Reminiscent of both "Damnation Alley" by Roger Zelazny and "The Postman" by David Brin, "And the Deep Blue Sea" offers almost three stories for the price of one.
Release date:
September 27, 2012
Publisher:
Little, Brown Book Group
Print pages:
160
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The following story reminds me of both “Damnation Alley” by Roger Zelazny and “The Postman” by David Brin, so we’re really getting three for the price of one.
Elizabeth Bear received the Campbell Award as Best New Writer in 2005 and has since won two Hugo Awards for her short fiction, a selection of which was published as The Chains That You Refuse (2006). She has been immensely prolific since her debut. Her first novel, Hammered (2005), which began the Jenny Casey trilogy set in a post-catastrophe North America, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel.
THE END OF THE WORLD had come and gone. It turned out not to matter much in the long run.
The mail still had to get through.
Harrie signed yesterday’s paperwork, checked the dates against the calendar, contemplated her signature for a moment, and capped her pen. She weighed the metal barrel in her hand and met Dispatch’s faded eyes. “What’s special about this trip?”
He shrugged and turned the clipboard around on the counter, checking each sheet to be certain she’d filled them out properly. She didn’t bother watching. She never made mistakes. “Does there have to be something special?”
“You don’t pay my fees unless it’s special, Patch.” She grinned as he lifted an insulated steel case onto the counter.
“This has to be in Sacramento in eight hours,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Medical goods. Fetal stem-cell cultures. In a climate-controlled unit. They can’t get too hot or too cold, there’s some arcane formula about how long they can live in this given quantity of growth media, and the customer’s paying very handsomely to see them in California by 1800 hours.”
“It’s almost 1000 now. What’s too hot or too cold?” Harrie hefted the case. It was lighter than it looked; it would slide effortlessly into the saddlebags on her touring bike.
“Any hotter than it already is,” Dispatch said, mopping his brow. “Can you do it?”
“Eight hours? Phoenix to Sacramento?” Harrie leaned back to check the sun. “It’ll take me through Vegas. The California routes aren’t any good at that speed since the Big One.”
“I wouldn’t send anybody else. Fastest way . . .
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