Help me find this short story about building community in disaster

May 31, 2024 1:56 PM

A short, possibly climate fiction story about building community in disaster. Published in full online. There's been a disaster, or a crisis, or this is just how things are now. The main-ish character is a person with a list. Maybe they post a list in a central spot? They start organising skills- and resource-sharing across the community. One of the first interactions is with a man whose wife is on a respirator, and needs a backup source of power. The community works out a system where people race over and ride bikes to power the generator when the power fails. By the end, you're in tears.

Hoping this is easy for someone! I've seen it linked here recently and swore I bookmarked it, but I've just spend 45 min searching through bookmarks and old posts and can't find it. Bonus points if you can link to the recent MF discussion where it was mentioned. Hope me MF.

posted by happyfrog to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Best answer: The story you're thinking of may be 'The Year Without Sunshine' by Naomi Kritzer:

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-year-without-sunshine/
posted by eraserbones at 2:14 PM on May 31 [10 favorites]

Best answer: the year without sunshine
posted by yyz at 2:15 PM on May 31 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Here's the FPP on MetaFilter where it was first posted.
posted by MiraK at 2:17 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

Best answer: MeFi discussion about it.
posted by cooker girl at 2:18 PM on May 31

Best answer: That was a terrific story. Thanks for asking about it, happyfrog, and thanks to everyone who pointed us toward it.
posted by Inkslinger at 6:26 PM on May 31

Response by poster: Bingo. Thanks so much all. It made me cry again!
posted by happyfrog at 7:07 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]

Wow it’s dusty in here at the end of that
posted by sixswitch at 7:23 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]