el dang commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
Content warning Chapter 2 spoiler; CW for plague
At first, I thought the plague business was a bit too much of a neat topical tie-in. But then I noticed in the front matter that many of the chapters are adapted from previously published short stories, and the original version of ch2 was published in 2013. So at least the outline of the plague predates COVID by years.
I'm curious whether the line about disagreement whether the virus was airborne was added in the editing for the book, because if not then that detail is astonishingly prescient.
Either way, I find myself wanting to know what happens to Skip and Dorrie after the events of this chapter. I can't tell yet if the book will pick them up again later or if each chapter's going to be a totally isolated vignette within the overall setting.