Water: A History by K.J. Kabza
My rating: 5/5 cats
I am now the only person in the colony of Isla who has any direct memories of Earth. This means that I can abuse this position at my pleasure and tell them all kinds of bullshit stories they have no way of disputing. It’s my way of getting back at them for the way they treat me now: like some kind of minor god rather than a human being.
no new tor short this week, so i had to go back into the archives, and i’m so glad i did! how did i miss this story when it was published? i probably just saw the ‘cover,’ and was like, “space, meh.” and moved on to one that looked creepier or whatever. but this was an excellent story—perfect length, wonderful mood of sad-but-not-gloomy, heartwarming-but-not-treacly, other-planet-but-not-sciencey. it features a beautiful relationship between two women, generations apart, making the best of life on a hostile, arid planet, bonding through that time-honored tradition of an elder handing down stories of the past, here taking the form of stories of water and a life long ago on the faraway planet earth.
lovely, strong and moving.
i guess a story can be good even when it’s not even a little bit creepy.
how i have grown.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2019/10/09/water-…
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