Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction For A Time of Pandemic

“For a while, we just slept and ate and told stories..."

A radio broadcast unites a scattered people; lockdown throws human and fey reluctantly together; a miner floats alone in the asteroid belt; a living ship rides out a storm.

In difficult times, stories sustain us. These twelve tales of selkies, hockey players, retired systems engineers, monsters, copyeditors and changelings are connected by a thread of optimism, and of hope: that we, too, will ride out this storm.

This anthology features contributions by Aliette de Bodard, Stephanie Burgis, Iona Datt Sharma, Jeannelle M. Ferreira, Rebecca Fraimow, Marissa Lingen, Freya Marske, Lizbeth Myles, Katie Rathfelder, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Llinos Cathryn Thomas. All proceeds will be donated to the COVID-19 appeal being run by the UCLH Charity, the charity supporting the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust.