Living in a space station after Earth has been rendered uninhabitable, Reza gets his first job tending the semi-automated garden of the colony. He thinks it’s the worst and most boring job he could have, until a young girl his age, Amelia, changes his mind.

Though short and simple, the author does a great job at going through the characters’ motivations and psychology to move the plot forward. The world building is also excellent, providing the necessary fuel for the story’s themes. All in all, thoroughly enjoyable.

—John Atom

From SFRevue

Reza is disappointed when he is assigned his first job on the station. It's the aeroponic farm that is entirely automated. But Amalia, who had the job the previous year, shows him a different way to look at it. She also tells him about her dream of living on a planet and growing seeds in the dirt. He asks to be assigned the farm the next year and works toward her goal when she, sadly, dies in an accident.
Beautifully written.

—Sam Tomaino

From Reactor

I’m a sucker for science fiction that plays with the tropes of dystopias but ultimately ends on a hopeful note, so of course I loved this new story from Victoria Navarra. Reza and his crèche siblings grew up on a space station not far from Saturn. Each person has a job, and no one is superfluous. At first, Reza is bored by his agriculture job, but a friendship and a tragedy help him reframe his work into something not just useful but powerful.

—Alex Brown

From SFRevue

Li Bai is a poet who has been traveling to other world to write poems about them. But everywhere she goes, she has always been preceded by Timb Cu, a great poet who has already written a poem there. She cannot follow him. She hates him, the son of privilege. She is an orphan who was the only survivor of a fire. But when it starts snowing on the planet she is on, she discovers Timb Cu is there and goes to look for him. When she meets him, he is not what she expected and tells her shocking news. What will she do now?

A great story and the author's first fiction sale. She will be on my shortlist for an Astounding Award next year.

—Sam Tomaino