Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores, March 2024

“In Space No-One Can Hear You Play Alto Sax” by Hesper Leveret

Reviewed by Mina

“In Space No-One Can Hear You Play Alto Sax” by Hesper Leveret tied for this year’s (new) Kepler Award. I thought it deserved it. It’s not high-concept SF but has a lot of charm as a simple human story. It imagines a group of people leaving Earth to settle on a new planet. They are each allowed to take one suitcase: the narrator is taking soil and flower seeds; another settler is taking a sax. They find themselves busking in the passenger terminal to help a fellow settler. A sweet story without becoming saccharine and the author writes well.