Kora Is Life
Novella 18,120 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"I banked into a climbing clockwise turn, my wing’s fabric snapping, my jet’s exhaust hot on my backside. A beautiful panorama of Shuwash Island spread out below me, black beaches and orange jungles rising from a white fringe of surf to the gray and treeless volcanic peaks. Beyond those peaks, across the sea, lay the long stony ridge of Ookura Island..."
Content warnings 2
deathsuicide
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.