Cloudburst: A dystopian romance short story

by Jill Tew

28 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2026

About the author

Jill Tew is the critically-acclaimed author of dystopian romance and middle grade novels that imagine Black girls in exciting new worlds. Her debut novel The Dividing Sky (2024) was a Top 10 Kids Indie Next Pick, and was selected by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Bookshop.org, and Reactor Magazine as one of the Best Young Adult Books of the Year. Her middle grade debut Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement will be available in April 2025.

A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Jill lives in Atlanta with her family. She is also a co-host of the Afronauts Podcast, which provides writing tips and community for Black aspiring speculative fiction writers. When not writing, she can be found stress baking, gardening, or belting showtunes in the carpool line.

Reviews

[Virginia Easthome · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a FABULOUS short story - and if Jill ever writes a full-length version, I am THERE.

So it's ostensibly dystopian, but if you see how we're treating the environment these days...it kinda looks like the future. Jill Tew develops the colleague relationships of the cloud-herders so well in just a few pages (plus the potential romance!!) and the mmc truly sees the fmc, even across socioeconomic/class lines, and he makes it rain for her (this is HUGE in the story). I absolutely gobbled it up, and loved the taster of Jill's writing.

Off to go read her other books...

[Nalini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an adorable little love story 🥹🥹

[Brittany Steminist Booknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

STEM FMC: geo engineer
Very quick dystopian meteorology YA love story.