We are delighted to welcome to the Luna family, Deborah L. Davitt! Her SF novella, The Carrying Capacity of Paradise, will be published in 2025 as part of the Luna Novella series.
About the novella:
The asteroid 4 Vesta has been colonised as a nature preserve by eccentric billionaire Benjamin Donovan--a refuge intended as much for creating a model of how humans can live, as for the animals and plants in the preserve. It is a paradise, removed from the pressures of overpopulation, social media, and the incessant, draining demands of modern life.
Now, Donovan lies murdered, and his son is either the prime suspect in his death. . . or the next target on the killer's list. Liane Sheridan, the station's security chief, must find the answers while navigating a web of corruption.
Deborah on The Carrying Capacity of Paradise:
This story started, as so many of my stories do, with a poem, 4 Vesta, which appeared in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. My imagination was caught by the crater Rheasilvia on the asteroid 4 Vesta, and how the highest mountain in the solar system---the peak at the heart of that crater---has no name. I imagined that crater tented, filled with giant sequoias and tigers and other creatures, every species liberated from hunting and the pressure of gravity. The poem concludes:
Sometimes, like gardeners,
we prune and shape;
sometimes, like gamekeepers,
we must cull,
but we're all entwined—
the star outside is our candle,
this candle we've lit is our star.
But I wasn't done with the concept; an entire story leapt into my head, unbidden, about who might have built this refuge, why, and what they might have wanted to shelter from; and the answer was "almost all of modern life", the stuff that propels so many of us, like the rats of John B. Calhoun's experiments, to the edge of despair and dissolution on a daily basis.
About Deborah L. Davitt:
Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and son. She’s known for her prize-winning poetry and acclaimed short stories and novels. Her work has appeared in F&SF, Analog, and Asimov’s. For more about her work, including her Elgin-nominated poetry collections, The Gates of Never and Bounded by Eternity, please see www.edda-earth.com. For information about her podcast, please see www.youtube.com/@ShiningMoonSpeculativeFiction.
You may contact her at the following social media hubs: www.facebook.com/deborah.davitt.3 or @deborahldavitt.bsky.social.
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The Carrying Capacity of Paradise will be released in 2025 - keep in touch through our newsletter to follow the publication progress.
Once again: Welcome, Deborah!