An excellent collection of short stories mostly set in a world trying to adapt to climate change. Ecology, biodiversity, adaptation of city environments to encourage wildlife (eg sea life in drains, gardens on roofs). The mood is probably melancholy (one story in particular, ‘Gone to Earth’, astronauts returning from Mars suffering from Earthsickness) but there is optimism, humans becoming more conscious of the environment, ecology and living within it. My favourite story was ‘Tranquility’, about a dying woman who is sending her body to a lifeless planet to hopefully seed life there, such a brilliant idea.

A great collection of stories that range from thought provoking to tender.
Beautiful cover to match the beautiful message.

An amazing short story collection by Octavia Cade! Anyone who is a fan of short stories is well versed in the struggles with finding a good collection (I won't name names, but there has been quite a few TikTok popular short story collections that are all hype and no meat), so it's nice to have a win. There's vulnerability in each story and a wide range of themes that can appeal to any genre reader. If you are a mood reader, this will be especially interesting to you.

This was good and interesting. I thought the stories were thought provoking and something that could say something about our day and age. I thought it was a fun read and worth it.

Oh this book put me to tears. Cute short stories of how people’s lives were changed with modern technology.

Absolutely stunning cover. Amazing writing and gripping story telling about climate change and the state of our planet. Its a quick read with a hefty punch that I think would really help open a lot of peoples eyes if they would just listen for a few minutes. Throughout the stories I got a bit of an eery, dark vibe. Like I was reading through what would become a Black Mirror episode, and I freaking loved it. I honestly hope I can read more from this author in the future.

This collection of short stories was truly delightful. It prominently explores themes of climate change and loss, resulting in many stories that are profoundly moving. While some of them are undeniably heart-wrenching, there's a consistent undercurrent of anger and resilience that prevents the collection from becoming overwhelmingly depressing. Each story possesses its own unique quality, but the shared themes weave them together in a seamless and gratifying manner.

The author's poetic writing style adds a melancholic touch to the stories, enhancing the impact of the imagery and creating a lasting impression on the reader. Octavia Cade's storytelling is a captivating blend of artistry and substance that leaves you eagerly anticipating more of her work.

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to the author and the publisher for granting me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This collection of short stories was wonderful. Themes of climate change and loss were prominent, and many of the stories were heartbreaking in some ways. There was also a thread of anger and resilience which kept them from being too depressing overall. Each story is unique, but the common themes tie the collection together in a nice way. I loved the poetic style in which the author wrote because it gave the stories a melancholy feeling that made the imagery more impactful. I look forward to reading more titles by Octavia Cade!
I am grateful to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

While I think the intention of this was to be poignant and influential, it was so overly written and incredibly repetitive that it just became dry. I ended up DNFing about 50-75% of the book because I found myself loathing it. I think the intentions were good and quite prominent, but the execution fell flat. Thank you to the publisher for my eARC.

You are my Sunshine and Other Stories was very impactful and will really make you stop and think. I really enjoyed the writing style and the stories.

This book collects 18 short fiction pieces in its pages, all penned by Octavia Cade. It includes a few reprints as well as original material, all collected under this absolutely beautiful cover.

Octavia Cade just has a way with words. I was already enamoured with The Impossible resurrection of Grief (which is referenced in here!) and this equally as powerful. As expected, environmental themes are it the center but she is not afraid to play with genre or writing styles to convey her message.

She has a talent of combining research with storytelling. The first story, We Feed the Bears of Fire and Ice, an absolute banger of an opening, links to published papers and The Stone Wētā does an excellent job using the animals the people in the secret organization named themselves after as metaphors.
The titular story is equally stunning, about a marine biologist that starts receiving severed arms in the mail – that premise alone had me hooked but it was the emotional build-up, the underlying grief and the inescapabability of his situation that left me stunned once I had finished it.

There is anger and hope and solitude and happiness in these pages. From quiet pieces that show people interacted with nature to life-changing decisions to internal struggles mirrored by nature. It's an incredible reading experience that is a must-read if you are into ecofiction.

I think this collection fits a very selective niche that is thankfully becoming more popular now. I thoroughly enjoyed many of the stories and look forward to more from this author.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.

This book was impactful! It definitely had me thinking. There were a few stories that were so interesting, I wish I could read more from but I really enjoyed it!

Review copy provided by the publisher.

I've heard a lot of discussion of climate horror in recent years. While the stories in this volume are plenty horrified, the dominant emotion is not mostly horror. It's what I'd describe as anguish. There are so many animals, so many plants, so many habitats in decline or obliterated, and Cade is not looking away from it, she's showing not just the devastated futures but the devastation from them. There are a few stories that are more upbeat, more whimsical, more of the places people are pulling up their socks and going on. But in order to get there we're going to have to go through the hard years, and Cade is not flinching away from that part, not for a moment.

I think one of my favorite things about Cade's writing has always been her grounding in both poetry and science. This is a work of prose, but the poetic language and the science grounding both inform it, both give it different kinds of precision, and I love that. I love that even when it's ripping me to pieces. I love it perhaps especially then.

Some absolute standouts here, but ultimately the end of the anthology dragged out for me and a few of the stories felt too samey.

I will definitely be checking out more of Cade's work in the future, because the title story blew me away. YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE stuck with me for days after reading it, and Cade can certainly conjure up some compelling imagery. Worth picking up for that one.

really loved the writing style and all the stories. My favorites were, "You are My Sunshine" and "Inside The Bodies Of Relatives".

Some stories were beautiful, others seemed to drag on a little or merely didn't stand out as much as the others. Overall it was hauntingly beautiful and a beautiful homage to the tragedy of global warming.

This book will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I thought it was brilliant. It's a harsh look at a world vastly affected by climate change and honestly not hard to envision as a near future reality. It made me uncomfortable to read at times. It made me think. It gave me new ways of looking at things that I hadn't previously considered. The first story was metaphoric but made an impression. I enjoyed Eight Things We Found Under the Ice, After the Arctic Melted a lot. You Are My Sunshine was probably the longest story and my least favorite. Gone to Earth was haunting. Inside the Body of Relatives spoke to me personally and I really liked it. Tranquility and the idea of being a mother of a planet was probably one of my favorites in the collection. The Stone Weta was impactful and carried a strong message about truth and information. The History of a Coral Future gave a an odd sense of comfort...as someone who has contamination OCD, by making me view bacteria and our microbiome as a good thing and a needed thing.

*thank you to netgally for giving me an e-arc to review!*

overall rating: 3.5 stars

anthologies are very hit or miss for me, but this one was overall written well and i enjoyed quite a few of the stories. they were very poetically written and thought-provoking. as you read the stories you start to see more of the overarching theme of human impact on the world around us and just life in general. i also feel like it is an easy book to pick up if you are new to science fiction since you each story is short and you can walk away from the book for a while without forgetting what is going on. my definite favorites were metamorphosis and gone to earth.

This collection of short stories were unique in an almost “Black Mirror” way….I’ve not come across this yet when reading an anthology. Most of the tales within were through provoking & very well written. I really enjoyed them all!