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Dinosaurs lived on the far side of the galaxy. That is, the Sun orbits around the galaxy’s center, and it’s a long trip, about 250 million years. Dinosaurs — in particular, the big Jurassic critters like tyrannosaurs — lived about 166 to 66 million years ago, so they lived in a different neighborhood of the galaxy.

Here’s the cool part. Because the stars move around in relationship to each other as well as in their orbits, the neighboring stars are different over time. In that way, space travel is possible to distant stars if the travelers are patient and have generation ships (presuming these creatures have generations like human beings). They can hop from star to star, sometimes pausing to rest, and meanwhile the stars will take them to new parts of the galaxy.

So, it just might be vaguely possible that Earth was visited over on the far side of the galaxy by slow travelers, and they took Earth faunae with them as they continued on, bringing them to new homes. Dinosaurs in space! Land of the Lost without a dimensional portal!

Or perhaps they took a different Jurassic lineage, and there’s a Planet of the Turtles out there somewhere.

Kill your darlings, they say. That means you should cut the parts from your book that don’t move the plot forward, even if you love them. So, on the wise advice from my editor, I killed the final section of the novel Interference about some fippokats (well, they were going to die anyway) and write a different ending that was much more dire.

Here’s the original ending for your enjoyment: the alternate epilogue to Interference.

EPILOGUE—KELLY—LATER THAT DAY—IN ORBIT

Oh, this is the strangest place and the most wonderful. It frightened me at first, yes, although the Big Ones are happy, so we are happy, Moss and Emerald and Lime and I am Kelly. We have our sleeping box and we drink water from a tiny pipe next to strange food dishes and it is a game just to eat because the food floats. It all floats, the Big Ones and the food and the toys and us and everything.

But we do more than float, Moss and Emerald and Lime and I. We jump and hop and chase each other, leaping from wall to wall, from floor to ceiling, anyplace to anyplace, and look at this somersault, three in a row! We can fly!

We hop and we glide along the walls and ceilings and floors and tabletops, and it is easy, a twitch of the toes and now a somersault again. Here I come at a Big One, and I spread my legs to steer and slow, and the Big One catches me and says Kelly Kelly Kelly and pets me and we float to the window to look outside, but it is night, so I will stay where it is bright and warm and full of fun.

The Big One helps me spin, whee! and I come to a wall and jump off because Lime is down the hall and we can chase each other through the air. Lime sees me and launches herself at me and we meet in the air and bat at each other’s back feet and we connect and here we go! Back and forth and up and down, wall to floor to ceiling. It is the best game ever.

We can fly! We can fly!

Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Science fiction can reach out to the stars and at the same time hold tight to the human heart. The many layers of mystery in this beautiful love story lead to a breathtaking ending.

First, I should say that the British publisher sent me a copy of this novel and asked me to provide a blurb if I liked it. I did like it, and my blurb is the first paragraph of this review. The British edition goes on sale July 8. If you’re in the US, the book has been on sale since April.

Second, I cried at the ending.

Third, I won’t tell you why. Because spoilers, big spoilers.

Fourth, if you like science fiction, as you read this novel, you may wonder at some point if it is science fiction. Thora and Santi keep meeting in life after life, which doesn’t seem to make much sense. Trust me. It really is science fiction, and it all makes sense in the end.

Fifth, if you like literary fiction, here’s your chance to see that science fiction can also be character-driven and utterly moving. Just like the past and the present, the future will be human and humane.


View all my reviews

The genus of plants called Dracaena gets its name from the Ancient Greek word δράκαινα (drakaina): “female dragon.” It got that name because the red sap of Dracaena draco looked like dragon blood to the ancients. Dragon blood, it turns out, is useful.

Many houseplants fall within the Dracaena genus. Always popular for its beauty and easy care is the Dracaena marginata, also called the Madagascar dragon tree. One variety has dark red outer edges on its leaves with a green center; the Tricolor has green, pinkish, and yellowish stripes; and the Colorama has wide red edges.

None of them are real dragons, of course. But … what if they were dragons … dragons that were hiding? Dragons are magic, so they certainly could take the shape of a plant. And what if, sometimes, in the middle of the night, they changed back into real dragons?

You’ve never seen that happen — and there might be a magical reason for that. When you see a dragon in your living room, the dragon uses its magic to gently and thoroughly remove that memory from your mind. But a dragon has a sense of justice, and it wants to reward you for your care of the plant. So it offers a deal: it will remove the memory of its true self, and, if you wish, it will also remove one additional memory of your choice. There must be something you wish you could forget.

What would you choose?

“Going to the woods is going home.” — John Muir

Photo: Eau Claire Dells County Park, near Wausau, Wisconsin. Photo by Sue Burke.

What was it like to write about a fictional pandemic during a real pandemic? I answer that question in an essay published Tuesday at TorForgeBlog.com.

I recently received this plant as a gift from some neighbors. It had outgrown their apartment, and I had a little space in mine, so I welcomed it into my home.

It’s a Ravenea rivularis, or “majesty palm.” It grows in the understory — that is, in the shade of other trees and plants, so it likes a bright but not sunny space. It grows slowly, but eventually it can reach up to 100 feet tall, so I can’t keep it forever. The palm is a native of Madagascar, where it likes moist soil and grows in wetlands such as riverbanks and swamps.

Because of that, I’ve named it “Swamp Thing.” It lives here in my home office, where its size makes it seem like an extroverted companion.

I’ll be reading a short story live at the Gumbo Fiction Salon on Thursday, May 13, which begins at 6:30 p.m. CDT. My story is about a princess who rescues dragons and battles the ultimate evil.

The show will start at 7 p.m., but it opens a half hour early for socializing and open mic sign-up. You can sign up for a 10-minute reading slot. More information is at the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/924025898432787/

It will take place on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83277758999, Meeting ID: 832 7775 8999, Passcode: MayGumbo

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Meanwhile, at the Tiny Bookcase, you can hear me read a flash fiction story. The Tiny Bookcase is a short story writing and interview podcast. In each episode, the hosts, Nico and Ben, and the guest write a story using a shared prompt, then read it. The prompt in this episode was “rebooting” and the stories were intense and fun. Mine is about a woman who cursed the sea, so the sea cursed her.

Listen to it here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1129067/8485183

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If you prefer to do your own reading, here’s some text related to my most recent novel, Immunity Index:

• At Uncanny Magazine, my guest blog post details “Five Reasons Not to Bring Back Woolly Mammoths.”

• Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together interviews me about Immunity Index.

My next novel, Immunity Index, goes on sale May 4. It will have two virtual book launches.

Tuesday, May 4th, 7 to 9 p.m., @ Volumes Bookcafe. With Seanan McGuire!

Yes, award-winning author Seanan McGuire and I will talk about the novel, answer questions, and we’ll all have a lot of fun.

Tickets for this online event are free, but you can purchase a signed copy of Immunity Index as a ticket add-on. Sign up here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sue-burke-with-seanan-mcguire-tickets-151551290991

Volumes Bookcafe is a Chicago neighborhood independent bookstore café founded by two sisters who aimed to create a warm and inviting community space for book lovers of all ages.

Wednesday, May 5, @ A Room of One’s Own, 6 to 7 p.m.

Special guest will be Kit Rocha — that is, the author team Donna Herren and Bree Bridges — a three-way conversation. A Room of One’s Own is a local, independent, feminist bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin, where much of Immunity Index takes place. Register here:

https://www.roomofonesown.com/event/virtual-conversation-sue-burke-author-immunity-index-and-kit-rocha

Room offers a wide selection of current and classic fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, local interest titles, gifts, toys, and greeting cards. It also has strong children’s and young adult, women’s studies, and LGBTQ fiction and nonfiction sections.