The Claustrophobia Of Loneliness and Adam, Be A Star (Double Issue): Inklet, #42

By Amy Laurens

On the moon, the sole survivors of a terrestrial plague keep each other company.

But when you have the whole moon to fill, two is a very small number.

Can they persevere, for the sake of the human race, their lives—and their sanity?

A very short story about the crushing loneliness of depression, and the need for human connection to survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inkprint Press
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393704690

Amy Laurens

AMY LAURENS is an Australian author of fantasy fiction for all ages. Her story Bones Of The Sea, about creepy carnivorous mist and bone curses, won the 2021 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella. Amy has also written the award-winning portal-fantasy Sanctuary series about Edge, a 13-year-old girl forced to move to a small country town because of witness protection (the first book is Where Shadows Rise), the humorous fantasy Kaditeos series, following newly graduated Evil Overlord Mercury as she attempts to acquire a castle, the young adult series Storm Foxes, about love and magic and family in small town Australia, and a whole host of non-fiction, both for writers AND for people who don’t live with constant voices in their heads. Other interesting details? Let’s see. Amy lives with her husband and two kids in suburban Canberra. She used to be a high-school English teacher, and she was once chewed on by a lion. (The two are unrelated. It was her right thumb.) Amy loves chocolate but her body despises it; she has a vegetable garden that mostly thrives on neglect; and owns enough books to be considered a library. Of course. Oh, and she also makes rather fancy cakes in her spare time. She’s on all the usual social media channels as @ByAmyLaurens, but you’ve got the best chance of actually getting a response on Instagram or the contact form on her website. <3

Book preview

The Claustrophobia Of Loneliness and Adam, Be A Star

INKLET #42

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AMY LAURENS

www.InkprintPress.com

The Claustrophobia Of Loneliness

We sat apart, watching the Earth-rise. I wondered how many people were left down there.

It’s too crowded, she said abruptly. I can’t think in here.

I looked around our transparent dome, edge to edge a hundred paces, only us inside. Where will you go? We’d had this conversation before. We both knew there was nowhere.

Get rid of the weeds, she told me instead. The grass can’t breathe.

This was new. What should I do with them?

Burn them, she snarled, then slumped. Or don’t. Save the oxygen. I don’t care. The rescue ship will come.

It will. I hugged her, and waited for the mood to pass.

Later, I caught her staring at the stars. I anchored her hand in mine.

Whatcha thinking? My pulse hammered.

She gestured over our heads, entranced. Do you think they have enough room?

Who? I asked, biting my lip as she pulled away.

The stars.

They glittered the sky, crammed in elbow to elbow until some overlapped. I shrugged. How much is enough? A whole world wasn’t enough when you shared it with EBOV momento mortis. And a dome was plenty if you didn’t. I found Earth close to our western