Within my family, I’ve both given and received a lot of love and support. When I reflect on my life and my identity, my loved ones are always at the heart of my story; there’s no version of me that exists without them because they have been fundamental to shaping the person I’ve become. When I do things for them, it’s not just an act of responsibility as a daughter, but also an act of love, just as their actions are an expression of their love for me and my sister. These things happen with and without deliberate intent, sometimes almost by instinct; familial love works in complex ways. Here are some SFF stories that exemplify that complexity, and explore how are feelings for our family drive us in unexpected ways.
“In(con)solation” by Octavia Cade
Many people have left Earth and moved to other planets. Those that stayed behind witnessed a nuclear war and had to retreat underground, living in darkness and artificial light. Going into the sunshine was forbidden, but we’re humans. We can’t live without the sun for long. Too much time without it, and people are driven into depression, sometimes even worse. Some try to remain in the darkness, though they suffer. Others desire the sun so desperately they risk going above the surface, even if it means risking cataracts, blindness, radiation damage. When your loved ones insist on such a thing—and when you know that it will make them happy in this bleak, dark existence—would you let them go?
“The Four Gifts of Empress Lessa” by Myna Chang
When the Empress Lessa gives birth to another girl child, she knows the Emperor will poison her as he did her predecessors, then kill her babe. As she succumbs to the poison, she utters a curse, and, later, finds herself a ghost, watching from the afterlife as the Emperor brings another bride. This new girl shows compassion toward the little princess, and so now the Empress watches after both. But she was powerless when living; will she be able to do more as a mere ghost?
“Practical Childcare Considerations for Knights Errant” by Rachel Locascio
Being a knight is hard. Being a parent is harder. Being a knight who’s also a parent? Well, you can’t manage that without daycare. There are dragons to slay and princesses to rescue, after all. But how do you juggle such demanding quests when the daycare calls about your kid’s sickness right as you’re about to enter the dragon’s lair? Some work-life balance needs to be upended—and urgently so.
A short, hilarious read. I’d love to see an entire TV series about this unique world Locascio has built, with familiar tropes unfolding in unexpected ways.
“Celia and the Conservation of Entropy” by Amelia Beamer
Celia has invented a time machine—she found a page from her grandfather’s novel that mentions her going back in time to find that novel (along with a lot of math and physics jokes). She wants to read the whole thing; plus, it’ll also definitely help her win the Science Fair. Except, like all time travel stories, going back in time and dealing with old tech—computers and hard drives and so much paper—always ends up being a messy process. There’s also the part where you have to convince people that you actually did visit the past.
But Celia doesn’t mind those challenges; all she wants is to read the words of the grandfather who died when she was a baby, a man she feels deeply connected to and misses despite meeting him only briefly on her travels into the past.
“The Florida Project” by Morayo Faleyimu
Upon her twin brother’s request, Cora finds herself going back to her childhood home in Florida to join him, along with others, in the Rewilding project that aims to restore the land with native flora. Cora didn’t really want to relocate, but she came because Tray had hope that they could do something good there, bring back—in a way—the woods and the trees around their grandmother’s home, the place where they spent their childhood. She’s there for him, doing without complaint the backbreaking labor of maintaining their orange grove. But then things grow a little sour between them, and both twins are forced to wonder what they really want, and why they’re doing this difficult work when nothing is like it used to be.
