Pomegranates

By Priya Sharma

Pomegranates is a dystopian tale, where climate change is an all-too-real backdrop to the events of the novella. Persephone is in the Underworld, relating her family's history to a human who's found his way there. As events unfold, and we see the horror her anger has unleashed on the world, we're drawn deeper and deeper into the heart of this amazing story. The author has drawn a vivid picture of the world's decay set against the backdrop of the repercussions of a dysfunctional family. And what a family it is—the gods themselves, bringing destruction on us all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: PS Publishing
• Release date: Dec 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781786369697

Book preview

Introduction

I’ve known Priya Sharma for a while now. We first met at a convention; whether it was a FantasyCon or an Edge-Lit in Derby I can’t remember now (there have been so many). But as we’ve got to know each other better I’ve watched the award nominations and wins with pleasure—knowing they couldn’t happen to a better writer or a lovelier person, and we’ve grown to be good friends over the years. I’ve wanted to add something from Priya to the Absinthe Books library for a while now, so I’m very happy that this time around she had time to kindly write something for me. And what a novella it is!

Pomegranates is a dystopian tale, where climate change is an all-too-real backdrop to the events of the novella. Persephone is in the Underworld, relating her family’s history to a human who’s found his way there. As events unfold, and we see the horror her anger has unleashed on the world, we’re drawn deeper and deeper into the heart of this amazing story.

I’d love to tell you more, but to do so would both give too much away and do you, dear reader, a disservice. Let Pomegranates unfold and tell you its story; enjoy the world Priya details so beautifully and the events she describes. Pomegranates is a novella to be discovered, not described.

Enjoy.

—Marie O’Regan

Derbyshire, 2022

Sofía Barker

With love and thanks

for your unwavering support and belief

and

with my eternal admiration for

your bravery

Prologue

The universe is a trinity of women.

Hecate, Moon Goddess in the sky.

Demeter, Corn Mother on the earth.

And me, Grim Persephone in the underworld.

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Transcript of Speech by Dr A. Ursa to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

The ancient Greeks once worshipped Demeter, the Goddess of Crops. In all her divinity, she was Mother Earth. When her daughter, Persephone, went missing she was torn by grief and plunged the world into permanent winter.

Persephone was a prisoner of Hades, God of the Underworld. When she was found, Hades claimed her forever, as she’d eaten three pomegranate seeds from the dish at his table. The Gods on Olympus decided that Hades could only keep her there for three months of the year. So it is that we have this period of mourning, the winter in which we are without Demeter’s bounty.

It’s now estimated that we only have one hundred and three harvests remaining before a permanent winter. We only have ourselves to blame. We’ve domesticated our crops for short-term gain and now they can’t manage without us. They’re vulnerable. They’re not able to evolve because we’ve bred out their essential biodiversity. And we need them to evolve because we are in a race for our own survival.

To paraphrase Darwin, it’s not the survival of the fittest but the most adaptable.

We need to act. We need to act now.

We need a seed bank, one that will transcend barriers and boundaries. We’ve been in complex negotiations with over fifty countries where crops are highly vulnerable due to climate change and conflict. We also want to act as a secondary storage facility for banks at risk because of their location in war zones, such as Syria.

The Demeter Bank is under construction in Svalbard. It will be the most secure facility of its kind in the world. It’s bomb-proof and nuclear blast-proof. It’s high above sea level, making it safe from floods. It’s designed to withstand earthquakes. In the event of power failure, the building will stay at optimum temperature to preserve the seeds, as it’s embedded in the permafrost.

We plan for each country to send us sealed boxes that will be security scanned before being stored. We propose a five-year rolling germination plan to ensure seed viability.

We can’t catalogue what’s been lost but we can preserve what remains to ensure the food security that future generations need to survive.

Any questions?

The August Institute/ Clinical Record/ Patient F953394-00-09

Admission notes

Unidentified female

Calls herself Demeter

Age approximately 60 yrs

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HISTORY

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Referral and Informants

Referral from Bixhill Psychiatric Unit, Wyndham General Hospital.

Patient admitted there under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act after she was found by the Police wandering around Coleburn Housing Estate, Kent.

Emaciated and unkempt at the time of this admission.

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Presenting Complaint

Patient has no recollection of events immediately preceding her being picked up by the Police.

She is reported as saying she was looking for her daughter who is lost to the world, stating that she could no longer see her.

She said she came from a bad family, alluded to organised criminal activity, patricide, incest, assault, and murder, but she refused to elaborate further.

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Past Psychiatric History

Unknown.

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Past Medical History

Denies diabetes mellitus, hypertension, epilepsy, cardiac disease.

She says she has had one child, a daughter who is lost. She states she is responsible for this but refuses to elaborate.

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Family History

Demeter says she is a member of a very important family. She describes them as sociopathic rapists, despots, egomaniacs and drunkards.

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Personal History

Demeter says she spent her childhood locked away with her siblings. She denies any formal education. She states that she has never been married.

One daughter, who she says was not born in the normal way.

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Social History

She cannot recall where she lives.

She denies smoking, alcohol, or drug use—illicit or otherwise.

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Premorbid Personality

Describes herself as a generally calm person, happiest with her daughter. States she is slow to anger but it takes her a long time to forget grudges. Loves being outdoors and talks about crops and flowers in a way which suggests that she might have been a gardener or a farmer.

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Medication

None

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EXAMINATION

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Appearance and Behaviour

Wearing clothes provided by the staff at Bixhill Psychiatrist Unit—grey sweatpants and jumper, too large. Hair uncut, long, uncombed.

Dirty fingernails.

Little eye contact but when there is it is prolonged and intense.

Good posture. Psychomotor retardation.

No tremor, no dyskinesias.

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Speech

Slow speech with no slurring.

No pressure of speech. No neologism, perseveration, or echopraxia.

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Mood

Closed, guarded demeanour. Tearful at times. Sometimes sarcastic.

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Thought

No flight of ideas. No concrete thinking.