The Future Library by Peng Shepherd
My rating: 5/5 cats
Sometimes I can’t believe how quickly it went, and sometimes I can’t believe I was ever allowed to have been so happy for so long.
okay, wow.
so, for a few weeks now i have been obsessively clicking on the ‘upcoming’ tab on tor’s short fiction page, and nothing has been listed, so when a new story appeared unexpectedly, it was a complete surprise. it was an even bigger and better surprise that it was a story by peng shepherd, and i actually said “NO WAY” very loudly when i saw it.
i LOVED The Book of M, and her second book, The Cartographers, has been delayed by a whole dang year, so this was a real treat.
this is the first time i have not been dismayed to discover that the weekly tor short was actually a tor long. if anything, it wasn’t long enough.
it contains everything i loved about The Book of M: the melancholic tone of a world in decline, the tenacity of the human spirit finding a way to connect and adapt despite life-altering events, and the enduring tendrils of individual legacy; what part of ourselves lives on in those we loved and what we have contributed to the greater realm of humanity.
it is an absolutely beautiful, tremendously moving, meaningful, wonder-ful story.
please give it all the awards.
it doesn’t quite make up for the yearlong delay of her second book, but it’s a start.
she can shepherd me anywhere.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2021/08/18/the-fu…
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