I will always mourn the slow death of our view of the night sky and all it contains. I was very young when I last saw countless stars above me in a small village in central India. Now, about two decades later, even those remote places have dimmed, their stars having disappeared from view thanks to light pollution.
But that early experience was enough to make me seek them out compulsively every time I step out in the night, even when I’m in the city because what if this time I can see them all again?
I wasn’t made for studying hard science, so my fascination towards space pulled me towards fantasy instead. Instead of going up there to study celestial bodies, I try to bring them closer by writing about them (when the Muse is generous) and hunting for stories about them. Here’s a selection of some favorites.
“Wandering Star” by Sarena Ulibarri
The people of Nor are attuned to the elements—fire, wind, water. Now most of them are gone, destroyed when an attunement with a volcano went wrong, destroying their island. Iva is one of the people who took refuge from this destruction. She observes a comet wandering through a nearby constellation; she can hear its song, but as others tell her, there’s nothing she can do with it, the way Lotkia, her lover, can by shaping the wind, asking it to take her places—what goes is hearing the songs of the stars, so far away?
Lotkia keeps going away, asking Iva to join her. She refuses every time, until now. When Iva makes the journey to Kezik, she discovers that the comet is actually a real threat, hurtling close to the planet. With so few Norian people remaining, and only Iva to hear its song, will they be able to prevent disaster?
“Ex Astris” by Lauren M. Roy
Kevin has a tumor in his head. When he falls unconscious, he sees galaxies and a solar system, the level of detail increasing every time. Kevin is convinced he’s hallucinating, but when he describes these visions in a blog post, everyone from astrophysicists to the biggest news channels want to talk to him, for what he sees is not his brain making up stuff, but possible transmissions from a newly discovered solar system that very little is known about. The knowledge is precious, but what about the one who’s receiving it? Will anyone remember him, or will the transmissions dwarf his existence as a person?
“Troubling a Star” by Andrew Dykstal
At the monastery, Eugenia apprentices under Vittorio in haruspicy—in which the entrails of animals, specifically bred for the purpose, tell the future. As a star explodes in the sky, Vittorio tells her how their work can be manipulated—tiny changes made in the animals’ organs before they’re resurrected and sent to the Council for a reading (without them being aware of either the alteration or the resurrection). Eugenia’s talent had cut her off from her entire village and Vittorio had rescued her in time, but she’s bitter about the work she has to do, and as more star explosions are predicted, larger and more frequent than before, she discovers she has been pulled into a plan greater and more unexpected than she could have imagined. Now, the execution of the plan depends on her, and it’s not just a matter of skill. The stars, Eugenia realises, are much more. It will not be an easy task.
“In Case You’re the One to Devour a Star” by Tamara Jerée
Olin is a fire keeper. At the monastery, she and her fellows handle the fire brought by dragons, who came to this world after theirs was devoured. Down in Vel, people aren’t exactly fond of the monastery, for Olin and the others talk of what the dragons have told them about the cosmos—that the other stars are like the sun, that other planets revolve in the solar system. To the people of Vel, this is all heresy.
Fire-keeping comes with a physical cost, reducing one’s lifespan by decades. Yet Lilist, a poet born of the aristocracy, still wants to marry Olin. As the two build a life together, Olin tells her about the dragons and the stars. Olin sees in Lilist the desire to connect with the creatures similarly and wonders how to offer her a chance. Jerée uses gentle, illuminating prose to weave a story of knowledge, secrets, and unconditional love.
“The Clockwork Penguin Dreamed of Stars” by Caroline M. Yoachim
Gwin the clockwork penguin has been programmed to go through the routine of preening her feathers and sleeping and all the other things actual penguins did back before they went extinct. Her job is to educate the humans, except there aren’t any humans anymore. Unlike the other animals at the zoo, she refuses to let the algorithm completely control her and dreams of going to the stars. She has access to all the information she needs, but first she needs to get out of the zoo and find a way to go to space. The others think her dream is futile, if not impossible. Humans can go to the stars, not clockwork animals. Then one day, Gwin’s friend Zee gives her a radio and while most of the time there’s static, today, there’s a message: the humans are near Saturn and need permission to come to Earth. The message gives Gwin hope—but can she find a way to reach the humans in time, and finally see the stars?