You are listening to a Clarksworld magazine podcast. I'm your host and narrator, Kate Baker.

Welcome to the second to the last story for the month of January, 26, issue 232.

I hope you are as well as can be all things considered. I want to thank you for spending the time here

with us at Clark's World, whether it is just listening to a story, reading a story, the

nonfiction, appreciating our art, diving into new worlds and meeting new characters.

We cannot do this without your support. So thank you if you've bought a subscription, if you've

gone to patreon.com, forward slash Clark's World, or you've checked a few bucks our way via a

donation of some sort. You allow us to do what we love

each and every month, and we cannot do this without you. Our story is titled, The Desolate Order of

the Head in the Water by A.W. Preehandita. A.W. Prihandita, she, her, is a Nebula Award-winning

author of speculative fiction. She splits her time between the U.S. Westreehandita, she, her, is a nebula award-winning author of speculative fiction.

She splits her time between the U.S. West Coast, where she earned her Ph.D. in rhetoric and

composition and Indonesia, where she grew up and where her home remains.

She attended the Odyssey Workshop in 2023 on their Fresh Voices Scholarship, and the Clarion

Workshop in 2024 on their Octavia Butler

scholarship. Her stories have appeared in Clark's World, Uncanny, Cast of Wonders, and Correo

magazine, among others. Beside her Nebula Award win, she has also been a finalist for the

Ignite Award and UG Award. And if you like what you hear, you can go back to negative scholarship on the fifth state

of being.

So, my dear listener, I hope that you can sit back, relax, and let me tell you a story.

A child walks into a half-abandoned city with half-crumbling skyscrapers and gardens half-turned into

deserts. The child, a 12-year-old boy, in sturdy hiking boots, and a hydration pack, with tears

...