Mirari Revel stories are short, queer, speculative fiction stories meant to be read in one sitting.
Mazu designs biorobots – living instruments built to measure the world's weather and never question it. But in the sterile rhythm of code and command, his own life feels increasingly mechanical: long shifts, video calls home to a mother who wants him married, and brief messages from Jordan, the man he can't quite bring himself to tell her about.
When one of Mazu's creations, a biorobot named Jazz stationed in Antarctica, begins to show signs of emotion and memory, Mazu is forced to confront what he's made – and what he's become. Jazz's awakening mirrors his own longing to live freely, to love honestly, to exist outside the expectations that have shaped him.
Set between a cold city apartment and the endless white of the Antarctic ice, Memories of the Old Sun explores the pull between duty and selfhood, science and tenderness, parent and child. It's a quiet, beautiful story about migration, queerness, and the human need to be more than the sum of our design.
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Memories of the Old Sun | Eugen Bacon
Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author. She is a Solstice, British Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus and Foreword Indies Award winner. She’s also a twice World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award finalist, and a finalist in the Philip K. Dick Awards and the Nommo Awards for speculative fiction by Africans. Eugen is an Otherwise Fellow, and was announced on the honor list for ‘doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction’. Danged Black Thing made the Otherwise Award Honor List as a ‘sharp collection of Afro-Surrealist work’. Visit her at eugenbacon.com.
Fascinating imagery; it feels like a mixture of prose and verse.
I also enjoy the format of Mirari Revel. It is a great way to share short novellas.
Memories of the Old Sun is a gentle, atmospheric sci-fi tale that blends technology with tender human longing. Through Mazu and his emotionally awakening biorobot, Jazz, the story quietly examines identity, duty, and the courage it takes to live truthfully. It’s reflective, intimate, and surprisingly emotional for such a short read.
If you’re someone who enjoys stories that invite reflection and make you really consider every word on the page, this is one you should read.
Mazu watches a robot he has made connect with their inner self, watches how the robot becomes its own entity when it should be following the role set out for him. This awakens a need in Mazu to follow his own path.
The prose is wonderful. The play on pronouns for the robots is clever. I found the mother demanding a version of her son written with South African nuance, which I really enjoyed.
All in all, a quick immersive read.
A speculative short story that does a great job at trying to capture the essence of existing.
(Would’ve loved for it to be longer, though, if only to see how THAT conversation went 😆)
Old rubs up against new in this scifi exploration of familial obligations, traditional ties, and a universal yearning for independence.