When we meet her, she is working from her bedroom in a cheap VR hood as a troubleshooter for Superwally, a thinly veiled Walmart analog that has come to monopolize all of America's ecommerce and logistics. Unconstitutional, authoritarian anti-congregation and low-density laws - passed under color of state of emergency - are combined with widespread adoption of VR and drone delivery to reverse America's urbanization, turning the country into a nation of isolated shut-ins who live almost entirely virtual lives, from work to education to romance to entertainment.

The America that emerges from the chaos is profoundly transformed. Before America can come to grips with the chaos that has everyone cowering in their homes, the country is swept by a lethal pox pandemic that kills many and scars all. It's a long way from busking in New York City, and even longer from orthodox Jewish family she left behind in Brooklyn when she realized, painfully, that neither her queerness nor her affinity for music could ever find a home among the closed-minded religious community she hailed from.īut Luce's career - and the careers of every other live entertainer - is cut short when a wave of terrorist violence sweeps America, mass shootings and bombings that progress relentlessly from isolated events to threats that shut down whole cities, then whole states. Luce Cannon is a rising music star whose unlikely hit single has garnered her a label deal, a touring band, and a succession of better and better gigs as she crisscrosses America in her band's van.

Since her stories started appearing in 2013, Sarah Pinsker ( previously) has been a writer to watch, winning prestigious awards from the Nebula to the Sturgeon now, in her debut novel, A Song For a New Day, Pinsker shows that she can write long-form work that's every bit as compelling, wrenching, sweet and angry as the stories that launched her career.

A song for a new day by sarah pinsker