Where Would You Be Now?

The Bannerless Saga #0.5

by Carrie Vaughn

The world as they know it is ending, a new world is taking its place. Among the doctors and nurses of a clinic-turned-fortress, Kath is coming of age in this new world, and helping define it. But that doesn't make letting go of the old any easier. "Where Would You Be Now?" is a prequel to Carrie Vaughn's novel Bannerless, a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Fiction, Fantasy, LGBT

35 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2018

About the author

Carrie Vaughn is the author more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories. She's best known for her New York Times bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. In 2018, she won the Philip K. Dick Award for Bannerless, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery. She's published over 20 novels and 100 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She's a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop.

An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado, where she collects hobbies.

Visit her at www.carrievaughn.com

For writing advice and essays, check out her Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/carrievaughn

Reviews

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars for this dystopian novelette. Read it free online here at Tor.com. Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:

"Where Would You Be Now?" follows a couple of days in the lives of the people in a medical clinic in dystopian America, just a few years after the breakdown of society. Twenty year old Kath and the other thirty-odd people who are associated with this California medical clinic are trying, against all odds, to keep providing at least some medical care to the people who live in their area. As the story begins, Kath and two medical personnel are on an excursion to a small settlement. Kath keeps guard with a shotgun while Melanie and Dennis help a woman to give birth in primitive conditions. Luckily they have a Tesla, and enough solar panels at the clinic to recharge it.

Melanie practically fell into the back seat, and Dennis started the motor and pulled away. Kath rode in the front passenger seat. Literally shotgun. That had stopped being clever a while back. She kept the window rolled halfway down and listened for the sound of approaching engines.

The challenges in their new society are almost overwhelming: no more telephones or mass communication, rampant disease, insufficient medical supplies and food, and other problems. Kath and her group have turned their medical clinic into a barricaded compound, with makeshift walls to protect them against hostile attacks. The barricades and guns come in handy when a gang roars up to their walls with cars and motorcycles … and two severely injured gang members.

It’s all very slice-of-life, but I was impressed with how Vaughn addresses the small details of life for people trying to get by and preserve what they can of the benefits of technology and society. “Where would you be now, if the collapse hadn’t occurred?” is the question Kath and her friends often ask each other.

This story is set in the same world as Vaughn’s novel Bannerless and her Hugo-nominated story "Amaryllis", about sixty years before those works. The main character here, Kath, plays a minor role in Bannerless as old “Auntie Kath.”

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kath didn’t know enough about golf to tell if he was any good. Didn’t seem to bother him, that he might never play a real round of golf ever again. He just seemed to enjoy hitting balls to nowhere.

Kath sat on the edge of the barricade and watched for a little while.

“Morning,” Dennis said finally.

“What happens when you run out?”

He shrugged. “Maybe I’ll start hitting rocks. But, maybe I won’t run out. Maybe I’ll get back to Palm Springs, when everything gets back to normal.”

This is normal, she thought. She was thinking that more and more, but never said it out loud.

i don't usually read tor shorts that are connected to books or series i haven't read, but there wasn't a new one posted this week and this was the most appealing option in the batch of unreads. it's a prequel, so i daresay i haven't spoiled anything for myself if i ever choose to read the two-book bannerless saga (which actually sounds pretty good), and although there isn't much *to* the story, it does seem to be something fans of that series would appreciate—a look at the transition from one reality to the new normal; its medical realities, loss of opportunities, and dawning acceptance that the world ain't going back to what it was, there will always be new challenges to face, but as long as people have have community and loved ones, it's possible to get through it. but maybe slow yer breeding, sheesh.



read it for yourself here:

https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...

come to my blog!

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short dystopian piece about life in America after a post-disaster, day-a-day reality with problems with famine and worry about armed gangs, like many other tons of dystopia show. Still... I'd like to know more, is too short.

A clinic still working with doctors and nurses trying to help and survive, worried about fed their members and colaborators. Still uncertain about the world or if this it.

This keep remind me of another story, and yes is similar to Amaryllis ---Amaryllis and Other Stories

This is a prequel to Bannerless. Could be read online here.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bannerless Saga by Carrie Vaughn is one of my personal favourite series. This tidy short story is a prequel set some decades before Bannerless and The Wild Dead. Kath is side character in Bannerless, notable as one of the only people left living who remember the collapse of society and the rough road to rebuilding a stable community.

This story provides a snapshot of how the idea of sustainability and keeping within strict limits arises out of absolute necessity, later becoming ingrained and integral to the culture of the communities that emerge. In trademark style, Vaughn takes this short piece and makes it feel rich and complete.

You can read this story for free here:

https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this one. Depressing, but with hope. Wouldn't mind reading more in this world. 5 solid stars.

[Igrowastreesgrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lesbian couple!?!!!!?! That's great! I'm very happy about that.

Overall, the story was very intriguing. Life in a post-collapse medical camp. The whole story seemed too short. I just wanted to read more and more.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short story in the world of Bannerless - this one looking at the time just after everything has fallen apart, when some lucky people are still holding on; but only just. Though I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels, so few focus on the rebuilding, on the small human moments that make it worth rebuilding at all. Carrie Vaughn does it very well, and you can find it free on Tor here: https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific world building. Glad I’m middle aged. Who the hell wants to survive the apocalypse.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five years after civilization starts really breaking down, a community of doctors take the first steps toward creating their own antibiotics and contraceptives. Told from the point of view of Kath, is young enough to think of their new world as almost normal. I love seeing the day-to-day details of how their community works, and how it interacts and interfaces with others.

Available online at Tor

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Day 9 in my 24 Days of Shorts

Kath sat on the roof of the beat-up Tesla S, legs draped down the back window, shotgun in both hands, looking out into the dark for whatever might hurt them.

This was okay, with a lot (a lot!) of good, in-depth dialogue that you don’t always find in a short story. This is a prequel for Bannerless, which I have not read (yet). Instead of the Beginning-Middle-End format that makes a complete story so satisfying, this was just: Beginning. So, okay, that’s a beginning. I’m neither more nor less interested in reading Bannerless now.

There wasn’t anything exceptionally thought-provoking or mind-expanding here, and there weren’t any beautiful or intriguing lines I wanted to quote.

I kept getting Maggie and Melanie confused, I’m always annoyed when authors choose to use similar names like that. You’ve got the whole alphabet to work with, but you’re just married to M?? I also found it a bit ridiculous that characters were going around asking each other: “Where would you be now?” Sure, on the one hand, it explains the title, but on the other hand, it was completely inane. These characters are in a state of constant triage, they don’t have time to stop and muse about alternate futures, they don’t even know if they will have a future.



read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...



My 24 Days of Shorts
1. File N°002 by Sylvain Neuvel
2. File N°247 by Sylvain Neuvel
3. Skinner Box by Carole Johnstone
4. The Weight of Memories by Liu Cixin
5. A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
6. If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho
7. Meat And Salt And Sparks by Rich Larson
8. Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu
9. Where Would You Be Now? by Carrie Vaughn
10. Old Media by Annalee Newitz
11. Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory
12. Sweetlings by Lucy Taylor
13. An Unexpected Honor by Ursula Vernon
14. Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
15. A Love Story by Samantha Hunt
16. The Lake by Tananarive Due
17. Ghost Hedgehog by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
18. Finnegan's Field by Angela Slatter
19. Among the Thorns by Veronica Schanoes
20. Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
21. The Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary Rickert
22. As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders
23. Twixt Firelight and Water by Juliet Marillier
24. The Christmas Show by Pat Cadigan

[CatBookMom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really short story, set at the beginning of the post-apocalyptic era that is part of the book Bannerless. Systems are nearly completely failed, people are still rather lawless and marauders are all about. Kath (she who will be Auntie Kath) is a guard and helper for the people who have gathered at The Clinic.

Lovely little story. Wish there was more of it.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked seeing the world Vaughn created at an earlier, more unsettled time, plus getting to know Kath and her experiences more.

[Tasula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prequel to Bannerless which I have not read yet. Heartfelt story about a small medical clinic trying to survive and help people in USA after an apocalypse.

[Andrew Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great prelude to Bannerless. Its interesting to see how Vaughn started forming this society before she really got into fleshing it out for a full novel.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A less stable time, this free prequel to Bannerless is very good.

[Mook · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

This story is a prequel to the novel Bannerless, which I am going to have to go find. This was a good short story, setting up the world and the characters easily, and conveying a sense of what the novel itself will be like.

There's no explanation for what has caused society to collapse, but it's not really necessary. The point is not to try and find out what has happened but to see how these people will survive the aftermath. The main characters all live and work in a clinic. They try to provide care to scattered communities nearby. It's difficult and dangerous. People will often try to get to them, to force them to provide care or to steal their resources. This story covers a lot - the stress from running out of supplies both medical and food related, the hopelessness they feel in the face of trying to help others, the paranoia and safety measures they have to take when someone comes to them for help.

I also really liked the strong theme of reproduction here. The doctors are constantly worried about the pregnant women, concerned that they and their babies won't get the care they need. The men they talk to seem resistant to the idea of birth control; the women are either resigned to the idea of being pregnant or terrified of it. The doctors make an ally of one of the woman that travels with a dangerous convoy simply by secretly giving her an IUD and telling her to spread the word that they're willing to supply them to whoever comes. I am interested in seeing where this goes next.

This short story can be read here: https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...

[Mauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the things I liked about Bannerless was that it was dystopia established, rather than dystopia in progress. Contrarily, however, as soon as I finished I kind of did want to read more about the end of the world. Thankfully this short story scratched that itch.

Kath is young woman who "should be in college" according to all of the nurses and doctors at the clinic she and 30 other people are sheltering in. Unfortunately, Kath's world ended three years ago, with the death of her parents and millions of others in a series of natural disasters compounded by disease. Instead Kath guards the clinic as its inhabitants worry about wandering bands of marauders, running out of antibiotics, and having enough food to eat. Some of the main elements include procreation in a dystopia: infant mortality, men thinking repopulating the world is a priority when you don't have food, people having more children than they can feed, women having to use sex as a commodity in exchange for protection, unwanted pregnancies, birth control, etc. Heavy stuff for a short story, but easy to draw a line from this to Bannerless. (Just as it's easy to draw a line from our current reality to this short story.)

A few quibbles: there's a childbirth at the beginning and the doctor and midwife don't stick around long enough for the delivery of the placenta, probably a research error. Similarly, the doctor tells the parents to bring the baby to the clinic for some of the vaccines they still have: first, all vaccines expire within two years of manufacturer (and some sooner than that); second, all vaccines have to be refrigerated or frozen until shortly before being administered and while I suppose it's possible the clinic has had electricity the whole time since the world ended, it seems unlikely; and third, the first vaccine on the schedule, hepatitis B, is given at birth. There are definitely logistic problems, but the doctor and the midwife definitely could be bringing that dose, plus a few other, easier and cheaper immediate post-birth interventions. There's a lot of "oh woe, what we have lost" but there are intermediate steps between "labor and delivery in a 21st century state-of-the-art birthing center" and "the middle ages" and while I suppose the clinic staff may be stuck on the fancy stuff they've lost, it's hard to believe someone didn't at least raid the library for Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook.

[Read Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story prequel to the Vaughn's Bannerless book.

I was not sure what to expect, other than I enjoy reading Vaughn from time to time.

This short story is just about perfect. It drops you into a bleak dystopian California. People are doing what they can to survive. I can see this as a great lead in to an epic series. I trust the book parts will be separate stories of their own, but I will have to read them to find out.

And I found there is another short story in this same universe that you can read titled Amaryllis. You can read it for free on Lightspeed.

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...

Have a GoodReads.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I like to read dystopian/post-apocalyptic books I am always curious how the world crumbled. This one is a bit more into the crumble, I think the worst time actually. The time where you realize the world won't fix itself and that this is your new reality. Where if you are old enough you can ask yourself, "Where would you be now, if things were normal?". The characters were asking each other this, really making them think, making them realize that this is it for them. It really makes things seem bleak right now for them.

[Yev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Society has recently collapsed. It's never stated why, but I didn't mind in this case. Several medical professionals and those with training have established a fort. Sometimes they go out to help others, but usually others come to them. Kath, the protagonist, helps out and is in a lesbian romance. This seems to be where the ideals of the reformed society began, especially the strictures regarding births.
This novelette is the latest story written in this setting, but the earliest set chronologically. I decided to read this before the novels, which is out of publication order, but that wasn't an issue because it's about a side character's life far before anything happens in the novels or the short fiction.
Rating: 3.5/5

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story is a prequel to the events of the Carrie Vaughn's The Coast Road series. It can be read as a stand-alone story (I did), but I was left with the impression that I would have enjoyed it more if I recognized some of the characters and I knew what will happen to them.
In this story the world as we know it is ending, and a new world is taking its place. Among the doctors and nurses of a clinic-turned-fortress, young Kath is coming of age in this new world, and helping to define it. But that doesn't make letting go of the old any easier.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve already read Bannerless, so it was nice to get the bonus of this prequel. The very beginning is still fuzzy, because we don’t definitely know what happened to cause the catastrophe, but really that is insignificant. What the author does give us is a glimmer of hope. The end may be near, but human beings will go on and possibly learn from their mistakes and misdeeds...maybe.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time for some brutal honesty. First half: terrible. Almost unreadable. Overwritten, undertold. Second half: all the juicy action happens. If this is representative of Ms. Vaughn's work, she needs more time to develop her voice. Otherwise, more editing, at an earlier stage, would deliver a better product.

[Lisa Feld · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting twist on post-apocalyptic fiction: what happens to women's health and to women's relationships as prospects grow ever darker? But it didn't feel either different enough from other post-apocalyptic stories (which isn't my favorite genre anyway) nor did it feel as powerful as other Vaughn stories I've loved.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Carrie Vaughn's writing style. This short, free (link below), piece introduces us to a new series "The Coast Road".
I loved this piece and I'm looking forward to the series.
https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...

[luiloth · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.tor.com/2018/02/07/where-...

There’s another short story, Amaryllis set in the same background available to read for free over at Lightspeed:
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...

[Nilchance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prequel short story to a series of books, a dystopia story that isn't hopeless centered around good people trying their best to hold shit together. I enjoy Vaughn's writing and this was no exception.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story was so great! Set with a character who has been mentioned, but who because of her age, died, well, yeah, it was great to see her as a teen, when these horrible things were going on! Such a great read!

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was . . . fine? I enjoyed the characters, but the post-apocalyptic setting was as bland as can be. I do have the novel this is a prequel to in my to-read pile; perhaps it gets developed further there.

[iy44reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a short dystopian book. You dont have to explain everything yet reader like me could understand everything including the hidden meaning (even if there wasnt, i will always think there was). Looking forward to read more books from this author