It’s June 15, which means time for you all to read my latest science fiction short story: “Here at the Freezing End” it out in the latest issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact! You can buy the issue online, or subscribe in digital or print editions.1
This is a short little piece about a stranded expedition, about surviving – and dying – on a frozen world cut off from all hope of supply. On knowing who you can help, and who you can’t, and how to do a job when it’s as futile as it is important.
This story is inspired by the many years I spent as a member of the National Ski Patrol. In my younger days I served at a busy Vermont alpine ski resort, where we provided first aid and transport to the injured every day, and trained ourselves for the mass casualty events that we hoped we’d never see. (And thankfully, at least in my case, never did.) Later in my life, I served for a year on a backcountry ski patrol in Oregon, where injuries were rare, but would require hours of hauling toboggans along trails in cross-country skies or snowshoes.
Both of those experiences inform this story. Triage, and search & rescue. Cold snow and the savage sweaty heat of exertion.
May none of us be so doomed as the protagonists of “Here at the Freezing End.” But if life feels that way sometimes, may we find as much purpose as they do.