Anais Gets a Turn
Novelette 15,590 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"The world-organism is awake and has spent the last decade playing round after round of tic-tac-toe with itself. Hearing this the first time, Anais reacts like anyone would to a stranger sitting next to them on a plane, insisting on conversation for the flight’s three-hour duration. She nods and smiles. She takes the man’s card."
Content warnings 2
mental-illnesssubstance-use
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.