Tasting Light: 10 Science Fiction Stories

In a mind-bending MITeen anthology, ten top YA authors use emerging technologies to explore startling new realities.

What doesthe future hold? Ten speculative short stories by leading young-adult authors imagine what the world could be through the lens of technologies emerging today. When the modification industry transforms how humans look, sound, and interact, a nonbinary teen braves the “reinvention room” to accept a gift from the dead. In an accidental city in space, a young apprentice holds neighborhoods together with braided carbon filaments until distraction and inspiration arrive in the wake of a visitor. Entitlement-fueled drug use alters the landscape of white privilege, robots remember the Earth, and corporate “walkers” stroll for unknown subscribers—until one hacks the system. In tales buzzing with possibility, hope, innovation, anger, and tenderness, Tasting Light offers a dazzling challenge to connect with open minds, hearts, and senses in a fast-changing world.

With stories by:

William Alexander
K. Ancrum
Elizabeth Bear
A.R. Capetta
Charlotte Nicole Davis
Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
A.S. King
E.C. Myers
Junauda Petrus-Nasah
Wendy Xu