To Be Taught, If Fortunate

From the bestselling author of the Wayfarer Series comes the futuristic story where instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the galaxy transform themselves. 'Extraordinary . . . A future masterwork' JOANNE HARRIS
'Becky Chambers takes space opera in a whole new and unexpected direction' BEN AARONOVITCH
'A short but fierce ode to humanity and all our reaches and flaws. Unputdownable' NATASHA NGAN
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life. Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the wonders and dangers of her journey, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.

Becky Chambers is the bestselling author of the Wayfarers series, the Monk and Robot novellas, and other works of science fiction. She is a two-time Hugo Award winner, a Locus Award winner, and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Women's Prize for Fiction, among others. Her latest novel is As You Wake, Break the Shell, the first half of a new duology.
Becky has a background in performing arts, and grew up in a family heavily involved in space science. She spends her free time playing video games, hanging out in the woods, and learning about the universe. She still hopes to see Earth from orbit one day, though she's gotten picky about who she'd take a ride from. Prone to hopping around, Becky can be found either in her home state of California or her wife's home country of Iceland.