North Continent Ribbon : Stories

On Nakharat, every contract is a ribbon and every ribbon is a secret, braided tight and tucked behind a veil. Artificial intelligence threatens the tightly-woven network. Stability depends on giving each machine a human conscience—but the humans are not volunteers. In the midst of strife, individual people struggle to hold onto their jobs and protect their lovers, those trusted few who could draw back the veil.

Cover illustration by Danielle Taphanel. Interior illustrations by Matthew Spencer. Cover design by dave ring.

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-952086-84-7
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-952086-85-4

PRAISE

“Whitcher conjures a colorful world across six interconnected stories in her remarkably assured debut.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“These luminous, interwoven stories are a stunning meditation on connection, relationship, and the porous borders between the human, the cosmic, and the technological. Containing vividly realized characters from sword-wielding lesbians to spaceships on strike, North Continent Ribbon is a startlingly original space opera with its imaginative heights grounded in contemporary struggles.”
—Rachel A. Rosen, author of Cascade

“Whitcher has the imagination of Borges and the exquisite prose of Atwood. She not only leads you on a deep journey into a world of her own devising, she makes you feel smarter for having read it.”
—Marie Vibbert, author of Galactic Hellcats

“From the poetry of math to the poetics of resistance among the stars, Ursula’s writing wowed me from word one. In the top tier of science fiction stories I’ve read this past decade.”
—Yoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit

“With a delicate balance of the epic and the mundane, each story in North Continent Ribbon provides a vivid glimpse of a complex and changing world.”
—Rebecca Fraimow, author of Lady Eve’s Last Con

“North Continent Ribbon is a lyrical blend of hard science fiction and epic fantasy. Whitcher’s prose is as beautiful and evocative as the illustrations in the book. A must read for its world-building alone.”
—Lyda Morehouse, author of Welcome to Boy.Net

“These are quiet, beautifully written, subtle stories about love, intrigue, and war, set in another world that is eerily familiar—like Le Guin’s Orsinian Tales, but queer. And sexy.”
—Michael J. Deluca, author of The Jaguar Mask