Boom Town

On the living planet of Eltru, a vast reserve of fuel is discovered beneath a small town. Katherine, a young girl whose family lives on a spice farm over the fuel reserve, quietly observes her parents as they struggle over whether or not to sell their land to a mining corporation, and move away from their home. She relies on her close relationship with her brother Julian to help her understand the secret conflicts and tensions between the adults, and ends up keeping some dangerous secrets of Julian’s herself.

The publication also includes an afterword by the author, in which he describes how subscribing to Asimov’s influenced the story, and how it influenced his writing sensibilities as a whole.