The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed

Publisher – ECW Press

Published – Out Now in kindle ebook 28/10 in paperback

Price – £11.99 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook

The world is nothing like it once was: climate disasters have wracked the continent, causing food shortages, ending industry, and leaving little behind. Then came Cad, mysterious mind altering fungi that invade the bodies of the now scattered citizenry. Reid, a young woman who carries this parasite, has been given a chance to get away to move to one of the last remnants of pre disaster society but she can bring herself to abandon her mother and the community that relies on her. When she as offered a coveted place on a dangerous and profitable mission, she jumps at the opportunity to set her family up for life, but how can Reid ask people to put their trust in her when she can even trust her own mind? With keen insight and biting prose, Premee Mohamed delivers a deeply personal tale in this postapocalyptic hopepunk novella, reflecting on the meaning of community and asks what we owe to those who have lifted us up.

Change is painful. We all like things to be familiar and the same as the day before. In general surprises are often not welcome. Science Fiction is often about changes to our world on a huge scale and what the consequences will be for us. In times of strange weather, power shortages and rising temperatures we know change is required but can we make that next step. In Premee Mohamed’s excellent novella The Annual Migration of Clouds we see a world that couldn’t make changes until it was too late and are drawn into a single individual’s own desire to move on making an incredibly poignant read.

The world ended. Climate change got out of control; food and energy shortages ravaged the world and all our current comforts from electricity, transport and food on demand just stopped. Humanity reached Mars and then rapidly pulled back. What remains is a world where the food is scarce, strange diseases have ravaged communities and humanity is one bad winter away from starvation. Reid lives in what was once Alberta in a community living on the remains of an old university; life is hard and focused on farming and hunting while the community support one another in myriad ways. Reid applied to Howse University a fabled hi-tech almost mythical group who look for promising students. Reid has been accepted but now faces the hard question does she really want to go?

We are so used to science fiction being about the fate or worlds or universes that what really makes this tale work are the personal stakes. Ultimately this is a tale of Reid deciding if she wants to go to university but the reason this story worked so well for me was how Mohamed makes us see Reid’s world and understand why leaving the community, she is part of is such a hard decision. The success of the story is showing us something we tend to forget humanity’s determination not to give in to the night quietly. Mohamed does not show a super high tech green revolution but instead we are shown communities that learn to pull together and try to keep themselves alive. A bike is luxury transport; schools are haphazard; all clothing is constantly recycled; the internet is replaced with mirror flashes as forms of communication and books are all about worlds no one can ever get back to. This is very much a world after the fall; but one where people are still working hard to survive because that is what humans do.

Leading us through this is Reid a bright young woman dealing with her own doubts. Reid is a well-liked member of the community, but she suffers from Cad a strange fungal disease that often leads to an early death and has a mind of its own. Reid is conscious already life is fragile these days. A bad cut can kill anyone; she has seen diseases wipe out friends and loved ones without warning and these days there is just her mother and her best friend Henryk and those ties to this world are strong. Be it best friend games and banter or sharing household chores. Its tempting to often see in SF as an easy choice between new knowledge versus living an old boring life but this story makes you really see the importance of any part of Reid’s world. A community that holds one another up be it in food, sharing educational duties or even mental health support in a world where suicide is a constant concern especially where those with Cad are concerned. This is very much a world where we don’t get mammoth exposition but snapshots of Reid’s childhood and glimpses of life in this settlement that make us see what has led to this world and how it now works.

Another attraction is the beauty of Mohamed’s writing from their focus on natural descriptions of colour and nature giving this world a stark beauty that makes you realise why Reid loves it and also capturing the vibrancy of life in the settlement making life out of ruins. We see an elderly lesbian couple who are community elders, teachers and still mentors to Reid. People who promise Reid that her mother will not be alone or in the finale someone willing to give Reid a chance to hunt boar in order to help Reid bring food in to give her mother wealth. Life is hard and yet there is still kindness in this world and one huge reason Reid would like to stay is she genuinely loves the community. She cares about if the weather supports the next harvest; if the justice system they use if fair or if her best friend can live on without her.

The heart of the novel is doing something new and allowing change to happen to you. In a useful metaphor we find the Cad fungus/infection has a high ability to avoid hurt to the host and is not afraid to take over or stop you from doing something it considers dangerous. Equally Reid’s mother clearly spells out her displeasure at Reid leaving their home for the dangerous world outside. As we walk with Reid through her world for a few days we see her weigh up those pros and cons and know both answers can be painful. Anyone who has ever had to decide something that they know may bring their loved ones some pain even if the right things to do for yourself will sympathise with this character’s dilemma and I loved that Reid’s choices are not obvious simple ones.

The Annual Migration of Clouds can seem a very lo-fi or low stakes story of life in a small future settlement, but it manages to encompass our concerns about climate change; our ability to survive and the joys and risks of staying or leaving your community in its pages. Beautifully written, poignant, and bittersweet it is a gorgeous read and one perfect to give us hope in dark times. Mohamed is again proving that they are one of the most interesting authors in today’s science fiction. Strongly recommended