Mirari Revel stories are short, queer, speculative fiction stories meant to be read in one sitting.
A sentient asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. A solitary observer has been watching it for years.
4 VESTA is a work of literary science fantasy told through two alternating voices: a Stargazer grounded in bodily memory, fear, and desire, and an Asteroid moving freely through time, art history, prehistory, and planetary systems. As impact becomes inevitable, the boundary between observer and observed begins to erode.
Blending speculative science, surreal humour, and intimate reflection, 4 VESTA explores identity, embodiment, queerness, and environmental collapse without relying on traditional apocalypse narratives. Dinosaurs debate climate ethics. Icebergs accept awards. Art, grief, and selfhood are examined alongside cosmic mechanics and extinction-level events.
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4 VESTA | Gary Hartley
Gary Hartley is a South African writer, creative director, and award-winning theatremaker with over 15 years of experience spanning television, media, theatre, marketing, and advertising.
He began his career as a writer and producer for etv's The ShowBiz Report and The Style Report, interviewing notable figures from Bonang Matheba and Athol Fugard to Sir Ian McKellan and Rosito Missoni.
As the co-founder of Horses’ Heads Productions, he produced and directed theatre, including the Standard Bank Ovation Encore prize-winning Wintersweet and the Standard Bank AHA! Ovation Award-winning Scrape, respectively.
Gary is also the founder and editor-in-chief of SCAFFOLD, a platform dedicated to queer creators and culture, which earned him a spot on the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans list in 2021.
Gary Hartley has a new fan in me. I found myself caught between rage and a deep longing as I read this, the shifting distance between the Stargazer and the Asteroid creating a tension that had me at the edge of my seat. It is beautyfully-written, the characters funny and lifelike in their feelings and experiences, and relatable enough that by the time I reached the conclusion, as inevitable as it was, it was an experience so surreal and profound I’m still struggling to wrap my head around it. Truly one of the best things I've read so far.
I didn't know how much a locally familiar, yet out of this world prose, could satiate the love of the cosmos, clever satire and pop culture references but, here we are. Utterly transgressive, thoroughly enjoyable and a powerful narrative voice that feels like a catch up with an old friend.
What a densely crafted delight. Witty and poignant, this work is a strange little wonder - it reminded me of Angels in America's Harper, in the ways it faces down the cosmic ineffable with stream of consciousness stand up.
A genuinely brilliant debut that balances cosmic scale with deep intimacy. The two alternating voices are perfectly crafted and the surreal humour lands every time. I cannot wait to read more from this author.
The experimental structure, wry humour, and surprising moments of beauty work extremely well together. This prose is both challenging and warm. So good!