''The Black Tides of Heaven'' is a 2017

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

by Singaporean author

Neon Yang Neon Yang, formerly JY Yang, is a Singaporean writer of English-language speculative fiction best known for the ''Tensorate'' series of novellas published by Tor.com. The first ''Tensorate'' novella, '' The Black Tides of Heaven'', was a finali ...

. The story centers around the

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

children of the Protector, whose

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

powers cause them to become entangled in the political machinations of their mother. It is one of the first two novellas in the ''Tensorate'' series, the other being

The Red Threads of Fortune ''The Red Threads of Fortune'' is a 2017 LGBT fantasy novella by Singaporean author Neon Yang. After the death of her daughter, Tensor Sanao Mokoya has abandoned her position as prophet and now spends her time hunting naga in the wilderness. She ...

. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novella, Locus Award for Best Novella, and World Fantasy Award for Best Novella.

Plot summary

Sanao Hekate, The Protector, rules her empire with the help of Tensors, people who can control elemental forces known as the Slack. She opposes the development of technology for non-Tensor use and violently oppresses her populace at any hint of rebellion. As payment for the Grand Monastery's help in suppressing a rebellion, she sends her twin children Akeha and Mokoya to them. The children train their slackcraft with the monks of the monastery, becoming proficient in the usage of their powers. Mokoya begins to have dreams which

prophesy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pret ...

future events, particularly events involving violence; any attempt to prevent these prophecies from occurring is impossible. Mokoya suffers psychologically from the effects of her nightmares, creating strain between the twins. When the twins are almost seventeen, they undergo

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

confirmation. Children in the world of the Tensorate are raised without gender, and physical differences between the sexes are suppressed by slackcraft. Mokoya chooses to be confirmed as female, while Akeha chooses to be confirmed as male. Mokoya prophesies that a young man named Thennjay will become the next Head Abbot, despite the disapproval of the Protector. The Protector begins using Mokoya's powers to strengthen her rule but has no use for Akeha. Akeha flees the city and begins a career as a smuggler. Mokoya stays in the city, marries Thennjay, and has a daughter named Eien. Akeha falls in love with a man named Yeongchow, who is part of the Machinist rebellion. Machinists believe that all citizens should have access to technology. The Tensors and Machinists are developing modern technologies such as

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...

s and

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

s, increasing violent conflict throughout the empire. An accident in a research lab in the Grand Monastery kills Eien and severely injures Mokoya; the Protector uses this event as a pretense for an assault on the Monastery. Akeha returns to the capital to face his mother. He bests her in a fight but does not kill her, and she agrees to withdraw troops from the monastery. Mokoya recovers and reunites with her brother for the first time in years.

Background

The novella was published on the same day as ''The Red Threads of Fortune'', and they can be read in any order. ''The Red Threads of Fortune'' was written first, and takes place after the events of ''The Black Tides of Heaven''. In their pitch to Tor.com, Neon Yang stated that they had more Tensorate stories to tell. Though only one novella had been written at the time, this led to the idea of publishing both debut novellas on the same day.

Reception and awards

The novella has been well-received critically, with positive reviews from fantasy authors such as

Ken Liu Ken Liu (born 1976) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. His epic fantasy series ''The Dandelion Dynasty'', which he describes as silkpunk, is published by Simon & Schuster. Liu has won Hugo and Nebula Awards for his short fic ...

. Hugo-winning author

N.K. Jemisin NK may refer to: Businesses *Imerys (Euronext ticker code NK) *Nordiska Kompaniet, a department store in Stockholm, Sweden *Northrup-King Seed Company *Spirit Airlines (IATA code NK) *NK.pl, a Polish school-based social networking service Places ...

recommended the book, praising the Tensorate novellas for their worldbuilding.

Geeks OUT Geeks OUT is a New York City-based, non-profit organization, founded in 2010, whose mission is to rally, empower, and promote the queer geek community. The content on its website often focuses on gaming, video gaming culture, comics, superheroes, ...

praised the novella for its treatment of

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

, as well as its exploration of

wealth inequality The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or economic heterogeneity. The distribution of wealth differs from the income distribution in that ...

. Several commenters have referred to the Tensorate world as

silkpunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

. ''The Black Tides of Heaven'' was a finalist for the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella, 2018

Locus Award for Best Novella The Locus Award for Best Novella is one of a number of Locus Awards given out each year by ''Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Muta ...

, 2018

Nebula Award for Best Novella The Nebula Award for Best Novella is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novellas. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 40 ...

, 2018

World Fantasy Award for Best Novella In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, 2018 Gaylactic Spectrum Award for best novel, 2018

Kitschies The Kitschies are British literary prizes presented annually for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" published in the United Kingdom. Awards and criteria The Ki ...

Golden Tentacle (Debut) award and, as a pair with ''Red Threads of Fortune'', was on the Honor List for the 2017 Otherwise Award (at the time still named the James Tiptree Jr. Award). Yang was beaten to most of these awards by either

Ellen Klages Ellen Klages (, ; born 1954) is an American science, science fiction and historical fiction writer who lives in San Francisco. Her novelette "Basement Magic" won the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. She had previously been nominated for Hugo ...

's '' Passing Strange'' or Martha Wells's ''

All Systems Red ''All Systems Red'' is a 2017 science fiction novella by American author Martha Wells. The first in a series called ''The Murderbot Diaries'', it was published by Tor.com. The series is about an artificial construct designed as a Security Unit, w ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Tides of Heaven 2010s LGBT novels 2017 fantasy novels Fantasy novels LGBT speculative fiction novels Singaporean novels Tor Books books 2017 LGBT-related literary works