Emergence: a short postapocalyptic queer cozy romance

by A.M. Weald

Kelle and Arjun are best friends.
Kelle and Arjun have never met.

They live in different pods: underground settlements separated by long stretches of strictly regulated tunnels, each pod sealed off to avoid viruses and other plagues devastating what remains of humanity and its food sources. Even romances, to an extent, are regulated. But people can still communicate via landline telephones, and people can still fall in love, even from afar. So when the government in control of the North American pod system has determined it's time to make a trade of goods between Pod North and Pod West, the human inhabitants of each pod are also welcome to petition for a transfer.

It's time for Kelle and Arjun to meet.

31 pages, ebook

Published August 7, 2025

About the author

A.M. Weald writes emotional, character-driven fiction in a mix of genres from the romantic to the speculative. She is a freelance editor, a semi-retired archaeologist, and a neurodivergent xennial who thinks about cats way too often.
Newsletter: subscribepage.io/amweald

Reviews

[Norbez Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting is very interesting, and Weald describes it very well, spoon-feeding information about the world in a natural way. The characters are lovable and have an adorable dynamic. Kelle & Arjun’s personalities shine in this story, and I loved seeing them together. My favorite part is how Kelle, once they physically meet, starts telling corny jokes like Arjun does. I thought that was so freaking cute!
Now, onto my critique. The most confusing this about the story is that it frames itself as Kelle & Arjun’s story, but it’s not. It’s the story of Kelle, Arjun . . . and Jair.
Introducing Jair as an LI into what should have been a tale for two makes the story feel unfocused; it’s an odd choice to have a third wheel in what should have been a straightforward romance. I love me some polyamory in my fiction, don’t get me wrong; my issues is not with polyamory on principle. My issue is that in this book, when the cover & synopsis & intro scene set it up as solely Kelle & Arjun’s story, Jair is an unwelcome intrusion. And once they get together, we don’t see their relationship progress naturally; time skips ahead rapidly at that point.
Overall, despite the issues I have with Emergence, I still enjoyed it, and am looking forward to seeing more from Weald. I saw she has ones about archeologists falling in love that I’m especially interested in. . .
I wrote a more detailed review of this story on my blog here: https://norbezdoes.wordpress.com/2026...