Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Science fiction can reach out to the stars and at the same time hold tight to the human heart. The many layers of mystery in this beautiful love story lead to a breathtaking ending.

First, I should say that the British publisher sent me a copy of this novel and asked me to provide a blurb if I liked it. I did like it, and my blurb is the first paragraph of this review. The British edition goes on sale July 8. If you’re in the US, the book has been on sale since April.

Second, I cried at the ending.

Third, I won’t tell you why. Because spoilers, big spoilers.

Fourth, if you like science fiction, as you read this novel, you may wonder at some point if it is science fiction. Thora and Santi keep meeting in life after life, which doesn’t seem to make much sense. Trust me. It really is science fiction, and it all makes sense in the end.

Fifth, if you like literary fiction, here’s your chance to see that science fiction can also be character-driven and utterly moving. Just like the past and the present, the future will be human and humane.


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Books can change readers, and readers can change the world. Fueled by that idea, Lisa Carter created Intralingo to connect authors and translators from around the world with readers.

She asked some of the writers featured in the Intralingo World Lit Podcast to share what opened their perspectives or their hearts by recommending a book that impacted them in some way. They named fourteen books from around the world, both fiction and non-fiction, from science fiction to graphic novel, and haiku to spiritual reflection.

My recommended book is Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World, an anthology that seeks not only to create the future but to change the present.

You can see all the books and what makes them impressive at Writers Recommend These Reads. The list hints at the depth and breadth of the written world waiting for us.

I didn’t have a good idea for the title of my novel Immunity Index, so I let my publisher make a suggestion, and I was happy with it. I think the title reflects the content of the book.

However, an accurate process title for the book would have been Gallons of Green Tea.

Award-winning author, editor, and friend Cristina Jurado asked me last year if I would translate her short story “Abrazar el movimiento.” As soon as I read it, I said yes: an intense first contact story whose beautiful images hide horror.

The story, originally published in Spanish in Spain, has been nominated for a 2021 Ignotus Award, Spain’s equivalent of the Hugo.

Clarkesworld Magazine has just published the translation in its June issue with the title “Embracing the Movement.”

Every translation has its delightful problems. Despite the joy of bringing the full reverberance of words from one language to another, many words never have exact equivalents. In this case, the challenge started with the first sentence:

No somos tan diferentes, forestera. “We are not so different…” and then there’s that word: forestera. It is used repeatedly throughout the story, and I had to get it right.

The Real Diccionario Española defines forastero/a as someone or something que es o viene de fuera del lugar: “that is or comes from another place,” a stranger, an outsider. But there’s more: forastero is male, forastera is female. In the context of the story, it matters that the person being addressed is identified as female. I needed to find a way to preserve that sense.

Thesauruses listed close-but-not-quite words like foreigner, nonnative, outlander, outsider, alien, nonresident, drifter, transient, wanderer … which led to nomad, rambler, roamer, rover, stroller, vagabond, wanderer, wayfarer … Wait. The word rover suggested something … the Mars rovers: Perseverance, Curiosity, Spirit, Opportunity, and Sojourner. The Sojourner was named after Sojourner Truth. And Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Bomfree, chose that name because she felt called to travel and testify.

“Sojourner” means someone who stays as a temporary resident, who comes from another place. The word in English has associations with space exploration and is a name still being used for baby girls today.

I decided I’d found the word for forastera, although I wanted to reinforce the female meaning in the first reference, and I could do so by introducing an important element from further within the story. Finally, I had the opening line in English:

“We are not so different, sister sojourner.”

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) has announced the finalists for the 56th Annual Nebula Award. The awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony on Saturday, June 5, 2021.

I’m a member of SFWA, and I like to focus on the shorter fiction nominees because I can finish my reading by the April 30 deadline, and because fewer people vote, which means my opinions matter more.

Novelettes are at least 7,500 words long but less than 17,500 words, which allows for greater development than a short story. All the nominees use that space to create their own worlds with success, and each one is worthy of the award.

• “Shadow Prisons” by Caroline M. Yoachim (in Dystopia Triptych, Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press) (full text: The Shadow Prison Experiment – Shadow Prisons of the Mind – The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma). People can be turned into “shadows” as punishment by a restrictive government. A woman who becomes a shadow tries to fight back, or at least to avoid destroying other lives. I found the story itself more compelling than the telling of it.

• “Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super” by A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20). Superheros are feared and hated — by themselves as well as the public at large — for their poorly controlled powers. Emotions in the story are carefully depicted.

• “Two Truths and a Lie” by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20). A woman becomes caught in a web of her own lies. Genuinely creepy horror.

• “Where You Linger” by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20). A woman goes back into her past to help her younger, immature self cope with her chaotic love life. The story is beautifully written but never becomes more than a deeply intimate story. A technology that powerful would change society, but there’s no hint of the bigger picture.

• “Stepsister” by Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20). What happens after the end of the Cinderella myth? A well-plotted and well-executed story answers the question.

• “The Pill” by Meg Elison (in Big Girl, PM Press). A pill can cure obesity, and people rush to take it despite its “acceptable” casualties. This gets my vote for the award, and I think this kind of story is science fiction at its best: a good story well told. By “good” I mean a story that dissects our current society with a pitiless scalpel, exposing how deep our prejudices reach and how much pain they cause. This story might change the way you think.