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Last Train to Jubilee Bay
After the sickness and quarantine almost destroyed the city, the traders arrived creeping out from the sea to live off the memories of those people left behind; getting them addicted to the serum these strange creatures manufacture in return. But now it’s been more than five days since they have come for their daily visit. And Lucy is determined to find out why.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 6, 2013
About the author
Kali Wallace
28 books587 followersKali Wallace studied geology and geophysics before she decided she enjoyed inventing imaginary worlds as much as she liked researching the real one. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, F&SF, Asimov's, Lightspeed Magazine, and Tor.com. She is the author of the dark, fantastical teen novels Shallow Graves (2016) and The Memory Trees (2017), as well as the middle grade fantasy adventure City of Islands (2018). Her first novel for adults, the sci fi horror SALVATION DAY, is forthcoming from Berkley. She lives in southern California.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 25, 2017
Lucy stood beneath the sign for Jubilee Bay and looked northward along the tracks. Some days, when the fog was light and the sun shone weak and sickly over the city, Lucy climbed to the roof of the highest building in Morningtown and tried to see the ocean through the garden of hollow-eyed skyscrapers. The pickers said the sea crept closer every day, sometimes swallowing yards of land overnight, the corpses of abandoned neighborhoods disintegrating with every hungry gulp.
review to come.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2013/02/06/last-tr...
May 6, 2018
Lucy had spent the day scavenging for firewood, prying apart empty buildings like a filthy, fishbelly-pale picker, breaking through plaster to pull moldy studs from the walls.
All in for dystopian descriptions. Not bothering to provide background exposition for whatever the heck happened, Kali Wallace puts the reader right in the middle of what appears to be a daily routine amidst drugged-out chaos. Civilisation has gone bye-bye and the locals get by with a memory-deleting serum delivered by the Traders, who come from the sea.
When the traders had first crawled out of the sea, a dozen years ago, every memory had been vivid and strong, every page crammed edge to edge with smudged bold urgency. The traders had accepted the memories reverently, grasping the pages with their clumsy fronds twisted into a parody of human fingers, ink running and paper disintegrating to a wet mash in orifices that were not mouths, sending quivers of ecstasy through limbs that were not arms or legs.
Creepy. The adventure comes when the heroine of the story takes off to find the Traders, which is something she may regret. Now, I am not a big sci-fi reader, but I do get into tales that describe a future where normality has disappeared and humankind is just barely hanging on. Given the sudden increase in worldwide volcanic activity (Hawaii, Indonesia, Yellowstone, Alaska, Russia), we may be getting there sooner than later.
Note: For some unfathomable reason, I listened to Frank Sinatra singing Indian Summer while reading this Tor tale. No clue why, yet I streamed it over and over. Now the two are linked in my mind.
Book Season = Autumn (damp wood)
All in for dystopian descriptions. Not bothering to provide background exposition for whatever the heck happened, Kali Wallace puts the reader right in the middle of what appears to be a daily routine amidst drugged-out chaos. Civilisation has gone bye-bye and the locals get by with a memory-deleting serum delivered by the Traders, who come from the sea.
When the traders had first crawled out of the sea, a dozen years ago, every memory had been vivid and strong, every page crammed edge to edge with smudged bold urgency. The traders had accepted the memories reverently, grasping the pages with their clumsy fronds twisted into a parody of human fingers, ink running and paper disintegrating to a wet mash in orifices that were not mouths, sending quivers of ecstasy through limbs that were not arms or legs.
Creepy. The adventure comes when the heroine of the story takes off to find the Traders, which is something she may regret. Now, I am not a big sci-fi reader, but I do get into tales that describe a future where normality has disappeared and humankind is just barely hanging on. Given the sudden increase in worldwide volcanic activity (Hawaii, Indonesia, Yellowstone, Alaska, Russia), we may be getting there sooner than later.
Note: For some unfathomable reason, I listened to Frank Sinatra singing Indian Summer while reading this Tor tale. No clue why, yet I streamed it over and over. Now the two are linked in my mind.
Book Season = Autumn (damp wood)
May 29, 2022
Short and simple story, I can't say it's super engaging or original, but it certainly entertains and sets the stage for a post-pandemic, dystopian world with a lot of potential that can be used in the future.
The context, about traders coming from abroad, looking for an almost mystical "serum", seemed to me too much like the script of the Ixalan set, from the MTG card game. But the game is from 2017, an the book was first published some years before, in 2013.
The context, about traders coming from abroad, looking for an almost mystical "serum", seemed to me too much like the script of the Ixalan set, from the MTG card game. But the game is from 2017, an the book was first published some years before, in 2013.
June 23, 2017
Strange, sad, but interesting. I wish it had been a little longer with a little more explanation.
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April 2, 2024link to find later https://reactormag.com/last-train-to-...
February 23, 2017
Wallace builds a story that feels just like a wave--building, crashing over you, and washing away as gently as it came. Fitting, considering the haunting seaside she paints for us; a crumbling city and an urchin of a girl, both struggling, ruined by some nameless sickness years before. Through the two of them, Wallace pens an interesting rumination on memory. She doesn't ask what memories are worth holding on to, but whether it's worth it to hold onto memory at all. When you finish, you will feel bereft. Contemplative, but sort of hollowed-out inside. She will steal a sliver of your heart.
Basically, the descriptions were poignant and world-building was phenomenal; I'd be curious to try out one of her full-length novels.
3.5 stars
Basically, the descriptions were poignant and world-building was phenomenal; I'd be curious to try out one of her full-length novels.
3.5 stars
February 7, 2013
n a devastated world where the focus of life has been narrowed to the act of survival, there are those who would trade their memories for the serum, a drug that will help them forget. Morningtown is typical of the havens in which existence is dominated by scavenging and bartering for the necessities to live day by day. Amidst this ruin and destruction there are still rays of hope, people choosing to make a life out of the hand they have been dealt. Lucy is a young lady who does her best to care for the family that took her in long ago. It is her responsibility to make the dangerous trek across the city to procure the serum for the people of Morningtown. Amidst rumors that the traders have been missing serum runs, Lucy sets off for her scheduled rendezvous, a bundle of memories and a sharp knife her companions for the journey.
In “Last Train to Jubilee Bay” author Kali Wallace deftly builds a dystopic world that feels at once familiar and fantastical. It is a story of hope and remembrance and an opportunity for change in a time when the easy route is to forget. It is also a tale that examines the worth of the written word, of memory and story. This short story is a Tor.com original that can be purchased for $.99 for the platform of your choice or read in its entirety for free at Tor.com.
Discovering really good short stories can be an agony-inducing pleasure in that the satisfaction of the reading experience may be followed by the ache of wanting to share and discuss it with others. “Last Train to Jubilee Bay” is one such story. Wallace paints a visually arresting landscape and skillfully crafts a character that readers become attached to in a relatively brief amount of time. I am reminded of the way I felt about the original short story “Wool” by Hugh Howey. Wallace’s story is complete in and of itself and yet its world fascinates me and I want to explore more of it, especially to see how the actions of these characters reverberate through their insular world.
For a more in-depth discussion of the story including links to where it can be read for free, come visit me here:
http://www.stainlesssteeldroppings.co...
In “Last Train to Jubilee Bay” author Kali Wallace deftly builds a dystopic world that feels at once familiar and fantastical. It is a story of hope and remembrance and an opportunity for change in a time when the easy route is to forget. It is also a tale that examines the worth of the written word, of memory and story. This short story is a Tor.com original that can be purchased for $.99 for the platform of your choice or read in its entirety for free at Tor.com.
Discovering really good short stories can be an agony-inducing pleasure in that the satisfaction of the reading experience may be followed by the ache of wanting to share and discuss it with others. “Last Train to Jubilee Bay” is one such story. Wallace paints a visually arresting landscape and skillfully crafts a character that readers become attached to in a relatively brief amount of time. I am reminded of the way I felt about the original short story “Wool” by Hugh Howey. Wallace’s story is complete in and of itself and yet its world fascinates me and I want to explore more of it, especially to see how the actions of these characters reverberate through their insular world.
For a more in-depth discussion of the story including links to where it can be read for free, come visit me here:
http://www.stainlesssteeldroppings.co...
September 1, 2016
Please give my review a helpful vote on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/review/R5I2LPC...
This is a very short story - more of a treatment - than a story that feels like a synopsis of a chapter from a longer book. Obviously, like most Tor.com Originals, this story is supposed to provide a taste of a larger work.
The writing is very good. It provides atmosphere and color to the impoverished, restricted cityscape, which is being cannibalized by its human inhabitants in a way similar to the way in which those humans are cannibalizing their own memories in order to buy "serum." What is serum? It was clear. Clearly, it is a kind of narcotic drug, but somehow it transforms the user into something else.
In such a short story, it is hard to answer the questions that I wanted answering, such as, what happened? There was a plague that drove city-dwellers from the city, but what happened then? Who are the frondy-limbed dealers who are talked about but do not make an appearance in the story?
I felt that I liked the story but it didn't hook me.
This is a very short story - more of a treatment - than a story that feels like a synopsis of a chapter from a longer book. Obviously, like most Tor.com Originals, this story is supposed to provide a taste of a larger work.
The writing is very good. It provides atmosphere and color to the impoverished, restricted cityscape, which is being cannibalized by its human inhabitants in a way similar to the way in which those humans are cannibalizing their own memories in order to buy "serum." What is serum? It was clear. Clearly, it is a kind of narcotic drug, but somehow it transforms the user into something else.
In such a short story, it is hard to answer the questions that I wanted answering, such as, what happened? There was a plague that drove city-dwellers from the city, but what happened then? Who are the frondy-limbed dealers who are talked about but do not make an appearance in the story?
I felt that I liked the story but it didn't hook me.
February 13, 2013
Excellent read. I was so caught up in the world and the possibilities within this depressing place that when the story ended I wasn't ready. I read comments all the time on short stories that mention abrupt endings and I think this is really what they are attempting to convey, the not being read to leave the world that the author has created, not prepared for an ending to the journey your taking with the characters. Regardless of Kali Wallace expanding Lucy and Belle's story and this world(I would personally love it if she did) this is a great story.
August 10, 2013
On the one hand, I found this incredibly evocative, bordering on haunting. On the other hand, though it's a complete story in any criteria I can think of, I didn't feel entirely satisfied by the journey it took me on. Too much really intriguing suggestion of things and not enough actuality. She builds a hell of a world, though.
February 13, 2013
It felt like a scene of a longer story, maybe a novella or a novel. This is the first of many stories Tor.com published in their website every Wednesday this 2013. Churning out new short stories every week will be awesome. I am looking forward to new stories after this.
February 14, 2015
Another Tor.com short story
I honestly don't know what to say about this story. The idea of people paying for drugs with their memories, and the young folks eventually breaking that system down...not sure I have enough to go on.
I honestly don't know what to say about this story. The idea of people paying for drugs with their memories, and the young folks eventually breaking that system down...not sure I have enough to go on.
February 8, 2013
A simple enough story, but interesting. A quick read, as well. I don't know why, but it reminded of the Longest Journey, the video game. The tone felt similar to some parts of that game and its sequel, Dreamfall.
July 13, 2013
This was okay but too short to make a lasting impression on me. I would like to have heard more about the traders or seen the reaction of the city residents upon the return of the runners. I finished the story with relative indifference. Not the best from tor.
February 10, 2013
This story left me wishing I knew more about the world the author created, including its internal logic.
April 6, 2013
Interesting universe and premise but didn't resolve for me.
December 28, 2013
Short but very sad; set in a lonely lost city where the inhabitants are all addicted to the same drug. And their suppliers have disappeared.
July 20, 2016
Themes of danger, uncertainty, and the courage to push forth change - I really enjoyed reading this story!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews