Eight or Die
Novella 39,400 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"Before the cave-in, I’m boiling water over a little fuel stove. It bubbles in the light of my helmet’s headlamp and the low beams of the haul truck. It’s stinking hot but I’m smiling in the pitch black. I’m imagining how my girls are gonna squeal and cry when Edna’s got crispy-cooked cuy waiting for us at home on the surface."
Content warnings 1
death
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.