Hello everyone,
I had a different email planned for March, but given the circumstances, I felt disingenuous not to acknowledge the state of the world right now. While I'm not going to go into details, (this is speculative fiction newsletter, not one about international affairs,) the fact remains that we are living through interesting times, and, to be honest, have been for some time.
One of the things I love about a good story is its ability to give a moment of respite from the world. That's different from an escape or retreat—instead, it's a chance to refresh yourself so you can keep on engaging. Science fiction and fantasy in particular is about imagining different worlds, even if they're only a few steps removed from our own, and to let you visit them for a little while. The visit can be transformative. It's part of the reason I came up with the idea for The Sunday Morning Transport in the depths of the pandemic: a weekly opportunity to be transported for just a little while.
How appropriate then that we open March with Yoon Ha Lee's incredible “Non-standard Candles”, a story about searching for light in the darkest of space. This story goes out for free to all our readers on Sunday.
We’ll follow that up with three more amazing stories for paid subscribers: On March 12, we have Kathleen Jenning's “On the Origins of the Population of Wakeford” which is like a ghost story in reverse. March 20th brings Sarah Pinsker's “Now is the Time for Expansion and Growth”, a weird and wonderful call to action, in a sense. Finally, we close out March with “Ratotaskr”, by Kij Johnson, a haunting story about a girl and ghosts and gods. While these stories are available only to our paid subscribers, if you're not already subscribed you can get these stories, February’s archives, and a new story every week thereafter, by subscribing here.
I'm also happy to announce that we’ve scheduled the first of many “Sunday Morning Transport Irregulars” author calls for paid subscribers next Tuesday, March 8, at 8pm Eastern. (Paid subscribers will get an email next week with the details.) For this call, we’re delighted to have Kat Howard, Juan Martinez, (and possible surprise guests) joining us, along with myself, and Fran Wilde for an hour of conversation on stories, speculative fiction, and anything else that crosses our minds. If you have a question for any of our authors, please feel free to put it in the comments, below.
As usual, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach us at morningtransportnewsletter@gmail.com.