Welcome to Steve’s Novella Corner, where I dive into the less conventional depths of the indie ocean and return with strange treasures that you can read in a day or two. Here we’ll feature the stuff that we love, but that is too short to feature in one of our boxes.
This month, it’s ONCE WE FLEW, by Nikky Lee.
I’ve been on a bit of a Sci-Fi kick, but you have to understand that there are so many types of Sci-Fi to enjoy. Once We Flew is the kind of science fiction that uses the gulf of space and the great void of time to grant itself the scale and feel of a fantasy story.
Savene is the crash-site world of a colony ship, in a future that is far away but still grounded in things that you’ll recognise. Water condensers and sand-foils, a community on the brink of starvation and dehydration, wild sand-storms that will tear buildings down, vicious skitters that live below the Sand-Sea…
It’s familiar but fresh, particularly when it comes to the mysterious Chrysalis, a symbiotic disease that infects some of the colonists, changing them in strange and frightening ways. Our protagonist, Maga Marsa, is able to see the memories of others – and it isn’t something she easily controls. What could be a groan-worthy excuse for plot exposition is instead used in some of the novella’s most affecting and powerful sequences, wherein we see traumatic moments from numerous angles.
It’s written with a great eye for physical feel, for sensations that are vivid and relatable. It characterises its cast through body language, through dialogue, and with the whispered memories of a deceased friend to whom Maga Marsa made a promise. The world-building implies a vast depth of history, both human and non-human. Initially, I couldn’t believe that the author had managed to fit such a long history into the novella without cramming it in.
It’s immensely readable, the kind of novella you’ll tear through in an hour or two. Sharp and evocative prose, perfect pacing that strips back layers of context and mystery exactly when it needs to.
I knew from the first page that this was a story I’d enjoy. There’s something about the kind of gritty, lived-in, analogue Sci-Fi that I just can’t get enough of – and the gentle blending of genres is done beautifully. A dangerous journey across the inhospitable desert under the heat of the three suns, in search of a crystal mountain from a dead woman’s vision. It could be the plot of a fantasy novel, and we all know that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Reminiscient of Dune and of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novellas, Once We Flew is a gripping little read for those who love to feel the existential weight of time and space pressing upon them.
You can find Nikky Lee at @NikkyMLee on X, and learn more about her books through her website and newsletter at www.nikkythewriter.com
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