Escape Odd, episode 677. Flashbuck Friday.

Valedictorian.

By N K Jemerson. I'm goinguerite Kenner, your guest host for this episode.

I wear a couple of different hats here at EA. I'm the editor and host at Cast of Wonders, the young adult podcast Baby of our audio family.

And along with Alistair, I'm co-owner of EA, which mostly involves removing obstacles from our editorial teams.

Our flashback story this week is Valedictorian by N. K. Jameson, which originally aired in 2014 as episode 450.

Originally published in After 19 stories of Apocalypse and Distopia in 2012.

It was reprinted in both Light Speed and here at Escape Pod in 2014.

It's also available in Jemison's fantastic collection, How Long Till Black Future Month,

which was my inspiration for this pick.

But more on that later.

Nora K Jemison is an author of speculative fiction,

short stories, and novels who lives and writes

in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2018, she became the first author to win three Hugo's in a row for her Broken Earth novels.

She's also won a Nebula Award, two Locust Awards, and a number of other honors and nominations around the globe. Her short fiction has been published in Clark's World, Tour.com, Wired, Popular Science, Idiomancer, and Abyss and Apex, as well as numerous

podcast markets and print anthologies.

You can find her work from Orbit books.

Here at EA, Jemison has appeared on both Escape Pod

and Podcastle, and even narrated a few early podcastal stories.

Jemison is a member of the Altered Fluid Riding Group.

In addition to writing, she has been a counseling psychologist and educator,

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