The Day We Stopped Burning

by Susan Kaye Quinn

SHORT STORY
A sister in the far future, when we no longer burn things for fuel, finds a forbidden thing that would make the perfect gift.

The Day We Stopped Burning is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection.

If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

Genres: Science Fiction

20 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 9, 2024

About the author

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Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and researched global warming, but now she uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Her works range from hopeful climate fiction to gritty cyberpunk. Sue believes being gentle and healing is radical and disruptive. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.

SOLARPUNK
collections
Bright Green Futures: 2024 (edited by SKQ)
Halfway to Better

novels
Nothing is Promised series
When You Had Power
You Knew The Price
Of Kindness and Kilowatts
Yet You Cry When It Hurts

short stories
A Moon Goddess to Watch Over Me (Luna Station Quarterly) (hopepunk)
It's in the Blood (Reckoning 8)
Once and Future Kilowatts (Solarpunk Magazine)
Rewilding Indiana (Little Blue Marble)
Seven Sisters (Grist)
The Joy Fund (DreamForge Magazine)

SCI-FI
Singularity Novel Series
The Legacy Human
The Duality Bridge
The Illusory Prophet
The Last Mystic

Stories of Singularity
Restore
Containment
Augment
Awakening
Harvest
Defiance
Resistance

YA SF
Mindjack Series
Open Minds
Closed Hearts
Free Souls
Locked Tight
Cracked Open
Broken Wide
Mindjack Short Story Collection

WATCH the award-winning live-action Mindjack Book Trailer!

STEAMPUNK ROMANCE
Royals of Dharia
Third Daughter
Second Daughter
First Daughter

CYBERPUNK
Debt Collector
LIRIUM (Season One)
WRAITH (Season Two)

WATCH the Debt Collector Book Trailer

ANTHOLOGIES
Synchronic
Telepath Chronicles
AI Chronicles
Dark Beyond The Stars
Future Chronicles
Cyborg Chronicles
CLONES: The Anthology

MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY
Faery Swap

WATCH the Faery Swap Book Trailer

CONTACT SUSAN
Susan's Website | Sue on Bluesky | Sue on Mastodon
Susan's Email: sue@twistedspacepub.com

Reviews

[John Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very short story about climate in a futuristic cyber punk world, only 20 pages so it hardly qualifies. Number 5 in the fascinating series written by the same woman who wrote the Mindjack series.

[Sandy S · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75stars-THE DAY WE STOPPED BURNING is the fifth instalment in Susan Kaye Quinn’s HALF-WAY TO BETTER collection of futuristic, solarpunk short stories.

Told from first person perspective, THE DAY WE STOPPED BURNING follows a young woman as she talks about the past and the present, in a world where starting a fire or burning anything for fuel is not longer allowed. Finding a ‘forbidden’ item in her search through the trash, is the perfect gift for someone she loves.

THE DAY WE STOPPED BURNING is another entertaining and thought-provoking quick read: a few pages revealing a possible future in a world destroyed by fire.

[T.M. Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky little read.

This is the fourth book I have read in this series. Shorter than the others I have read by this author. But it makes you think. Little pin prick messages to the conscience, and also leaves you wondering what she might be describing for her sister. I liked it.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very short story, but a brilliant idea, and really interesting.

[OldBird · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful flash fiction full of emotion.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A birthday candle would be a resonant object in a world where burning anything contributes to air pollution.

3 stars

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

7 pages - reader pages. Soooo short.