She keeps by her side a polar bear with its head and paws caged. The lives of all four characters are shaken up when a strange woman riding an orca arrives in town. Among those just trying to get by are Fill, a victim of “the breaks ” Kaev, a professional fighter hired by a crime boss Ankit, an assistant to a local politician and Soq, a gender-fluid “messenger” who travels around the city, looking for a better way to spend their time. Crime is on the rise, the wealth gap is growing, and a mysterious disease called “the breaks” is spreading faster than doctors can study it. It’s a floating city in the Arctic Circle, a last bastion of civilization after the so-called “Climate Wars.”īut no matter how great its technological advancements, the city is starting to fray. In fact, most of the world’s epicenters are gone, and in their place is a new metropolis called Qaanaaq. But unlike Robinson, Miller imagines New York City long gone.

This book, like Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140, looks to a future time when Earth has been ravaged by climate change and humanity is barely hanging on. Miller, author of the thrilling new novel Blackfish City. Photo by Kalyaní-Aindrí Sánchez.įor this month’s column, I spoke with Sam J. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter to get “Burning Worlds” and other writing about art and climate delivered straight to your inbox. Burning Worlds is Amy Brady’s monthly column dedicated to examining trends in climate fiction, or “cli-fi,” in partnership with Yale Climate Connections.

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller