What We Leave Behind

Our time will leave an awful lot behind — not all of it good, nor all of it bad. How will the people living in the deindustrial age deal with it? Will they venerate it? preserve it? destroy it? repurpose it? A little of each is on display in the cheeky and sympathetic stories in this issue. A cathedral and a cinema both house people honoring relics of the past in unexpected ways. An armed rebellion in the hill country confuses its opponent’s AI with unorthodox tactics. Caretakers of both classic cars and a classic opera house reckon with their past and wonder about their future. A secret vault proves to contain an unusual and precious treasure. A scholar’s mysterious black liquid raises a dark specter from history. And a strange item spotted in a garbage can will draw a group of teenagers into the mystery of what it is, where it came from, and who the hermit out in the desert really is. Plus letters, speculations on future music, and poetry out of the distant past — a full and thought-provoking New Maps.

Contents

Introduction		iv
Letters		1
Essays & Reviews
Cheap Thrills: Deindustrial Music for Deindustrial People	Justin Patrick Moore	7
Þe Ruin	Wesley Stine	16
Stories
In the Pursuit of Happiness	Ben Coppin	21
Welcome to the Scriptorium	Brian M. Milton	30
What’s on Second	G. Kay Bishop	33
The Dream of Florian Neame	Daniel Stride	42
The Barber of Manaus	Gustavo Bondoni	49
Cruise Night	Harry Slater	52
A Good Book Has No Ending	Madeleine D’Este	57
Cactus Jack	Wesley Stine	63

ORDER