The Emotionless, in Love

Blood Grains #2

by Jason Sanford

Colton, a young man whose emotions were stolen from him, travels with his caravan through a world in which the environment has been modified to defend itself from destruction. But when Colton meets a dangerously powerful woman named Sri Sa, he finds himself drawn into both a millennia-old conflict and a mysterious romance which could change the world itself. An exciting, action-packed story of the far future from two-time Nebula Award finalist Jason Sanford.

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 7, 2018

About the author

Jason Sanford is three-time finalist for the Nebula Award and an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Born and raised in the American South, he currently lives in the Midwestern U.S. His life's adventures include work as an archaeologist and as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Jason's first novel Plague Birds will be released by Apex Books in September 2021. He has published dozens of short stories in Asimov's Science Fiction, Interzone, Analog: Science Fiction and Fact, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside Magazine, and other places. Books containing his stories include multiple "year's best" story collections and The New Voices of Science Fiction.

Jason’s awards and honors include being a finalist for the Nebula Awards for Best Novella, Best Novelette and Best Short Story. He has also won two Interzone Readers' Polls for best story of the year and been a co-winner of a third Poll. Jason's other honors include receiving a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, being nominated for the BSFA Award, and being longlisted for the British Fantasy Award. His stories have been named to multiple Locus Recommended Reading Lists along with being translated into a number of languages including Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Italian and Czech.

Reviews

[Leo McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to Blood Grains Speak Through Memories, this flips the perspective, telling the story through the eyes of those in the caravans that scuttle from place to place, seeking just enough shelter to eat and survive before moving on to a different spot.

Colton is one of those caravan travellers, and has a link back to characters in the first story. He also has a problem - his emotions have been stolen from him in a previous encounter.

His caravan finds a dangerous kind of shelter in the lands of a crazed, fractured anchor named Sri Sa. She protects his caravan, even as her behaviour endangers them all.

And more, she can make him feel. What price would you pay to feel even sadness instead of nothing at all?

The Emotionless, In Love expands the setting from the previous novel, and shows more of the effects on the other displaced inhabitants of this world.

It's not quite as taut as the previous story, and Sri Sa sometimes seems a little too invincible - the other anchors seem little of a threat at times - but it's still engrossing. A worthy follow-up to the original tale.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella (approx 28,000 words) is a sequel to Blood Grains Speak Through Memories although I think it would stand alone fine. It continues the story of a strange world where humanity is highly restricted by the nanobot “grains” which permeate the environment and prevent them using destructive technologies – unless you are a grain-controlled “anchor” in which case you get spectacular powers in their service. This story delves more into the lives of the nomadic caravans of “daywalkers” who the grains will not allow to settle down lest civilisation damages the environment, and does a good job of exploring a bit more of the backstory in a quite action-filled story. Like Blood Grains, I think that the worldbuilding is the star here.

[Jake Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world-building of this novella and its preceding story is fascinating. A very interesting take on a seemingly well-intentioned attempt at saving the environment having disastrous consequences and how humanity has adapted to the new rules of the world. I would like to see more in this world in the future. I feel there are still a lot of stories to be told here.