Quinn of the Endless River: A New Great Ship novelette
Release Date: Thursday, April 24th, 2025
Pages: 38 pages
In 'Quinn of the Endless River,' Robert Reed explores the afterlife through Miocene's journey amidst fossils and memories, blending elements of consciousness and discovery.
Available At
Full Description
Miocene strolls through the afterlife. And now and again, others pay her a visit.
The rock beneath the woman was limestone peppered with brachiopods.
She dragged her fingers across the fossilized shells and tasted the white dust on the tips, and then she stood again, giving the morning her regards as the sun climbed over the nearest stand of trees. Fossils and living species and the exact flavors of stone: Those were valuable tools for mapping her location on this memory of Earth.
The woman was smiling about something.
Why was she smiling?
A respectable question interrupted when a sabertooth cat sprang from behind, killing and partially consuming a carcass that tasted both wondrous and strange.
The head lay on its side, eyes open.
Inside the skull, that mockup of a bioceramic mind was far from dead, and until the sun rose again, the blessed woman was free to contemplate the many reasons she had to smile.
The rock beneath the woman was limestone peppered with brachiopods.
She dragged her fingers across the fossilized shells and tasted the white dust on the tips, and then she stood again, giving the morning her regards as the sun climbed over the nearest stand of trees. Fossils and living species and the exact flavors of stone: Those were valuable tools for mapping her location on this memory of Earth.
The woman was smiling about something.
Why was she smiling?
A respectable question interrupted when a sabertooth cat sprang from behind, killing and partially consuming a carcass that tasted both wondrous and strange.
The head lay on its side, eyes open.
Inside the skull, that mockup of a bioceramic mind was far from dead, and until the sun rose again, the blessed woman was free to contemplate the many reasons she had to smile.