penpal. But when the crew engage hyperdrive, Aku’s punctual letters start coming at random intervals, and Finch and his shipmates realize that time, for them, is moving all wrong.
As everyone else’s penpals rapidly die of old age, Finch turns, heartbroken, to Aku; who, more than a century later, is still there.
DEAR STUPID PENPAL is an entirely epistolary exploration of cosmic dread, the passing of time, and the lifelines we cling to against the vast endlessness of space.
My Review
Dear Stupid Penpal is an epistolary cosmic horror novella written by Rascal Hartley and published by Tenebrous Press. A proposal that ends being a ride through the perspective of time and space while also submerging us into the dread of cosmic horror and warming our hearts with the backdrop of a story told through the conversation of mainly two voices.
Finch, a snarky linguist on a long-haul space mission, is required by the mission control to keep a pen-pal exchange with someone on Earth, all to "maintain his roots"; by chance being his pal Aku, a mysterious and nocturnal stargazer, always slipping trivia that might not be so random into his communications. Through their communications (which are also vetted by a ground-control operator called Tolstoi), we see how they start from the obligation conversation (even if Aku is much more in the calmer and thoughtful side) to the glad exchange, at the same time the spaceship starts to experience difficulties which affect also to the sending intervals; a really original proposal that relies in how the chemistry between those two characters grow.
Finch's character growth is one of the angular points of this novella: from that reluctant person who is just doing what is mandatory, sarcastic and just fulfilling the orders, to a more fleshed character through his interactions with Aku, who acts as a positive force for him, always patient as somebody who might have lived for millenniums; and the relationship between them is somehow really natural, a demi/aro one that slowly appears through the exchange of ideas, a well-woven point of light into the vast darkness that is the space.
The rest of characters are just complemental to the plot, introducing some elements that allow it to advance, but always a bit distant, in my opinion; probably because of the nature of this novella.
Dear Stupid Penpal is an excellent novella, a proposal that through two excellent characters and their relationship explores the vastness of space and the nature of bonds; a really original and well-executed idea by Rascal Hartley.
The Author/s
Rascal Hartley
Author of Dear Stupid Penpal